by Glynn Wilson

It is high time George W. Bush faced a real investigation into his war crimes during his disastrous two terms as president of the United States.

In light of Bush’s admission of authorizing waterboarding in an interview on NBC this week, the American Civil Liberties Union urged Attorney General Eric Holder to ask Assistant U.S. Attorney John Durham to investigate whether former President Bush violated the federal statute prohibiting torture.

The request, made in a letter sent to Holder, comes on the heels of the release of Bush’s plagiarized memoir in which he admits directly authorized the use of waterboarding. The U.S. Department of Justice policy is that waterboarding is torture and, as such, it is a crime under the federal anti-torture statute.

“In light of the admission by the former president, and the legally correct determination by the Department of Justice that waterboarding is a crime, you should ensure that Mr. Durham’s current investigation into detainee interrogations encompasses the conduct and decisions of former President Bush,” ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero says in the letter. “The former president’s acknowledgement that he authorized torture is absolutely without parallel in American history. The admission cannot be ignored. In our system, no one is above the law or beyond its reach, not even a former president.”

The letter also points out that failure to investigate President Bush’s role in violating the torture statute would severely compromise America’s ability to advocate for human rights in other countries.

“A nation committed to the rule of law … cannot simply ignore evidence that its most senior leaders authorized torture,” the letter concludes.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr., the Michigan Democrat, joined the call for an investigation this week and questioned the Obama Justice Department’s decision not to bring charges related to the destruction of CIA videotapes.

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Glynn Wilson

Judge U.W. Clemon criticized The Birmingham News and the Bush Justice Department at The National Press Club

by Glynn Wilson

WASHINGTON, D.C. — One of the most significant problems corrupting American society and politics over the past eight years is finally getting the public spotlight it deserves in the nation’s capital. You can’t run a successful democracy without an honest system of justice that is removed as far as possible from politics, according to a panel of experts who spoke at one of the most venerated institutions in the United States, the National Press Club.

Some of the people who came from as far away as Alaska, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia were a bit disappointed when it was announced that former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers were not able to make it.

But Elliot Mintzberg, chief counsel for oversight investigations of the House Judiciary Committee, who came in Conyers’ place, insisted that all the investigations are continuing full bore into the politicization of the justice system by the Bush White House and Department of Justice — in spite of a certain camp in Washington who would rather “look forward, not back.”

Glynn Wilson

House Judiciary Committee investigator Elliot Mintzberg

He said the investigation into the firings of U.S. attorneys and the improper interference of Bush’s White House staff, including political aide Karl Rove, “is not yet done.”

In response to my direct questions about when Karl Rove will be called to testify and the controversy over whether his testimony will be fully on the record and subject to contempt laws, Mintzberg said a date has been set, but he could not reveal it. He insisted the committee will fully probe Rove on the record in a transcribed deposition that will make him subject to perjury if he lies to Congress. He insisted the deposition will be released to the public when the time comes just like the testimony of other witnesses, including Alabama attorney Jill Simpson’s, who made the trip to Washington for the forum. And he said that might very well lead to public hearings.

Mintzberg said investigations are continuing on several fronts.

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