Explosive Conyers Report on Bush Malfeasance

The Report has two parts: Part I is +óGé¼+ôThe Downing Street Minutes and Deception Manipulation, Torture, Retribution, and Cover-ups in the Iraq
War+óGé¼-¥ and was published in draft form in December 2005. Part II is +óGé¼+ôUnlawful Domestic Surveillance and Related Civil Liberties Abuses under the Administration of George W. Bush,+óGé¼-¥ which was released in June 2006. The entire report, I believe, is to be published by the Academy Chicago Publishers.  Portions have become available online at  www.afterdowningstreet.org/constitutionincrisis  The explosive report, thoroughly researched and documented has been summarized, and the following is based upon that summary, which says, in part:

+óGé¼+ôIn brief, we have found that there is substantial evidence the President, the Vice-President and other high ranking members of the Bush Administration misled Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war in Iraq; misstated and manipulated intelligence information regarding the justification for such war; countenanced torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in Iraq; permitted inappropriate retaliation against critics of their Administration; and approved domestic surveillance that is both illegal and unconstitutional...+óGé¼-¥

Among the nine listed violations of federal laws are:
1) Making False Statements to Congress (Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger, after CIA warned this was not so);
2) The War Powers Resolution and Misuse of Government Funds (redeploying troops, authorizing bombing PRIOR to receiving Congressional approval);
3) Federal laws and international treaties prohibiting torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment (+óGé¼-¥ghosting+óGé¼-¥ and removing detainees and laying legal groundwork for torture);
4) Federal laws concerning retaliating against witnesses (demoting Bunnatine Greenhouse, dhief contracting officer at Army Corps of Engineers because she exposed contracting abuses involving Halliburton);
5) Federal requirements concerning leaking and other misuse of intelligence (failing to enforce the executive order requiring discipline of those who leak classified information, whether intentional or not);
6) Federal regulations and ethical requirements governing conflicts of interest (then Atty Gen. John Ashcroft+óGé¼Gäós being personally briefed on FBI interviews concerning Karl Rove+óGé¼Gäós possible misconduct, even though Mr. Rove had previously been paid nearly $75,000 for political work on Mr. Ashcroft+óGé¼Gäós campaigns);
7) Violating FISA and the Fourth Amendment (intercepting thousands of communications +óGé¼+ôto or from any person within the United States,+óGé¼-¥ without obtaining a warrant);
8) The Stored Communications Act of 1986 and the Communications Act of 1934 (obtaining millions of US customer telephone records without a warrant or a subpoena, and without customer consent, and outside of any applicable +óGé¼+ôemergency exceptions+óGé¼-¥); and
9) The National Security Act (failing to keep all Members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees +óGé¼+ôfully and currently informed+óGé¼-¥ of intelligence activities like the warrantless surveillance programs.

In addition, Conyers charges that members of the Bush Administration +óGé¼+ômade a number of misleading statements+óGé¼-¥ about NSA+óGé¼Gäós domestic surveillance program and concludes that the legal justifications offered by the Administration are what he terms +óGé¼+ôconstitutionally destabilizing+óGé¼+ô besides which, there is little evidence the program has been helpful in combating terrorism and may have actually placed terrorism prosecutions at risk.  The Administration seems to have implemented the programs +óGé¼+ôin a manner designed to stifle legitimate concerns.+óGé¼-¥  In other words, Bush et al knew they were illegal and tried to sneak the programs by.

When it comes to Bush+óGé¼Gäós repeated claim that his pre-war conduct has been reviewed (presumably by the 09/11 Commission of Silberman-Robb, or by the Senate Intelligence Committee itself) and that he has been exonerated, the truth is +óGé¼+ôNo entity has ever considered whether the Administration misled Americans about the decision to go to war.+óGé¼-¥ 

The Senate Committee has never conducted a review of pre-war intelligence distortion and manipulation.  I myself recall the limited investigation was entirely (and incorrectly) about how our intelligence system failed to predict the 9/11 attack; there was nothing about the use or mis-use of the intelligence then or in the run-up to invading Iraq.  As for the Silberman-Robb Report it +óGé¼+ôspecifically cautioned that intelligence manipulation was not part of our inquiry.+óGé¼-¥  There has been no independent inquiry concerning torture, nor of the pattern of cover-ups and political retribution by the Bush Administration against critics, outside the narrow and restricted Fitzgerald review of the outing of Valerie Plame.

We have never had an independent examination of Bush+óGé¼Gäós domestic spying scandals because all requests for special counsels have been summarily dismissed.  Nor have we had reviews by the Departments of Justice or Defense.  Indeed, when the Justice+óGé¼Gäós Office of Professional Responsibility opened such an investigation, the Bush Administration denied the Investigators the necessary security clearances and repeatedly invoked the state secrets doctrine to cut off court reviews of NSA programs.

The Conyers report preceded the recent finding by US District Court Judge Anna Diggs Taylor that the NSA surveillance program in its entirety violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and Title III as well as violating the doctrine of separation of powers, the Administrative Procedures Act, and the First and Fourth Amendments.  The fight is not over: the Administration will appeal, and we will have an opportunity to see how much help they get from their new, conservative Supreme Court. In the meantime, the usual +óGé¼+ôattack the character of those who oppose Bush+óGé¼-¥ has begun (see #4 above).  Poor Judge Taylor, who was appointed by, of all people, President Carter. Poor ACLU, poor scholars, poor lawyers, etc, who were the plaintiffs.

Representative Conyers does offer some recommendations.  I will put those into another article.

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