The View from the Meadow
Observations of the Passing Scene
Political and Social Commentary by Dave Satre
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Worse than Watergate?
John Dean, former White House legal counsel during the Nixon administration, believes George Bush should be impeached. In his book Worse than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush, Dean details at least eleven potential scandals that could warrant impeachment. Several of them are far worse than Watergate and, combined, they amount to the largest corruption scandal in the history of the White House.
The only thing that keeps Bush and Cheney from being impeached is the carefully crafted, Soviet-style veil of secrecy that they have created to hide their misdeeds from public and legal scrutiny. The Bush Administration is more obsessed with secrecy than any other president in US history and has done everything they can to operate under secrecy. This started long before 9/11, but they have exploited the terrorism as an excuse for more secrecy.
George Bush refused to release the papers of his father's presidency, he kept asking for 60-day delays. In 1978, the Congress passed a law making Presidential papers available, saying that they belong to the American people. GW’s own records are sealed and not available to the public.
Bush eventually issued an executive order, which ignores the 1978 law, keeping his father’s papers secret. You cannot overturn an act of Congress with an executive order, but so far Bush has gotten away with it. The issue is now in the courts.
Since Watergate there has been steady progress toward open government. Bill Clinton declassified almost a billion documents during his presidency. The Bush Regime is out to totally reverse this trend. This secret presidency is undemocratic; it is hardly a model for democracy. It is certainly questionable whether Iraq or any other country would want this sort of “democracy” imposed upon them.
Bush and Co. is doing everything they can to win the 2004 election. Partly because they have an entirely different agenda they wish to impose on the American public during Bush’s second term and partly because if they lose, many of them could end up in a federal prison. If Bush loses the election, expect him to pardon all of his cronies before they are indicted. It will one of the hugest abuses of power in the history of the country. The controversy over the Clinton pardons at the end of his term will pale by comparison.
There are many issues that could lead to the impeachment of George Bush. Several investigations are currently underway.
During the Nixon impeachment the House Judiciary Committee very clearly stated that false statements to Congress are an impeachable offense. Bush lied to Congress in going to war in Iraq
The SEC is currently investigating Vice President Cheney for several issues, including his relationship with Haliburton.
A grand jury is still investigating the situation in which a “leak” from the White House exposed CIA operative Valerie Plame in retaliation for her husband’s accusations that the White House knew there were no WMDs in Iraq. Her husband is former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who headed the CIA’s investigation into the charge that Iraq had purchased uranium “yellow cake” from Nigeria. Wilson’s report to the CIA, Cheney, the State Department and the National Security Council flatly stated that there was no truth to the story. When Bush proceeded to claim that Iraq constituted a nuclear threat during his push to invade that country, Wilson went public with his criticisms of the administration’s use of false evidence. Leak Destroys CIA Agent
Valerie Plame was a deep cover operative running a network of informants focusing on the issue of weapons of mass destruction. Under Section 421 of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, identifying a covert agent is illegal. It was also a highly irrational act in view of The Regime’s desperate need to prove the existence of WMD’s in Iraq.
The 9/11 Commission’s hearings are currently underway and the report on their findings is due in July, just as the presidential election gets into full swing. This commission exists because the Bush administration stonewalled and slow-walked the investigation into the terrorist activities on Sep 11th.
Cheney pushed for a joint inquiry by Congress, which is the slowest and least effective way to investigate anything. Standing congressional committees would have otherwise held investigations. Public pressure finally forced Bush to allow the establishment of the 9/11 Commission, but only according to his specific stipulations.
He appointed Commissioners who have ties to the administration, the oil industry and the Bin Ladens. The White House retains the right to review the commission’s report and remove anything from the report that they deem inappropriate. No doubt, citing security issues as their excuse.
