Hey...at least he's not a crook who has sex with interns.

If you were unable to watch or listen to Senator Conyers' hearing yesterday in which the Downing Street Minutes and pre-war intelligence were discussed, I strongly suggest you watch the rebroadcast tonight at 8pm on C-SPAN2, or go over to After Downing Street dot org and read through the written testimonies. I tried like hell to find a transcript this morning, but my supra Kung-fu internet chi is all discombobulated. Or there ain't one yet.

I can't applaud Senator Conyers and the panel of participants enough. The testimonies brought forward compelling evidence, solid irrefutable facts, and several family's legitimate demands for answers in a manner even the Right would be hard pressed to write off as partisan sour-grapes--oh no doubt they will. AND throw in a 'divider' jab or two, or the newly vogue "Can't you people just move on?"* They are, at least, consistent.

But I was most impressed at how the testimonies showed the demand for an inquiry is not the singling out of a particular president for undue scrutiny, but a historical matter of policy. To wit: If an investigation was in order when Nixon was accused of using his powers to spy on the competition, and was in order when Clinton was accused of lying about an extra-marital affair (both--in terms of casualties--victimless crimes); then certainly a simple investigation is appropriate when the alleged crime is manufacturing evidence, using it to lie to the nation, and waging war on an unarmed country (inarguably victim-ridden). Hey...there's always the chance an investigation would conclude he did not committ a crime at all. He was just 'not wasting his political capital':

"...in interviews in 1999 with respected journalist, and long time Bush family friend, David Herskowitz, then Governor George Bush stated: ‘One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief. My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it. If I have a chance to invade….if I had that much capital, I’m not going to waste it. I’m going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I’m going to have a successful presidency.”

*link via vidiot

Posted by Antigeist at June 17, 2005 12:39 PM