Bush
"President Bush claimed that what is interesting about being President is that he does not have to answer to anyone. Not the American people and not Congress; not even the courts. He claimed that he is accountable to no one; that the 2000 and 2004 elections, as marred with irregularities as they were, were his sole moments of accountability. President Bush even claimed that it would be a lot easier to rule as a dictator. The President of the United States of America dared utter these words. Of course he also utters the words “freedom,” “human rights,” and “democracy” at will to prompt the instinctive American response that this is what our nation embodies. He espouses this belief in the founding principles of our nation, while demonstrating a callous disregard for the American people and our system of governance. No law is too large or too small to undo, whether by Congress, misuse of signing statements or by complete disregard for the law itself. What is more shocking, as many nations throughout history have had the wrong leader at the wrong time, is the near silence from Congress beyond a few choice quotes when an election is near. They are quite nearly responding with one voice and one vision – Democrats and Republicans alike. The loyal opposition in Congress is fading without debate, and many are complicit in the overhaul of our nation. What the President says goes, checked by none. This is the new law of 21st century America." By Susan Morrison
"If the president has commander-in-chief power to commit torture, he has the power to commit genocide, to sanction slavery, to promote apartheid, to license summary execution" Harold Koh, dean of Yale Law School.
"Legally, there are no significant differences between the investor fraud perpetrated by Enron CEO Ken Lay and the prewar intelligence fraud perpetrated by George W. Bush. Both involved persons in authority who used half-truths and recklessly false statements to manipulate people who trusted them. There is, however, a practical difference: The presidential fraud is wider in scope and far graver in its consequences than the Enron fraud. Yet thus far the public seems paralyzed." Elizabeth de la Vega
Spain Proceeding With Bush Torture Case (1/16/2012)
AI wants Bush on trial over torture
It is not a big story in the US, but Bush has been indicted for torture in Canada. (9/30/2011)Bush Family Buys Land In Paraguay, Hasta La Vista American Chumps ? (6/20/2010)
The Horror of Bush and the Problem for the Rest of Us (11/26/2010)
Republicans, backed by the corporate elite, were responsible for electing Bush. The Bush years were disastrous for the US on almost every criteria. Thomas Frank wrote about it in The Wrecking Crew.
Russ Baker in his book, "Family of Secrets", asks...how is it that W , who had an unimpressive record of accomplishment, became President ? Like other books that do not reflect the official story, Baker's book got scathing reviews, but his notes are extensive and his publisher is first class.
Bush was not particularly well qualified to be President. He is not a very good speaker, has little interest in policy, had traveled little, had almost no military experience, and had a mediocre record in the private sector. As the son of a former President who was the head of the CIA, his placement in office not only created massive conflicts of interest (see the Carlyle Group), but allowed Bush the younger to shroud his father's records in secrecy. It is not surprising that his record as President is the worst ever.
Bush Sr as a former head of the CIA was accomplished in techniques for winning elections, and of course had major connections to the oil industry and US military/industrial/media complex. The Bush family, as Kevin Phillips writes at length, has a tradition of putting its own interests first.
Bush Jrs selection highlighted long-standing corruption in US elections and a partisan Supreme Court. Election problems were widely reported in the foreign press. The Congress gave the illusion of action by passing the HAVA, but it did little to actually clean up or improve elections.
Corporate media ,especially Fox News, cheerled these things and they were rewarded when Michael Powell pushed for still more media concentration. According to former CIA Director William Colby: "The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media." For whatever reason media never held Bush or the Republicans accountable for their horrendous failures. Remember how Reagan was Teflon-man ? Fox News was complicit in spreading the lie that Iraq was complicit with the attacks of 9/11 .
Bush reliably favored the corporate interest over everyone else's. Actually, the dictionary definition of fascism is control of government by corporations. We've got that. Bush populated US government with corporate cronies who were determined to enrich themselves at the expense of most everybody else. It appears that none of the US agencies serve the people any longer. It is no surprise that the US is rapidly being deindustrialized as jobs continue to hemorrhage to low-wage countries. As corporations shed employee benefits, risk has been shifted to families, and everyone is more insecure. The weapons industry may turn out to be the employer of last resort for Americans, and automatically that translates to a takeover by the military-industrial complex. (Ike warned us about that, but media memory is very short or very selective. Also, they are war profiteers.)
