Darth strikes again

oddmanin · Associate Joined: 11 Dec 2007 Posts: 61 votes: 1

at least darth wanted to be redeemed at the end-----This friggin guy, tho... by the way--- commondreams.org is fairly illuminating---- as are the comments after this entry...

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Published on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 by The Guardian/UK
Cheney Lawyer Claims Congress Has No Authority Over Vice-President
by Elana Schor

The lawyer for US vice-president Dick Cheney claimed today that the Congress lacks any authority to examine his behaviour on the job.

The exception claimed by Cheney’s counsel came in response to requests from congressional Democrats that David Addington, the vice-president’s chief of staff, testify about his involvement in the approval of interrogation tactics used at Guantanamo Bay.

Ruling out voluntary cooperation by Addington, Cheney lawyer Kathryn Wheelbarger said Cheney’s conduct is “not within the [congressional] committee’s power of inquiry”.

“Congress lacks the constitutional power to regulate by law what a vice-president communicates in the performance of the vice president’s official duties, or what a vice president recommends that a president communicate,” Wheelbarger wrote to senior aides on Capitol Hill.

The exception claimed by Cheney’s office recalls his attempt last year to evade rules for classified documents by deeming the vice-president’s office a hybrid branch of government - both executive and legislative.

The Democratic congressman who is investigating the legal framework for the violent interrogation of terrorist suspects, John Conyers, has asked Addington and several other top Bush administration lawyers to testify. Thus far all have claimed their deliberations are privileged.

However, Philippe Sands QC, law professor at University College, London, has agreed to appear in Washington and discuss the revelations in Torture Team, his new book on the consequences of the brutal tactics used at Guantanamo.

Excerpts from Torture Team were previewed exclusively by the Guardian earlier this month.

Two witnesses sought by Conyers, former US attorney general John Ashcroft and former US justice department lawyer John Yoo, claimed that their involvement in civil lawsuits related to harsh interrogations allows them to avoid appearing before Congress.

In letters to attorneys representing Ashcroft and Yoo, Conyers shot down their arguments and indicated he would pursue subpoenas if their clients did not testify at his May 6 hearing.

“I am aware of no basis for the remarkable claim that pending civil litigation somehow immunises an individual from testifying before Congress,” Conyers wrote.

Conyers, who chairs the House of Representatives judiciary committee, also questioned the reasoning of Cheney’s lawyer in a letter to Addington.

“It is hard to know what aspect of the invitation [to you] has given rise to concern that the committee might seek to regulate the vice president’s recommendations to the president,” Conyers wrote.

“Especially since far more obvious potential subjects of legislation are plentiful,” he added, mentioning several: US laws on the use of torture on terrorist suspects, the 15-year-old War Crimes Act, and the rules that allowed the Bush White House to receive legal advice from a specialised office within the justice department.

© 2008 The Guardian

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oddmanin · Associate Joined: 11 Dec 2007 Posts: 61 votes: 1

please make your voice heard... It is time to find out who we are as a nation.

It is time to determine if we are truly a nation of laws or if we have resigned ourselves to the fact that some men (and women) in control of our nation can act outside the law without consequence.

If the latter is true, we have turned our backs on the founders of our country and do not deserve the freedoms we have been granted as citizens of the United States.

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft and former Justice Department official John Yoo must explain to the American people how it came to pass that the Department not only gave the green light to torture, but also prevented the FBI from taking action against the CIA when it was aware of torture taking place.

Click here to tell House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers to subpoena Ashcroft and Yoo so that they will be forced to appear before the committee:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/21 … _KEY=24355

Over the past few weeks, the extent to which the Bush administration was systematically involved in torture has become clear. The evidence is now overwhelming that the administration, with the Department of Justice playing a leading role, conspired to violate domestic law and international treaty obligations.

In shocking testimony earlier this week, FBI director Robert Mueller described in stark terms the state of the law in the Bush administration. Despite acknowledging that the interrogation techniques of the CIA were so egregious that in 2002 he ordered his own agents not to participate, he testified that he did not have a legal basis to investigate the apparently illegal torture. He offered this disturbing explanation:

"[W]hat constitutes appropriate behavior under circumstances for other agencies is subject to legal opinions from the Department of Justice."

So in 2002, the head of the FBI believed the CIA was conducting illegal activity, based on his understanding of the law. This illegal activity, as we have learned recently, was coordinated by a group of top officials in the White House, including Attorney General John Ashcroft. At the same time, Ashcroft's own Office of Legal Counsel produced an "opinion" - later repudiated - saying torture is legal. This opinion prevented the FBI - another agency within the Department of Justice - from investigating the clearly illegal behavior.

When we talk about having a government of laws and not of men, this is exactly the kind of activity such a government is designed to prevent.

In order to ensure that no future administration ever repeats this behavior, we must explore fully the process that resulted in the Department of Justice blocking the FBI from investigating clear violations of the law.

Please click on the following link to send an email to Chairman Conyers today, demanding that he issue subpoenas to John Ashcroft and John Yoo requiring them to testify before his committee as soon as possible:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/21 … _KEY=24355

One final and important note: Should Ashcroft and Yoo refuse to comply with duly issued Judiciary Committee subpoenas, the American Freedom Campaign will push for an immediate launch of impeachment hearings.

Enough is enough.

Best,
Steve

Steve Fox
Campaign Director
American Freedom Campaign Action Fund