The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged truth commission

Leahy Admits Truth Commission Idea is Dead

By | 04.02.09 | 9:05 am

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 More…

Republicans Make a Case for Prosecuting Bush Officials

By | 03.04.09 | 1:26 pm

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s “Getting to the Truth Through a Nonpartisan Commission of Inquiry” convened this morning to consider Sen. Patrick Leahy’s (D-Vt.) proposal for a sort of “truth and reconciliation” commission.

The hearing was full of all the predictable, lofty statements from illustrious supporters about why a commission would More…

Did Arlen Specter Just Call For Prosecution of Bush Officials?

By | 03.04.09 | 11:21 am

Though Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa,) made it clear he opposed a truth commission along the lines of what Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has proposed, at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this morning, Specter — the ranking Republican on the committee — said that if More…

Perplexed: So Does This Mean Obama Does Want a Truth Commission?

By | 03.04.09 | 9:53 am

Daphne? Can you help me understand something?

I thought from President Obama’s answer to Sam Stein’s question at his press conference last month that he was lukewarm on Sen. Pat Leahy’s (D-Vt.) efforts to establish a truth commission for Bush-era abuses. But then why release all these Office More…

The Pelosi Plot Thickens

By | 02.26.09 | 12:01 pm

For those of you who missed it, MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show last night featured a terrific and news-breaking interview with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.),  in which Pelosi talked about, among other things, holding Bush administration officials criminally accountable.

Leahy Announces Hearing Next Week on Truth Commission

By | 02.25.09 | 3:15 pm

Picking up on the controversial proposal he made during a Feb. 9 speech at Georgetown University, Sen.Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) today reiterated his call for a “truth commission” on the Senate floor and said the Senate Judiciary Committee would hold a hearing next Wednesday to begin to consider the idea.

Leahy Would Investigate Democrats, Too

By | 02.22.09 | 12:10 pm

In The New York Times’ Sunday piece on the “Truth Commission” proposed by Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) , which I wrote about last week, reporter Scott Shane notes that during an interview, Leahy said that any commission investigating abuse of detainees under the Bush administration should also investigate More…

McCain Could Be the Key to a Truth Commission

By | 02.20.09 | 12:33 pm

In reporting yesterday on the fallout from Sen. Patrick Leahy’s (D-Vt.) proposal last week to create a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate the Bush administration’s alleged crimes in connection with its “war on terror,” I neglected to mention that in 2005  Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) had proposed a More…

TWI Drives the Debate on MSNBC

By | 02.20.09 | 7:14 am

If you happened to catch The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC last night, you saw TWI Legal Correspondent Daphne Eviatar breaking down the pros and cons of Sen. Patrick Leahy’s (D-Vt.)  proposed “truth commission” to investigate the Bush administration’s alleged crimes. Daphne also talked about the problem More…

Truth Commission Talk Sparks Conflict

By | 02.19.09 | 1:33 pm

When Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) last week told an audience at Georgetown University that Congress should convene a “Truth Commission” to investigate allegations of Bush administration wrongdoing, his remarks set off a firestorm. Within minutes, Leahy’s statements were zipping across the blogosphere, and by evening made More…