Regulatory agencies became captives of their industries. This is obvious from the drug industry, meat packing, media, environment and others. It is probably prudent not to eat beef…
Under Bush, US leadership was incompetent, illiterate, self-serving, and criminal. Bush did not listen to people who disagree with him, so we were condemned to bad decisions at the highest levels of our government. Nixon era, Iran-Contra felons were brought back, Enron refugees installed, right wing incompetents like Rumsfeld brought us massively expensive, morally repugnant, bad decisions. Secrecy covered most of it so Congress could do no oversight. Instead, we got an imperial Presidency and a pretext for empire.
When Bush Jr took office, there was a real danger that peace would break out. Bush was determined, according to Paul O'Neill and the Downing Street memo, to invade Iraq from the moment he took office. Francis Boyle writes in his book "Destroying World Order- U.S. Imperialism in the Middle East Before and After September 11. "It is now a matter of public record that immediately after being inaugurated as president in January 2001, George Bush, Jr., Vice-President Dick Cheney, Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld, and his pro-Israeli 'Neoconservative' Deputy Paul Wolfowitz began to plot, plan, scheme, and conspire to wage a war of aggression against Iraq," Boyle writes. "Later, they manipulated the tragic events of September 11 in order to provide a pretext for doing so. The fact that Iraq had nothing at all to do with September 11 or supporting Al-Qaeda - as the CIA itself advised - made no difference to Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, their Undersecretary of War Douglas Feith, Undersecretary of State John Bolton, and the numerous other pro-Israeli Neo-Cons inhabiting the Bush, Jr. administration." The Downing Street Memo demonstrated an intent to manipulate 'intelligence' to go to war, the Bush agenda was enabled by 9/11, and Bush claimed "war powers" to justify an imperial presidency. The Constitution has been shredded.
In the 1970's Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz made the case for a Soviet Union that was ten feet tall and resulted in the Reagan's trillion dollar arms bill. They duped us again. They twisted 'intelligence' to make a case for war in Iraq and enriched themselves and their cronies in the process. Again, as in the Reagan years, they have cooked the books to disguise the mountain of debt that has all but bankrupted the US. The War on Iraq was kept off the books, while Social Security was assessed as a financial problem. Bush tax cuts were regressive and provided little economic stimulus. As a result we may come a little closer to an aristocracy. It is one of the hallmarks of a banana republic that while taxpayers accumulate massive debt, an elite group enrich themselves.
After 9/11 and a still unresolved anthrax
attack struck fear into the hearts of Americans, made it the pretext
for endless war, Republicans pushed through the Patriot Act, an assault
on the Bill of Rights. Contrary to the Constitution W took it upon
himself to expand Presidential power, declared himself a war president
and argued that he is above the law. A subservient Congress and a
packed Supreme Court allowed this to happen, but it is at the expense
of Constitutional government. Those checks and balances that we all
learned about have been seriously eroded. Like other republics in
history, we too are becoming an empire. We will share their fate.
W presided over the most secretive administration in history. A cloud of secrecy was scrupulously kept over the investigation of 9/11, war profiteering, unauthorized surveillance, and the justification for his endless war. Secrecy covered up his unauthorized, illegal surveillance of Americans as well as the torture and rendition committed in US facilities (some secret) around the world. His refusal to join the International Criminal Court is no surprise. The American Bar Association accuses President Bush, of violating both the Constitution and federal law. A President above the law is a dictator, not just an insult to the Constitution.
John Conyers (D., Mich.) released a staggering report with the hard evidence of crimes and abuses committed by President Bush and his administration (breaking 26 specific laws). This report, "The Constitution in Crisis," should provide the raw material for numerous news reports and point reporters toward fertile ground for additional investigations. Have a look at http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/constitutionincrisis
As Noam Chomsky points out in his recent book "Failed States", Bush brought us closer to nuclear and environmental disaster, thumbed his nose at international law, and earned the hostility of most of the world. See books for more.
