McClellan Testimony Highlights Bush's Crimes -- It's Time for Genuine Accountability

This author of this post is Democratic Congressman Robert Wexler from South Florida. Wexler has been ubiquitous these last months as a top surrogate for Senator Obama -- even representing him at the nationally televised DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee. Wexler recently called for testimony of Scott McClellan before the Judiciary Committee and delivered it. He has been front and center demanding impeachment hearings for Cheney and now Bush. Now Wexler has published a frank book about his political experiences and his thoughts on why Democrats should be more aggressive. The book is entitled Fire-Breathing Liberal - How I learned to Survive (and Thrive) in the Contact Sport of Congress. If you are interested the book is stores now or you can order your copy online now on Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com.

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The testimony of Scott McClellan this past Friday in the House Judiciary Committee marked an important step forward for Congress in the battle to fully expose the crimes of the Bush/Cheney administration and finally hold this White House accountable for its appalling actions that have weakened our constitution and our government. I am only sorry that we are taking this step so late in President Bush's term in office. However, I am pleased that history will at the very least document the shocking revelations that Mr. McClellan testified to on Friday. Scott McClellan under oath last week agreed with me that it is a likely possibility that Vice President Dick Cheney was the individual who authorized the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson's covert status. Mr. McClellan also said that he believes more White House officials should come before Congress and reveal the truth about this administration's actions. McClellan's testimony underscores a simple reality: We must dig deeper.

The fact that much of what McClellan testified to on Friday is already known and reported on in the press should not diminish its import. We have a formerly loyal top official in the Bush White House stating under oath that the Bush administration carried out a campaign of lying and misstatements to trick Congress and the American people into war in Iraq. This former White House Press Secretary states that Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby and Karl Rove likely engaged in behavior that amounts to obstruction of justice regarding the leaking of the identity of covert agent Valerie Plame Wilson.

McClellan's testimony only touched the tip of the iceberg regarding the corrupt actions of the Bush administration. As I have written about in my new book Fire-Breathing Liberal - How I learned to Survive (and Thrive) in the Contact Sport of Congress, this administration has done more to weaken the balance of powers established by the Founding Fathers than any previous White House. In both domestic and foreign policy this cabal of right-wing true believers have violated our laws and our Constitution. Just this year it was revealed that the highest levels of the administration including President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Colon Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and Donald Rumsfeld approved and ordered the torture of prisoners and thereby violated US law, our commitments to international treaties, and vanquished whatever remaining moral authority our nation held in the eyes of the global community. The list goes on and on and includes hiding and censoring scientific findings on global warming and the blatantly political firing of US attorneys.

Earlier this year I began a nationwide campaign to hold impeachment hearings for Vice President Dick Cheney (and I have recently expanded my efforts to push for hearings for Bush as well.) Although the national media completely ignored these efforts, over a quarter of a million Americans did not and signed a petition of support on my site Wexlerwantshearings.com in order to advocate for accountability for this rogue administration.

Just imagine, ten short years ago our media was obsessed with details of Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp and Republicans in Congress actually impeached a popular President of the United States because he had an affair and lied about it. Today we have a President and a Vice President that went to war on false pretenses, illegally ordered the torture of prisoners, obstructed justice by lying about the outing of a covert CIA agent, fired US Attorneys for political reasons, and authorized warrantless spying on American citizens. This president and vice-president took countless despicable actions that surely amount to high crimes and yet the media yawns and even the vast majority of Democrats in Congress are simply uninterested. This arrogant administration simply does not respect the constitutional powers of Congress and by their actions -- and by our reluctance to respond -- we threaten to forever weaken the power of Congress. As you know, current and former Bush administration officials have simply refused to testify before Congress even when subpoenaed.

This has never happened before in the history of our nation. Never before have high level executive officials refused to even appear before Congress when properly summoned by the Legislative Branch. The House of Representatives has held former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten in contempt of Congress for their failure to appear and a lawsuit is ongoing in order to force their appearance. I think we must do more. I have called for Karl Rove -- who has also refused to testify -- to be held in inherent contempt and for the other renegade officials such as Miers and Bolten to appear as required by their subpoenas or be forced to do so by the House Sergeant of Arms. The power of inherent contempt is lawful whereas the refusal of Miers and Bolten is not. Congress must stand up for itself against this executive abuse of power.

