Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Covering up misconduct: Why did Bush put a stop to the domestic surveillance investigation?

Here's another big story that isn't getting much attention given that so much of our attention is on -- because directed towards by the news media and their single-issue herd mentality -- Israel-Lebanon-Hezbollah.

Big? How about huge? In National Journal, Murray Waas reports:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee today that President Bush personally halted an internal Justice Department investigation into whether Gonzales and other senior department officials acted within the law in approving and overseeing the administration's domestic surveillance program.

All part of Bush's would-be imperial presidency, I suppose. But if Bush is right all the time, as his imperial proponents contend, if he himself may determine what is right and wrong, what he as president may do, if, that is, he is a law unto himself, then why conspire to prevent the truth from coming out? Surely the only reason to prevent the truth from coming out is to cover something up:

A senior Justice official said that the refusal to grant the clearances [to investigators] was "unprecedented" and questioned whether the clearances were denied because investigators might find "misconduct by those who were attempting to defeat" the probe from being conducted.

In other words, given that it was Bush who made the key decision to put a stop to the investigation, misconduct on the part of Bush himself.

Waas's piece is a must-read. Go check it out.

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