According to Seymour Hersh, the US helped plan Israel's invasion of Lebanon as a preliminary step to a possible pre-emptive strike on Iran.
Bush has committed criminal acts and should be impeached. The Bush Crimes Commission documents the evidence on wars of aggression, detention and torture, destruction of the global environment, sabotage of global health programs, and the abandonment of New Orleans. Twisting 'intelligence', war profiteering, pre-emptive war, and hiding all of these crimes behind a veil of secrecy by making them 'classified' are all high crimes. See this link.
You are NOT safer.
Think we'll attack Iran ?
Paul Craig Roberts: Think Bush is Evil now ? Wait till he nukes Iran.
Biggest falsehoods of 2006.
The evil is in our
government.
Enough Evidence to Impeach and Imprison Bush & Co right now
Bush on Torture Echoes Charles I on Arbitrary Imprisonment.
Bush on trial for crimes against humanity. (See Torture.)
Bush's bouts of crying, ghostly visions.
Links (many of them.)
Harper's Magazine
makes the case for impeachment.
Ralph Nader's comments.
A flyer with some of the evidence
Oil-for-Food and other Bush family business
NRDC The Bush Record on the Environment
- W Doesn't Regret WaterBoarding (6/3/2010)
- Boycott Bush
- Bush Truth Commission
- Bush Torture Indictment 2.0 (9/28/2009)
- The Greatest Greatness of George W Bush (01/07/2009)
- Fraud Bigger than Madoff (2/16/2009)
- Add Up the Damage Bob Herbert of the NYT (12/29/2008)
- Bush's dangerous deal with India (12/31/2008)
- Bush's Final F U (12/25/2008)
- Bush gave written approval for torture (10/16/2008)
- Justice Department Scandal Buried by Financial Crisis (10/10/2008)
- GOP Judges Aid White House Cover-up
- Bush Order Expands Internet Monitoring By NSA
- The Next American Revolution
- House holds 2 Bush Aides in Contempt (02/14/2008)
- Bush administration lies.(01/23/2008)
- Bush cuts will cost lives (02/01/2008)
- Bush clampdown on flights to the US
- WH threatens to veto Bill to preserve Presidential Records. July 10, 2008
- General accuses WH of war crimes. (6/18/2008)
- Bush Administration supervised torture (4/11/2008)
- Bush vetoes Bill outlawing waterboarding (3/9/2008)
- McCain endorses Bush's Veto (3/10/2008)
- Kucinich introducing Articles of Impeachment (7/8/2008). Also see this.
Bush Pardons Himself For War Crimes
George Bush: War Criminal (8/1/2008)
The Guardian. The Abu Ghraib photographs awakened many in the US to the abuses that lie beneath the rhetoric of the global war on terror but the institutions responsible have not taken the message on board. On the day the Congressional report into 9/11 was published, another document was quietly released - a military report that exonerated the high command for the Abu Ghraib abuses. The implications go beyond Abu Ghraib: without a repudiation of the administration's actions, there will be no remedy for the even more sinister treatment of the unknown number of prisoners not captured on camera - those who have been kidnapped and disappeared by US forces across the world. See this link also.
San Francisco proposal: name sewage treatment plant after Bush (6/25/2008)
Olbermann to Bush: "Your Hypocrisy Is So Vast" [VIDEO]
Manchurian Candidate in the White House
Bush's mass murder and war crimes (5/28/2008)
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Signing the Constitution Away By Eric Alterman 03 May 2006 "Last Sunday, the Boston Globe’s Charlie Savage broke a story that should be shocking to all of us had we not grown inured to the casual contempt toward the Constitution that the Bush administration deems to be its droite d’etat. ...Savage reported that, 'President [sic] Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.'"
The New York Times disclosure of an official National Intelligence Estimate, which states that the Iraq invasion has worsened the global terrorist threat, carries an unspoken subtext - that the Bush administration is either woefully ignorant of how to combat terrorism or finds the terrorist threat a useful tool for managing the American public. http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/092606a.html
Bush: Master of Disaster (10/28/2007)
Goodbye to checks and balances ?