It is now the time for Democrats to be breathing more fire. We need to show the American people that they chose correctly when they returned our party to majority status in Congress. As I argue in my book, when we give Americans a stark choice -- progressive values and policies will carry the day against the defeated ideas and old politics of the Bush administration and the vanquished GOP Congressional majority.

I hope that the McClellan hearing will only be the beginning of an effort for genuine accountability rather than a culmination of the effort. We owe it to the American people and history to pursue the wrongdoing of this administration whether or not it helps us politically or in the next election. Our actions will properly define the Bush administration in the eyes of history and that is the true test.

Comments

[WhitemoonG]

Another RELEVANT point:

I'm sure you know the deal about how the CIA was upset with Bush for including the "16 words" in the State of the Union, right? Liberal bloggers, commentators have mentioned that point (which is, in general, accurate!) some 7-8 millions times, right? Tenet was upset, right?



But, step back, out of the endless repeatthink, for a second... WHY was he upset?

"Because he knew Bush was intentionally hyping and lying," right?

Sure about that?

I invite you to READ the chapter in Tenet's recent book, which addresses that exact point and the whole yellowcake, "16 words" issue.


Tenet was upset, wished it hadn't been used in the speech, NOT BECAUSE IT WAS INACCURATE, but because he, as head of the CIA, considered it OLD NEWS. He clearly states in his book, that they Knew Sadam had hundreds of tons of yellowcake, pre-invasion, and yes, it was found.

But, Tenet wasn't happy because he considered it OLD NEWS, and was upset at Bush for not presenting other, newer concerns. Again, go read it for yourself.

Left wing SELECTIVE reading has been a longstanding irritation of mine.

[allwrite]

Another conclusion one might take from the book is that the administration was looking for anything it could hang its hat on to justify invading Iraq.

Don't you wonder intermittently where we would be today if Gore had gotten the job? Or, are you just so really, really proud of your boys Bush and Cheney?

[DeMaria]

Impeach! Now!

[allwrite]

No doubt the BushCheney shredder is busy, busy, busy. Let's hope there are enough people of courage and conscience in the Fed Bureaucracy who are, at this moment, ferreting away incriminating documents. There is just nothing happening that gives any real encouragment that the Bush/Cheney criminals will be brought to justice until they are out of office.

[KevinLoyalAmerican]

Mr. Wexler,

This is an easy call - Tell your House Leader to get off her cowardly butt and IMPEACH!
We can't take this to resolution and restore our full national pride or our standing in the world if the current leadership does not hold these criminals accountable. Period.

By the way, as you all are looking for votes - It is what the majority of the voting public wants - ACCOUNTABILITY. Not some sort of childish cowering and "letting go".

[H2O]

One might ask - why in july of 2001 - did bush-cheney change how the prez was held responsible for a attack on american soil?

[egal]

While you're at it, ask why they replaced 30% of soldiers with contractors who cost minimum 12X as much; why they started a war based on what everyone knew to be false evidence, even disproven evidence, when doing so would destroy the about-to-be-successful efforts to destroy Bin Laden's terrorist cell; or why they stopped funding Walter Reeds in the middle of war.

Oh, wait, they all have the same answer: selfish, stupid, conscienceless avarice.

If he isn't going to be impeached, then they had better at least try him for the war crimes he's committed...and that would, conveniently and finally, force them to impeach him.

[mgloraine]

The articles of impeachment have been submitted. Make it happen Congressman.

[Rescisco]

While I agree completely that accountability is important, I would suggest we are all to blame. "W" did not become any smarter on 9-11 than he was on 9-10, and we had ample evidence to doubt the truthfulness of the gibberish he fed us in the lead up to Iraq. Too many "patriotic" citizens looked the other way and allowed fear to reign when reason was most needed. Too many good Democratic members of Congress voted for Iraq not out of conviction but (looking at the polls) to look "strong" and thus fed the fear mania that gripped the nation. For that, we are all accountable. It takes a village to blunder so completely.

[Cathexis]

Let us not confuse, the culpability of those who perpetrated the crimes with the culpability of those who failed to acknowledge/stop/address the crimes. The former *still* demands acknowledgement and redress.

PS: Whaddya mean "we," Manipulated One?!? I used to be a *Republican* and *I* saw the web of spin, lies, and criminal behavior, right from the start. And I'm not about to let any "Group Guilt" disrail an egregiously deserved impeachment effort!

[mom2sons]

Impeachment should be on the table. We are fed up with the criminals. Stealing from the US taxpayers, disregarding civil liberties, soldiers killed for no reason. If Pelosi and Hoyer won't do, then we need to demand that they are tried for war crimes!

