France may actually prosecute one of its former heads of state for criminal actions while in office. What a concept!
PARIS, Oct 30 (Reuters) – A French magistrate has ordered former President Jacques Chirac to stand trial on embezzlement charges dating back to his time as mayor of Paris, in an unprecedented move against a former French head of state, Chirac’s office said. […]
The charges investigated by [Magistrate] Simeoni relate to 35 work contracts that were allegedly awarded by the Paris city hall to friends or associates of the Chirac political camp as favours, for non-existent jobs.
God, where to begin. How many crimes are there for which Bush and Cheney should be investigated during their eight years of office? I’m guessing the number could reach into the hundreds, if not thousands, and that’s not counting crimes against humanity and war crimes charges. But that would require an independent investigator with a minimal amount amount of guts. So far, based on his actions, Attorney General Holder doesn’t strike me as particularly willing to “go there” nor does President Obama or the Democratic Leadership in the Congress. Unlike Republicans who were willing to impeach Clinton over alleged purgery about his sexual affair with Monica Lewinski after wasting millions of dollars investigating non-existent charges associated with the so-called White Water scandal.
And no, this isn’t a matter of “revenge” this is a matter of justice. We aren’t talking about petty crimes. The US Attorney scandal. Payments to former military officers and to conservative pundits for propaganda and disinformation. Lying to Congress. Obstruction of justice. Illegal detentions. Torture. Jack Abramoff. Awarding no bid contracts to firms which either contributed funds to Republicans or in which Cheney held a financial interest. Illegal electronic surveillance of American citizens. Violations of the free speech rights of dissidents, Reprisals against government whistle blowers. The list is not endless, but I could go on for pages and pages if I wished to spend the time and effort to do so.
But then, if we actually investigated criminal activity by Bush and Cheney we’d be just like (gasp!) France! And what could be worse than that?
their bread is better, too.
The complete list used to be online, annotated and 60 feet long if printed out. That site is gone (I don’t know if it is temporary or not) but the list in short form is here:
http://blearc.newsvine.com/_news/2008/12/27/2249623-hughs-list-of-399-bush-scandals-because-theres-t
oo-many-scandals-to-remember-
In a previous thread of yours,
“Mr President, do the right thing”, I posted a (faulty) link to a documentary film on torture. That link was kindly repaired in a subsequent post by “OUI”, which I re-post here,
http://www.mediapart.fr/contenu/torture-made-usa-une-enquete-exclusive
the film, Torture Made In U.S.A.,
is still available for viewing as streaming video on-line at the link provided.
I refer to this video because I learned (though it was already public knowledge to many via various other sources) from it that the practice of “Extraordinary Rendition”, the euphemism for official kidnapping of suspects and their dispatch to far-flung U.S. client-states for interrogation under torture, is a practice that goes back at least to the Clinton administration. That’s right. And that may be in part the reason why President Obama is reluctant to take an aggressive stand on the crimes of the Bush/Cheney maladministrations. His own Secretary of State’s husband could be implicated in charges which grow out of such pursuits. And, unfortunately, the same sort of complications might not (probably do not) end with that aspect alone.
So, in order to do justice in the many very grave crimes done by so many throughout the Bush/Cheney maladministrations, President Obama may be faced with placing some of his own near and dear partisans at risk of investigation–and perhaps trial and conviction.
Would he, could he, do that? My own view is that these complications should not be made (or accepted, if proposed, though it’s hardly likely that anyone would admit that the refusal to pursue Bush or Cheney is related to such concerns) the excuse, privately or otherwise, of allowing the Bush/Cheney crimes to go unprosecuted. Here we’re faced once again with having to accept that Democrats, like Republicans, are fully implicated in all the ills of our failed political culture and that, if it’s going to be set right, they can’t be spared from their shared responsibility for the failure, including criminal responsibility.
[I’m leaving aside extended comment on the supposition that, if “France is [somehow] better than [the] U.S.”, it has or could have anything to do with the announced indictment, (to be appealed), of former-President Jacques Chirac.]