Harold Pinter: Why George Bush is Insane.
About the Bush Administration.
VIDEO | Keith Olbermann:
Where Are the Checks, Balances? http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110706K.shtml "Bush has been 'making it up' for too long, and the people have let him," says Keith Olbermann. "And whatever your motives of the moment, we the people have, in true good faith and with the genuine patriotism of self-sacrifice (of which you have shown you know nothing), we have let you go on making it up as you went along. Unchecked and unbalanced."
Links
Bush NewsBush Truth Commission
Family of Secrets
BushWatch
DemocraticUnderground
Buzzflash
Bushvote.com
GWbush.com
ToppleBush.com
AllHatNoCattle.net
Ejectbush
ToppleBush
VietnamVeteransForBush.com
GWJokes.com
Bush Hates America
The Bush Presidency
Rock Against Bush
The Bushiad & The Idyossey
Bush is a Sociopath
PNAC a Bush administration rogues gallery.
Bush declares himself the mega decider.
Jim Hightower points out Bush's grab for more power.
Paul Craig Roberts reasons for impeachment.
Bush Hitler Comparison see also this.
HonestChief.com: Former U.S. Park Police Chief Teresa Chambers' site
Brentwood United: The site of the employees of Brentwood Postal Center, attacked by anthrax
National Security Whistleblowers Coalition
TrineDay won its case in the frivolous lawsuit brought against it by the right-wing!
The UN Oil-for-Food Scandal and the Bush Family
Want the US to remain a constitutional democracy ?
Almost all topics on the editorial page add to the evidence.
Conyer's report on the
Constitution in crisis
Chuck Baldwin on the Bush Record
Senator Leahy's comments on Bush's Contempt of Congress
Lessons of the Bush Administration
Bibliography
United States v George W. Bush et al: Elizabeth de la Vega
Executive Privilege: A Constitutional Myth by Raoul Berger
Unchecked and Unbalanced: Frederick A.O. Schwarz, Jr. and Aziz Z. Huq
Neck Deep: the Disastrous Presidency of George Bush, Robert Parry
Bush's Fringe Government:: Gary Wills
Takeover: the
Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy.
Charlie Savage (winner of the Pulitzer Prize)
At the end of this chilling volume Savage offers a concise and powerful
conclusion: "The expansive presidential powers claimed and
exercised by the Bush-Cheney White House are now an immutable part of American
history — not controversies but facts. The importance of such precedents is
difficult to overstate. As Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson once warned, any
new claim of executive power, once validated into precedent, 'lies about like a
loaded weapon ready for the hand of any authority that can bring forward a
plausible claim of an urgent need. Every repetition embeds that principle more
deeply in our law and thinking and expands it to new purposes.' "Sooner or
later, there will always be another urgent need."
- George W Bush, War Criminal ? Michael Haas (The Bush Administration's Liability for 269 War Crimes)
- Family of Secrets: Russ Baker (Note)
- Neck Deep, The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush: Robert Parry, Sam Parry, and Nat Parry
- Eric Alterman and Mark J. Green, The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)leads America, (2004) ISBN 0-670-03273-5
- Kevin Phillips: American dynasty : aristocracy, fortune, and the politics of deceit in the house of Bush
- Made in Texas: Michael Lind
- Ron Suskind: The Way of the World
- Ken Auletta (January 19, 2004). "Fortress Bush: How the White House Keeps the Press Under Control", The New Yorker, LXXIX, 53
- Bruce Bartlett, Imposter: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy, (2006) ISBN 0-385-51827-7
- Paul Begala, Is Our Children Learning?: The Case Against George W. Bush, (2000) ISBN 0-7432-1478-1
- Paul Begala, It's Still the Economy, Stupid : George W. Bush, The GOP's CEO, (2002) ISBN 0-7432-4647-0
- John Bonifaz, Warrior King: The Case for Impeaching George Bush, (2003) ISBN 1-56025-606-0
