Vote to Hold the Bush Administration Accountable

UPDATE

An open letter to Barack Obama

Dear President-Elect Obama:

While I understand your desire to put the mistakes and failures of the Bush administration behind us and to focus on the future with a positive agenda of change, I believe it is absolutely necessary to the credibility of your promise of change that you investigate the abuses of the Bush administration and hold accountable anyone who has abused his or her power of office or participated in criminal acts.

Without holding government responsible for past abuses, there is nothing to preclude those same abuses from recurring. When you take the oath of office on January 20th, you will swear to uphold the Constitution. You cannot do so while allowing those who have disgraced it to fail to pay consequences for their actions.

Those who voted for you are passionately hopeful that you will live up to your campaign rhetoric and act boldly to do what is right for our country--no matter the political cost. We are facing unprecedented problems domestically and internationally. We need bold actions, truth, and real solutions.

I implore you to do what is necessary to restore the faith of Americans in our country's leadership by upholding your duties to protect the Constitution.

Thank you.

EVERYONE PLEASE VOTE TO APPOINT A SPECIAL PROSECUTER BY CLICKING ON THE BADGE ABOVE.

Related:

• Arianna Huffington: Memo to Obama: Moving Forward Doesn't Mean You Can't Also Look Back


• Paul Krugman | Forgive and Forget? | NYTimes.com:

  "...[A]bout Mr. Obama: while it’s probably in his short-term political interests to forgive and forget, next week he’s going to swear to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” That’s not a conditional oath to be honored only when it’s convenient...."

• Forcing Obama’s Hand on Torture Prosecutions | The Opinionator Blog | NYTimes.com:

  "...The former chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and general counsel for the Department of the Army has spoken. Her clear words have been picked up around the world. And that takes the prospects of accountability and criminal investigation onto another level. For the Obama administration, the door to the do-nothing option is now closed. That is why today may come to be seen as the turning point."

• Earl Ofari Hutchinson: Holder Can't Prosecute Bush Abuses Too Many Democrats Aided and Abetted Them


• Obama Has to Hold Bush Accountable for the Laws He Broke | Elizabeth Holtzman, The Nation | AlterNet:

  "Obama cannot let former Bush administration officials get away with breaking the law without violating his own oath of office...."

Technorati tags: War crimes, Prosecute, Special Prosecuter, Bush, Cheney, Bush Administration, torture, Justice, Geneva Convention, Paul Krugman