There are several more scandals that could erupt before the election, the greatest of which is taking this country to war on the basis of purposeful lies in a plan to implement a hidden agenda. People are dying because of this highly questionable move. Engaging in deceit and deception over going to war in Iraq is an impeachable offense.
| This is much worse than Watergate. This is a deliberate violation of the trust of the American people. And people are dying almost every day. When Bush asked Congress in October of 2002 for a resolution to go to war in Iraq he wanted a power that would not require him to go back to Congress to get war powers when he actually went to war. |
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The
Congress had never previously granted such a power, but it did so under
two specific conditions:
(1) They demanded a formal Presidential declaration from Bush that there was no diplomatic way to resolve the problem of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
(2) The war in Iraq would be consistent with the war on terrorism. In other words, there was a direct connection between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.
No attention was paid to this resolution. Forty-eight hours after invading Iraq, under the resolution, Bush was forced to submit his formal declaration. The declaration was a fraud --- Bush lied on both issues.
There’s nothing comparable to this administration in U.S. history. Bush doesn’t hold press conferences unless forced to do so under pressure from the public. The use of executive privilege is rampant and The Regime demonstrates an obsession with the classification of documents under the cloak of secrecy. Image is considered more important than substance. Everything seems geared toward winning re-election in November 2004.
The relationship between Bush and Cheney is a true indication of this presidency. Bush isn’t really in charge – this is a co-presidency: Bush functions as the head of state, Cheney is the head of the government.
Bush is the front man. He is a likeable, affable sort of guy and he’s very good at fundraising. He is not bright, he lacks intellectual curiosity, he doesn’t read a newspaper and is apparently uninterested in current events. He’s not interested in government and definitely does not want to be involved in policy matters.
Bush often goes to meetings with a script. Cabinet secretaries are told prior to meetings what subjects will be addressed and what they are expected to say. He then takes their “input” and makes a “decision”. This much-touted “ability” is frequently mentioned in the media, where he is praised as a decisive manager who is able to make the tough decisions.
Bush has become a master of the misstatement. He literally takes a statement and drops all of the qualifications, all of the modifiers and makes it a declarative statement. He does it time after time after time. This is a misrepresentation of the facts.
Cheney is the most powerful Vice President in US history. He is in essence the Co-President. The best current evidence of this is the fact is that the two of them plan to appear before the 9-11 Commission together. Bush wouldn’t go by himself. This will occur in a closed hearing and will not be reported to the public, but Bush could still embarrass himself seriously in front of the 9/11 Commission when Cheney can answer fairly penetrating questions and Bush obviously can’t.
John Dean sees Karl Rove’s role in the Bush White House as both Halderman and Ehrlichman in the Nixon administration. Halderman was the ruthless procedure man in charge of the president’s image and political planning. Ehrlichman was the policy man. Every policy for the President was viewed through the perspective of re-electing the president.
The Nixon administration invented the concept of the permanent campaign. Everything they did was focused on the re-election to a second term. The second term would have its own set of goals. That was the time when the administration’s real agenda would be implemented. Fortunately, the corruption of the administration brought Nixon down before it could become a reality.
The Bush administration has the same attitude. They brought along their public relations and media people and they now wield a high level of power in the White House. The entire focus is re-election to a second term and the implementation of an agenda unknown at this time to all but those in the inner sanctum.
Hopefully, the corruption in The Regime will also bring down Bush before this happens. The November election would be the best time to do it.
John Dean was Nixon’s White House Counsel. He was the legal counsel to the White House who warned Nixon that a web of lies related to the Watergate scandal had formed “a cancer on his presidency.” When Dean went public about that conversation, the Nixon White House smeared him as a liar. Fortunately, the conversation had been taped and Dean was vindicated.
Dean is considered the chief whistleblower that brought down Nixon's presidency. He was one of the only Nixon confidants with the courage to tell the truth during the attempt to cover-up the Watergate scandal.
Dean was convicted of obstruction of justice in the attempt to cover-up the Watergate burglary. He knows an ethically and morally corrupt administration when he sees one.
Dean’s book “Worse than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush” details around eleven potential scandals that could lead to impeachment.
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