- James Bovard, The Bush Betrayal, (2004) ISBN 1-4039-6727-X
- Vincent Bugliosi: The Prosecution of George Bush for Murder
- Russell S. Bowen, The Immaculate Deception: The Bush Crime Family Exposed, (1991) ISBN 0-922356-80-7
- Robert Bryce, Cronies: Oil, The Bushes, and the Rise of Texas, America's Superstate, (2004) ISBN 1-58648-188-6
- Robert C. Byrd, Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant Presidency, (2004) ISBN 0-393-05942-1
- Richard Clarke, Against All Enemies : Inside America's War on Terror, (2004) ISBN 0-7432-6045-7
- David Corn, The Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception, (2003) ISBN 1-4000-5066-9
- John W. Dean, Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush, (2004) ISBN 0-316-00023-X
- Robert S. Devine, Bush Versus the Environment, (2004) ISBN 1-4000-7521-1
- Maureen Dowd, Bushworld: Enter at Your Own Risk, (2004) ISBN 0-399-15258-X
- Dr. Justin A. Frank, Bush On The Couch: Inside the Mind of the President, (2004), Regan Books. ISBN 0-06-073670-4
- Al Franken, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, (2003) ISBN 0-525-94764-7
- Al Franken, Still More George W. Bushisms: Neither in French nor in English nor in Mexican, (2003) ISBN 0-7432-5100-8
- Ben Fritz, Bryan Keefer & Brendan Nyhan, All the President's Spin: George W. Bush, the Media, and the Truth, (2004) ISBN 0-7432-6251-4
- James Hatfield, Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President, (1999) ISBN 1-887128-84-0
- Jack Huberman, The Bush - Haters Handbook: A Guide to the Most Appalling Presidency of the Past 100 Years, (2003) ISBN 1-56025-569-2
- Molly Ivins, Bushwhacked : Life in George W. Bush's America, (2003) ISBN 0-375-50752-3
- Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose, Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush, (2000) ISBN 0-375-50399-4
- Patrick S. Johnston, Mission Accomplished (Novel), (2006) ISBN 1-59858-244-5
- Antonia Juhasz, The Bush Agenda, Invading the World One Economy at a Time
- William Karel, The World According to Bush, (2004) documentary
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy, (2004) ISBN 0-06-074687-4
- Scott McClellan: What Happened.
- Mark Crispin Miller, The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder, (2002) ISBN 0-393-32296-3
- Mark Crispin Miller, Cruel and Unusual: Bush/Cheney's New World Order, (2004) ISBN 0-393-05917-0
- Michael Moore, Dude, Where's My Country?, (2004) ISBN 0-446-69379-0
- Michael Moore, Stupid White Men, (2004) ISBN 0-06-098726-X
- Michael Moore, Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) motion picture
- Jack Nargundkar, The Bush Diaries: A Citizen's Review of the First Term (2005) ISBN 0-595-35898-5
- Carl Pope, Strategic Ignorance : Why the Bush Administration Is Recklessly Destroying a Century of Environmental Progress, (2004) ISBN 1-57805-109-6
- Gabriel Range, Death of a President (2006) motion picture
- Webster Griffin Tarpley and Anton Chaitkin, George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography ([1]
- Michael Scheuer (orig. pub. under "Anonymous"), Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror, (2004) ISBN 1-57488-849-8
- Peter Singer, The President of Good and Evil, the Ethics of George W. Bush
- Glenn W Smith, Unfit Commander: Texans for Truth Take on George W. Bush, (2004) ISBN 0-06-079245-0
- Craig Unger, House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties, (2004) ISBN 0-7432-5337-X
- Paul Waldman, Fraud: The Strategy Behind the Bush Lies and Why the Media Didn't Tell You, (2004) ISBN 1-4022-0252-0
- Ian Williams, Deserter: George Bush's War on Military Families, Veterans, and His Past, (2004) ISBN 1-56025-627-3
- Clint Willis, The I Hate George W. Bush Reader: Why Dubya Is Wrong About Absolutely Everything, (2004) ISBN 1-56025-589-7
- Bob Woodward, "State of Denial", (2006)
Cruel and Unusual: Bush/Cheney's New World Order, by Mark Crispin Miller