- * The White House and DOD have failed to turn over WMD
evidence after 500,000 Americans signed a petition delivered to Bush six
months ago. He also has failed to answer questions or turn over documents
requested by 52 Congressmen after the Downing Street Memo also surfaced
in May. Many observers feel Bush thinks he's above the law, acting like
Hitler in Nazi Germany.
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- By Greg Szymanski
12-27-5
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- The White House is again demonstrating how it feels above
the law, as it arrogantly has refused to comply with a Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA) request made six months ago by 52 Congressmen.
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- The Democratic lawmakers are seeking information on whether
President Bush doctored WMD intelligence data to justify the Iraqi War,
a hotbed issue for millions of Americans with over 500,000 officially writing
Bush, asking for immediate answers.
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- However, Bush has ignored both the FOIA request and the
public outcry, hiding behind what some* *call a cloak of arrogance, phony
national security reasons and a Republican majority inCongress, openly
furthering a neo-con war agenda destructive to American interests.
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- Although Rep. John Conyers (D-Mi) and the other band
of 50 Democrats are fighting the good fight and working within the system,
critics suggest they are just "beating their heads against a neo-con
brick wall" since Bush and his protective Republican allies have no
intention of leaking the truth to the American people, knowing it will
lead to impeachment.
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- In the interim, many critics suggest Rep. Conyers and
the others are fighting a losing battle, both on Capitol Hill and in the
public relations arena, where much of middle class America has been sheltered
from the facts behind Bush's real motives for going into Iraq by a cooperative
and partisan press, also protecting secret White House interests.
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- It's common knowledge Bush's public approval ratings
have fallen below the political Mendoza Line, but administration operatives
and Bush himself appear to care less.
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- Although support is fading, the administration appears
anxious to further its war agenda, displaying outright arrogance while
knowing the President is insulated from serious impeachment action due
to what many critics feel is "a one-party dictatorship created after
a 30 year neo-con power grab has now fully cast its dark shadow over the
Washington D.C. landscape."
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- It's no secret American is trouble going into 2006. But
the question remains how can the people fight back? Or the bigger question
looms: Do enough Americans really care?
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- "Americans have been played for suckers and now
all hell will break loose in the years to come," said one neo-con
critic, adding any corrections to America's dilemma cannot be made from
within a corrupt political system gone "mad with power" and beyond
the point of return.
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- "We need to remove the cancer from within, save
the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and then begin again. I just hope
it's not too late."
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- While some in America are calling for outright revolution
like fashioned by America's forefathers against the British, Rep. Conyers
is embroiled in a political battle within the halls of Congress against
the administration over the release of vital documents concerning the strong
possibility Bush lied to the American people about his real motives behind
the Iraqi War.
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- Although Bush's foot has been put in the fire over a
number of other issues meriting impeachment inquiries, the fixing of WMD
intelligence data to fit a pre-established war policy remains his Achilles
Heel if Democrats can ever break through the barrier of suppression and
protection provided by neo-con minions in all three branches of government.
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- To illustrate how uncooperative the administration has
become with FOIA requests, it took the Department of Defense (DOD) almost
five months to respond to Rep Conyers initial request when On Nov. 30 DOD
officials told Conyers in part:
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- "The request would take considerable time to process,"
asking Conyers his willingness to pay fees for the WMD documentation, estimated
by the DOD to be $110,000.
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- This callous response, boarding on outright refusal to
turn over anything, came after Rep. Conyers wrote the DOD on June 30 and
then follow-up with an Aug 11 letter to the Office of Counsel to the President,
saying:
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- "On June 30, 2005, I and 51 other Members of Congress
requested access to 'all agency records, including but not limited to handwritten
notes, formal correspondence, electronic mail messages, intelligence reports
and other memoranda,' as described in five enumerated paragraphs. A copy
of the request letter is enclosed.
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- "The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requires
your office to respond to a FOIA request within twenty business days from
the date of receipt of such a request. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(A)(i).
The deadline has now elapsed without any response from your office. Because
the leaked memoranda from Great Britain raise serious questions over when
important war-related decisions were made, time is of the essence.
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- "I and the other Members of Congress do not wish
to resort to litigation because, at this point, a cooperative approach
is better suited to resolving the situation. I am available to assist your
office in any way possible to facilitate the prompt release of the requested
documents. If you need clarification of the request or have any questions,
please contact Stacey Dansky of the House Judiciary staff at 202-225-6906."
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- Since Rep. Conyers has not received an adequate response
from the administration, last week he has introduced bills to censure Bush
and Cheney for their refusal to respond, the Resolutions to be voted on
by the House when it again convenes in January 2006.
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- "I have introduced a Resolution creating a Select
Committee with subpoena authority to investigate the misconduct of the
Bush Administration with regard to the Iraq war and report on possible
impeachable offenses, as well as Resolutions proposing both President Bush
and Vice-President Cheney should be censured by Congress based on the uncontroverted
evidence of their abuse of power," said Rep. Conyers.
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- For more informative articles, go to www.arcticbeacon.com.
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