No immunity for Bush and Cheney

By
Bill Press                                                                          Read Spanish Version 

On
the question of whether George Bush and Dick Cheney should be held
legally responsible for crimes committed while in the White House,
Barack Obama and John Conyers are playing good cop, bad cop.

Appearing
on my radio show in his role as chairman of the House Judiciary
Committee, Conyers made it clear that he believed Bush and Cheney had
broken the law — in wiretapping, torture, detention, and other
practices — and must be held accountable.

"I
don’t want to get too speculative on that, because it’s still under
review," Conyers told me. "Now, remember, violation of the
federal criminal code doesn’t end because you leave office. …
Leaving office doesn’t free you up from what you may have done wrong.
Anyone that leaves office, including the president — there’s the
World Court, they have tribunals. This thing is not over with. As
they say: Stay tuned."

However,
just two days later, asked by ABC’s George Stephanopolous whether he
would appoint a special prosecutor to independently investigate the
crimes of the Bush administration, Barack Obama seemed much more
reluctant. "Obviously, we’re going to be looking at past
practices and I don’t believe that anybody is above the law,"
said the president-elect. "On the other hand, I also have a
belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards."

Even
if they don’t agree on whether to prosecute, one thing Obama and
Conyers do agree on: There’s no doubt Bush and Cheney broke the law,
in several areas. Within days of Sept. 11, Bush gave orders for the
NSA to tap the phones of American citizens without getting a warrant
from the FISA court. That was clearly against the law, and Bush and
Cheney knew it.

When
Ambassador Joe Wilson embarrassed Bush by exposing the lies he told
about Iraq’s seeking to purchase yellowcake uranium in Niger, the
Bush White House retaliated by unmasking his wife’s identify as an
undercover CIA agent. That was clearly against the law, and Bush and
Cheney knew it.

When
the first "terrorist suspects" were rounded up in
Afghanistan and Pakistan, they were brought to Guantanamo Bay, where
some of them were tortured. The use of torture, in fact, has now been
confirmed by Susan Crawford, the top Bush administration official in
charge of deciding whether to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to
trial. Torturing prisoners of war — even if it’s called "enhanced
interrogation techniques" — is clearly against both U.S. law
and international law, and Bush and Cheney knew it.

And
the list goes on. Clearly, George Bush and Dick Cheney violated many
of the laws they took an oath to uphold. The question is whether they
should be prosecuted for their crimes or simply allowed to walk away.

The
answer, I believe, depends on whether we believe in the rule of law
or not. If we do, there’s no choice: The Justice Department must
prosecute. Otherwise, we send the dangerous message that, once you
achieve a certain level of political power in this country, you can
operate outside the law with impunity.

Certainly,
we expect more of the United States of America. Just ask George
Washington University of Law professor Jonathan Turley. "We have
Third World countries that, when they found their leaders committed
torture and war crimes, they prosecuted them," he recently told
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. "But the most successful democracy in
history is about to see war crimes committed and do nothing about
it." That, says Turley, would be "an indictment not just of
George Bush and his administration. It’s the indictment of all of us
if we walk away from a clear war crime."

So,
in the end, the real issue is not whether war crimes were committed.
They were. Nor whether Bush and Cheney should be prosecuted for them.
They should be. The real issue is whether Democrats have the
intestinal fortitude to live up to the rule of law and let the Obama
Justice Department enforce the law equally, across the board — even
if it means hauling George Bush and Dick Cheney before a court of
law.

In
the end, there’s only one answer. Enforce the law. Let the chips fall
where they may. Even Barack Obama understands that looking forward
doesn’t mean we forget and forgive the sins of the past.

Bill
Press is host of a nationally syndicated radio show and author of a
new book, "Train
Wreck: The End of the Conservative Revolution (and Not a Moment Too
Soon)." You
can hear "The Bill Press Show" at his Web site:
billpressshow.com. His email address is: bill@billpress.com.
(c)
2009 Tribune Media Services, Inc.