- (EIRNS)- Bush carried out a "treasonably impeachable"
act, LaRouche charged, when he declared during his signing of the Defense
Appropriations Act that he would effectively {ignore} the intent of Congress,
and the law, on the matter of the McCain anti-torture amendment. This very
act is impeachable, LaRouche said, even if the President is mentally incapable
of understanding what he is doing. Specifically, the President declared
that "The executive branch shall construe Title X in Division A of
the Act, relating to detainees, in a manner consistent with the constitutional
authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch as
Commander in Chief and consistent with the constitutional limitations on
the judicial power, which will assist in achieving the shared objective
of the Congress and the President, evidence in Title X, of protecting the
American people from further terrorist attacks." In other words,
the President is declaring that he has the right to {make} the law anything
he wants, as commander-in-chief. This is precisely what sources had told
EIR that Dick Cheney was saying he would do. And he's thrown down the gauntlet,
in defiance of the Constitution of the United States.
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- (EIRNS)--BUSH INVITES IMPEACHMENT FOR CHENEY AND HIMSELF;
SAYS HE CAN INGORE MCCAIN AMENDMENT.
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- Compounding what Lyndon LaRouche called an "impeachable
offense" by Dick Cheney, in telling U.S. government officials that
they should not follow Congress's mandate in banning "cruel, inhuman
or degrading" treatment of detainees, President Bush has signalled
that he intends to ignore the McCain anti-torture amendment.
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- In a "signing statement" issued when he signed
the Defense Appropriations bill on Dec. 30, Bush stated: "The executive
branch shall construe (the McCain Amendment) in a manner consistent with
the constitutional authority of the President to supervise the unitary
executive branch and as Commander in Chief and consistent with the constitutional
limitations on the judicial power, which will assist in achieving the shared
objective of the Congress and the President ... of protecting the American
people from further terrorist attacks."
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- "The whole point of the McCain Amendment was to
close every loophole," said Marty Lederman, a Georgetown University
law professor, who served in the Justice Department from 1997 to 2002.
"The President has re-opened the loophole by asserting the constitutional
authority to act in violation of the statute." Or, as Lederman wrote
on a legal blog: "You didn't think Cheney and Addington were going
to go quietly, did you?"
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- Elisa Massimino, Washington director for Human Rights
First, called Bush's signing statement an "in-your-face affront"
to both McCain and to Congress.
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- The "signing statement" is a favorite tactic
of the Unitary Executive gang, to assert that the Executive can ignore
Congress whenever he disagrees with its legislation.
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- Boston Globe, Jan 5, 2006-- 3 GOP senators condemned
Bush's assertion he can bypass anti-torture legislation. Warner and McCain
issued a joint statement:: ``We believe the president understands Congress's
intent in passing by very large majorities, legislation governing the treatment
of detainees. The Congress declined when asked by administration officials
to include a presidential waiver of the restrictions included in our legislatin.
Our committee intends through strict oversight to monitor the administration's
implementing of the new law.''
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- Separately, the third primary sponsor of the detainee
treatment law, Senator Lindsey O. Graham said he agreed with them ``and
would go a little bit further.'' ``I do not believe that any political
figure in the country has the ability to set aside any law of armed conflict
that we have adopted or treaties that we have ratified.. If we go down
that road, it will cause great problems for our troops in future conflicts
because nothing is to prevent other nations' leaders from doing the same.
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