[mkelch]

Congressman Wexler is one of the few representatives in congress that takes his job seriously. Unfortunately, he is one of a small minority in Washington who does. Ultimately, the responsibility for holding these people accountable is the US citizen. An informed electorate will "throw the bums out" be they Republican or Democrat and keep throwing them out until we have a Congress that does its sincere best to represent the people who elected them.
The current FISA Bill is a good example. Hoyer, Pelosi and my representative Rodriguez are three people who need to be voted out of office for putting the interests of the White House and telecoms ahead of their own constituents. Rodriguez is a freshman whom I strongly supported in 2006 and he was elected upon the promise to vote in the interests of the people who elected him. I am actively working against him in 2008 and will continue until we find someone who reflects the will of his constituents.

[sufi66]

In several months the Bush nightmare will be over and the Democrats will fail to investigate anything in the spirit of a "new beginning."

Count on it.

[Cathexis]

Then that will be to our everlasting shame because we, and the world, will know that criminal behavior took palce and we looked the other way.

Even today, when "the US" lectures some other country on "Democracy" and "Freedom," I want to vomit ... the rank hypocrisy is too much to bear.

We can never again make claims to any moral high ground until/unless we do more than pay lip service to Principle and the Constitution.

[JerryKCDC]

I believe you meant to refer to the administration as rogue, not rouge...although that's a funny image.
Pressing for impeachment and winning in November are not mutually exclusive goals. Go get 'em!

[luziannagirl]

Dems are not pushing Republican accountability for one reason: They don't have to.

It's a version of the same reason the part-time Louisiana Legislature just last wk voted to abandon their normal (albeit colorful) legislative process, forget any measure of public vetting and debate, and double their own salaries effective immediately.

Oh, yeah. I'm serious. We are now something like 14th in legislative pay, but last or next to last in every other measure of the quality of life. But hold on, they first voted to triple it and such a hue and cry rose that they probably figured it wouldn't be worth the small measure of short-lived angst...anyway, their line of reasoning is similar to that of the Washington D's: Who cares what most of the people want, when it won't help us get elected or stay elected?

The Washington D's are just trying to run out the clock till November endgame. See, YOU'RE in the pocket and it's zipped shut. Any further demands from YOU are irrelevant.

It's not about serving the people. It's about winning the game. And, if the people are served in the process, it's only coincidental and serendipitous. And it will be until we have serious, mandatory, toothy campaign finance reform, and kick big money & K Street lobby-ostitutes to the curb.

Of course, that still won't touch Louisiana's rather unique political mess, but that's another topic.

[pilotinfla]

Wexler knows as well as anyone that there are no credible grounds for impeachment. In the history of this country, changes in policy have been accomplished peacefully with elections and not by imposing trumped-up charges against political opponents. If all the democrats can do is to attack Bush, they will not remain in the majority much longer.

[minerva117]

Ya, cause Bush is such a popular guy. Bwaaaahahahaha!

[pilotinfla]

Bush is not popular but impeachment was not intended as a popularity contest. There are some serious issues that the Congress needs to address.

[returnofthejedi]

With all due respect sir/madame this is not about democrat or republican. In my opinion this is all about the rights and liberties of american citizezns. Those that are elected seem to have forgotten this fact. As I understand the constitution these people are ther to represent the intrest of the citizens. To place the intrest of a political party over the intrest of the citizens should be a grounds to be removed from office immediatley if that case is proven.

[scooperss]

Absolutely.

[returnofthejedi]

Well let me try this again. I fully support your efforts Mr.Wexler as I believe you are right about this criminal administration. I can't understand why the Democratic leadership seems to be hampering attempts to bring these people to justice. Now maybe I am wrong as I am not a member of Congress
but I feel a 12 year old can see that this President and Vice President are guilty of crimes. This is so obvious that I won't even say what these crimes are, and I bet anyone reading this already knows them. Americas System of Government is becoming an embarrasment around the world!
Im' asking you to do all you can to bring these criminals to justice, or things will ultimatly get worse for America before it gets any better.

[moreupnorth]

Rep. Wexler, I find no mention by you of Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid. They are the two most important and influential figures in stopping the "Genuine Accountability" of the current administration. I totally agree with your stance but wonder why you are not pointing a finger at those who would hinder your efforts.

There is a reason they will not testify. They already know that nothing will be done about it as stated by leading Democrats.