What would Molly Ivins say about a petition to prosecute Bush and Cheney for war crimes? When she was alive, she wrote about the administration's crimes often.
There was that crime of stifling dissent, and the crime of starting the Iraq war through false pretenses:
I am sick of the right wing claiming patriotism as its exclusive purview. No one serves this country well who blindly supports misbegotten wars in the name of patriotism. The right to dissent is one of the founding principles of this country and is in itself a high form of patriotism. What you owe your country is your best evaluation of whether we are or are not going in the right direction.
There was that crime of making the Iraq war about religion, and finding solace and righteousness in the Bible:
Back in the 1950s, when the late Rep. Bob Eckhardt was still in the Texas Legislature, a bill to cut off all state aid to illegitimate children was under debate. After listening to some of his "Christian" colleagues explain why illegitimate children should be left to starve, Eckhardt rose and said, "I am not so much concerned about the natural bastards as I am about the self-made ones." I consider that one of the most Christian things I've ever heard said during legislative debate.
There was the crime of sending men and women into war unprotected, and the crime of bringing them home to fight privately for funds and health care services:
Just before Memorial Day, Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi said, "Our active military respond better to Republicans" because of "the tremendous support that President Bush has provided for our military and our veterans." The same day, the White House announced plans for massive cuts in veterans' health care for 2006.
There was the crime of starting two wars with state-of-the-art equipment and a mid-eighteenth century understanding of the territory and people:
It is quite possible the final lesson of the Iraq debacle will be that the military is the wrong tool for the terrorist job. This brings us back to the original rhetorical trap we got ourselves into by talking about "the war on terror." Wars are fought by the military, but the tools needed include a huge intelligence operation as well as criminal investigation.
To this end, how stupid is it that we have two dozen treasury agents chasing Cuban embargo violators and only four tracking terrorist money.
But the big crime was finding opportunity in war to write the PATRIOT Act, occupy foreign countries and kill their citizens, further private neo-con objectives in Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorize the world and threaten more of the same...all the while making life easier for friends of the administration:
This goes back to an old sore point in this administration's fight against terrorism. When the Bushies came in, they abandoned the multilateral efforts Bill Clinton had set up to track offshore money, and even after 9-11 they only reluctantly endorsed increasing Treasury's power to follow the money. It is not paranoia or conspiracy-mongering to point out that this reluctance stems from the unhappy habit of so many American rich people to keep their money in offshore accounts in order to avoid taxes (see Enron, etc.).
As awful as the Bush Administration treated their own citizens, Molly Ivins called our attention to the atrocities done to others in our name:
So, Haditha becomes another of the names at which we wince, along with Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and My Lai. Tell you what: Let’s not use the “stress of combat” excuse this time. According to neighbors, the girls in the family of Younis Khafif—the one who kept pleading in English, “I am a friend. I am good”—were 14, 10, 5, 3 and 1. What are they going to say? “Under stress of combat, we thought the baby was 2”?
She can't sign the petition below to investigate Bush and Cheney for war crimes: but we can.
WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:
Instigate an independent investigation into the Bush Administration for violating the "War Crimes Act of 1996."
Although the practices of killing, torture, and inhuman treatment of prisoners at American-led detention centers like Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib are well-documented, those that handed down the orders have thus far escaped both public trial and punishment for violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2441, the "War Crimes Act of 1996". By bringing those involved with violating the Law to justice; most notably former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney, Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; Americans can finally repair the damage caused to its National Image and standing in the World Community, an image tarnished by this group of high-powered rogues and their attempts to subvert the law to their own whims. Created: Sep 25, 2011
Issues: Civil Rights and Liberties, Foreign Policy, Human Rights
This link goes to the petition at the WhiteHouse.gov website; you don't need to create an account to read the petition or to view the other petitions that are there. You will need to create an account to sign the petition, but it is not necessary to include your town or zip code.
NOTE: this petition is not the same one started by the DailyKos group; the petition above had 2600 signatures as of October 3, 2011 8:38 pm PDT. The other petition had 48 signatures at that same time. A petition has 30 days to acqure the 5,000 signers necessary to get a review by the Obama Administration.
Please add your name.
We miss you Molly.
Permanent Glory is a blog created in memory of Molly Ivins, to promote wit and wisdom in an age of sleaze and stink. Join us and we'll Raise Some Hell together!