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?
