rssLeahy Admits Truth Commission Idea is Dead
Thursday, April 02, 2009 at 9:05 am
- 11 Comments
We’ve been speculating that Sen. Pat Leahy’s (D-Vt.) proposed truth commission to investigate alleged lawbreaking during the Bush administration may not be going anywhere, but now it seems Leahy is saying that himself.
Charlotte Dennett, a journalist and former candidate for Vermont attorney general, writes in Consortiumnews.com that in a meeting with Leahy on Monday, the senator admitted that his idea for a “Commission of Inquiry” is going nowhere fast.
“We had asked for the meeting to learn why he supported a truth commission over the appointment of a special prosecutor,” writes Dennett. “Halfway through the allotted 30 minute meeting (with him taking up much of the time explaining why he was not generally opposed to prosecution, since he had been a DA for eight years and had the highest conviction rate in Vermont), he told us that his truth commission had failed to get the broad support it needed in Congress, and since he couldn’t get one Republican to come behind the plan, ‘it’s not going to happen.’”
Officially, Leahy’s staff is saying that he’s still working on getting support for the commission, which is why he hasn’t proposed legislation yet. But this report suggest otherwise.
It also suggests that Leahy couldn’t get Sen.John McCain (R-Ariz.), who was tortured as a POW during the Vietnam War — and supposed champion for human rights — to go along with the commission idea.
So if the truth commission idea is dead, what does that say about the likelihood of prosecution of former Bush officials? As I wrote earlier, when the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Leahy’s proposed commission, Republicans such as Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), while decrying the idea of such a broad-ranging commission, were making the strongest case for criminal prosecution we’d seen yet.
While advocates for a truth commission may be disappointed to learn the proposal isn’t moving forward, this may mean there’s now more of a chance that senior Bush policymakers who authorized torture, warrantless wiretapping and other illegal conduct will be held accountable in a court of law. Particularly as other U.S. allies — the United Kingdom and Spain, in particular — have recently announced their own investigations related to U.S.-sponsored torture and abuse of “war on terror” detainees.
In the meantime, as I’ve written before, Leahy and the Senate Judiciary Committee could still initiate a comprehensive inquiry into the role of the Justice Department in potentially illegal conduct under the Bush administration, as Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and the Senate Intelligence Committee have done for the CIA.
There’s no need for a truth commission to get the investigative ball rolling.
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11 Comments
Comment posted April 2, 2009 @ 7:08 am
If the US wants to redeem itself in the World then it must prosecute those responsible.
Otherwise it will be to Americas eternal shame that another country had to right the wrongs of the last administration.
Comment posted April 2, 2009 @ 9:33 am
The criminal acts of the Bush Administration are the most awful of my lifetime and are an assualt to the values of this country. If there is not accountability for these crimes, our country will be tarnished forever. We have NO MORAL AUTHORITY ANY LONGER. The rest of world already recognizes this rendering our words irrelevant when you call out any other nation. I am deeply ashamed of the cowards that have taken the reigns in this new administration that are sitting siliently wishing this would all go away. No wonder only half of eligible vote.
Comment posted April 2, 2009 @ 10:07 am
There's a case to be made that the Bush Administration's crimes are the worst since the genocidal actions of the federal government back during the era of the Indian wars. No American president of the modern era has ever so openly embraced the use of torture as a policy of the state.
Pingback posted April 2, 2009 @ 11:56 am
[...] to investigate alleged criminal acts during the Bush Administration, it’s a bit of a sad day. The Washington Independent reports that Leahy has admitted his proposal isn’t getting any [...]
Comment posted April 2, 2009 @ 1:26 pm
Then you have to convince people to support these ideas. There are just not enough people who want to have trials and see convictions. Sen. Leahy couldn't even get 100,000 signatures on his petition. That's the problem.
Comment posted April 2, 2009 @ 2:08 pm
If the US wants to redeem itself in the World then it must prosecute those responsible.
Otherwise it will be to Americas eternal shame that another country had to right the wrongs of the last administration.
Comment posted April 2, 2009 @ 4:33 pm
The criminal acts of the Bush Administration are the most awful of my lifetime and are an assualt to the values of this country. If there is not accountability for these crimes, our country will be tarnished forever. We have NO MORAL AUTHORITY ANY LONGER. The rest of world already recognizes this rendering our words irrelevant when you call out any other nation. I am deeply ashamed of the cowards that have taken the reigns in this new administration that are sitting siliently wishing this would all go away. No wonder only half of eligible vote.
Comment posted April 2, 2009 @ 5:07 pm
There's a case to be made that the Bush Administration's crimes are the worst since the genocidal actions of the federal government back during the era of the Indian wars. No American president of the modern era has ever so openly embraced the use of torture as a policy of the state.
Pingback posted April 2, 2009 @ 10:28 pm
[...] course there are other ways to learn about possible illegal acts by the Bush administration, but apparently that’s not going to [...]
Pingback posted April 3, 2009 @ 12:16 am
[...] Leahy Admits Truth Commission Idea is Dead – The Washington Independent.com We’ve been speculating that Sen. Pat Leahy’s (D-Vt.) proposed truth commission to investigate alleged lawbreaking during the Bush administration may not be going anywhere, but now it seems Leahy is saying that himself. Charlotte Dennett, a … [...]
Pingback posted August 22, 2009 @ 2:20 pm
[...] it to an end. But, just as quickly, the idea was scrapped due to (here comes shocker number two) partisan rancor in Washington. The idea was a simple one, and one we all know to be true: sunshine cleans everything. The truth [...]
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