Leahy Proposes "Truth Commission" Probe Of Bush Era

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Leahy proposes 'truth commission' probe of Bush era

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Leahy_proposes_truth_commission_to_probe_0209.html

David Edwards and Stephen C. Webster
Published: Monday February 9, 2009

In a Monday forum at Washington, D.C.'s Georgetown University, Sen. Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, proposed the Congress form a "truth and reconciliation commission" to seek out alleged Bush administration "misdeeds."

"There are some who resist any effort to investigate the misdeeds of the recent past," Leahy said in a report by Huffington Post. "Indeed, during the nomination hearing of Eric Holder, some of my fellow Senators on the other side of the aisle tried to extract a devil's bargain from him in exchange for the votes -- a commitment that he would not make... That is a pledge no prosecutor should give and Eric Holder did not give it. But because he did not it accounts for some of the votes against him."

"We need to come to a shared understanding of the failures of the recent past," the Vermont Democrat said. "Rather than vengeance, we need a fair-minded pursuing of what happened."

"The truth commission should have subpoena power and witnesses would not face charges except if they commit perjury," reported the Wall St. Journal.

"Leahy said he wanted to find a 'middle ground to find the truth' and thus positioned himself in the center of the ongoing debate among Democrats about whether to investigate the Bush administration’s decisions," reported CQ Politics. "President Obama has signaled he doesn’t necessarily want to delve into the actions of his predecessor while Leahy’s counterpart in the House, John Conyers Jr. , D-Mich., has introduced legislation (HR 104) to create a more narrowly focused commission to examine presidential war powers and civil liberties that could lead to prosecutions."

"Sen. Patrick Leahy said Monday the commission's primary goal would be to learn the truth rather than prosecute former officials," reported the Associated Press.

"Leahy said the commission could be modeled after a similar panel that investigated apartheid in South Africa."

Leahy said he had not yet discussed his proposed commission with President Obama.

This video is from CNN.com, broadcast Feb 9, 2009.

Video At Source

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-rossi/obama-reopen-the-911-inve_b_165849.html

Melissa Rossi (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-rossi)

Author, What Every American Should Know about the Middle East (Plume/Penguin, Jan. 2009)

Posted February 10, 2009 | 10:31 PM (EST)


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Obama: Reopen the 9/11 Investigation -- Part 1 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-rossi/obama-reopen-the-911-inve_b_165849.html)

Patrick Leahy has a point when he urges President Obama to open investigations about the Bush administration. However, he's not pointing at the issue that we need to start with. Namely, September 11th. What really happened? More than a few people know - and I am not alone in calling for those who know to start talking and fess up. Let's not let this go the way of the JFK assassination - and whether with subpoenas or on their own volition, I demand that Dick Cheney, George W. Bush - both of whom refused to testify under oath during the 9/11 Commission proceedings -- Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Karl Rove, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Armitage, Larry Wilkerson, George Tenet, Robert Mueller and the rest - as well as Bill Clinton and Al Gore (both of whom also refused to testify under oath) -- start talking, and in a public arena. And I'm calling on the Obama administration to open up a probe and unravel the web of deceit.

Before we tuck the Bush administration into bed and hiss, "Nighty Night, you lying scoundrels," before we go on to lock the door on that heinous era of American history, we do indeed need to probe what happened under their watch. But the event that most concerns me is what happened on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. Oh yeah, that's history, old news, the 9/11 Commission figured it all out, right? Except that members of the 9/11 Commission say it was "set up to fail" (http://www.cbc.ca/sunday/911hamilton.html) and that the investigation was severely hampered. (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2006/08/04/national/w124141D43.DTL&type=printable.) So do assorted former members of the CIA, who demand a fresh look at the events of that day. (http://unansweredquestions.org/index.php/2007/09/25/7-cia-veterans-challenge-911-commission-report/)

So, President Obama - leader of a new era in the United State - serve your people: pull out that can opener and pry open that can of worms.

In following posts, I will outline some of the most mysterious coincidences and events that deserve re-examination - and there are many, including how strange things happen whenever Dick Cheney's around and the missile defense program is slated to be cut as I note here (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-rossi/twenty-years-of-dicks-tri_b_163856.html) and here (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-rossi/the-terrorists-are-coming_b_163931.html). But let's start with the premise that all was not told, and we deserve to know the truth about this catastrophic event that so changed the world -- and boosted the military budget to new highs.

While the Obama administration is fresh - and even though we're all grappling with this economy - I urge Americans to demand that this be a top priority, and not to let Obama shrug off this "mystery" that was cloaked by his predecessor.
To be continued....

Melissa Rossi is the author of What Every American Should Know about the Middle East (http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780452289598-0)and What Every American Should Know about Who's Really Running the World (http://www.powells.com/biblio/17-9780452286153-0)