Just got done reading Stirling Newberry's
brilliant polemic. Go read it, it's good.
Stirling makes a huge number of points, but one I want to address is the idea that the Bushies are all safe.
Nixon was pardoned for his involvement in Watergate. The Iran-Contra people were either pardoned or let off on technicalities. The same may happen for individuals involved in the worst scandal in American history--the Iraq War. "Wag the Dog" come to life, with lawyers and spies, electrodes and hoods.
I believe Bush and those around him will not be so lucky. These individuals have committed acts of treason--or something very like it, if they do not actually rise to the specificity of treason. There is no way to sweep these things under the rug.
As Stirling notes, there are many checks and balances in our society. They failed, and allowed a criminal enterprise to set up shop in the Oval Office. Our Founders had anticipated men like Bush, and wrote the rules against them. Fortunately, our Founders also built in a number of failsafes. These failsafes are now being engaged. The damage has been done, but we can avoid even worse things.
Exposure of an undercover agent triggers an automatic investigation; likewise the revelation of signals intelligence. The investigations are proceeding at the highest levels of government, and as such, will proceed very slowly. The Plame leak occurred almost a year ago; indictments are apparently forthcoming. None of us thought they would ever get that far. No one knew Ashcroft would recuse himself. No one knew Fitzgerald was evidently the man for the job.
The Cheney energy task force case is still in the courts. Halliburton is under investigation. The 9/11 commission has not reported back yet. The Armed Services Committee investigation into WMD intel has not reported yet. The Enron matter has recently become more serious. Bush may yet be connected to that. (Think Sec. of Energy Lay.) The Abu Ghraib crimes are just now beginning to get investigated. None of these investigations are politically motivated, most of them are automatic. There are no flunkies these things can be foisted upon. Some of these people, at least, will be in jail for a very long time.
For a long time now, we've been shaking our heads in dumbfounded amazement, unable to accept the latest Bush malfeasance, always thinking, "surely, this is the worst thing they've ever done." And with each new crime, they've outdone themselves. This ever-growing tidal wave of wrongdoing has finally resulted in espionage, and possibly treason. Someone has betrayed our country, and the Republican spin machine is being discredited. Every time Coulter or Savage howls for liberal blood, another American is deciding to tune them out.
Again, there may be pardons, but a pardon I think would create a major backlash (as it did to Ford). An Iran-Contra style "technicality" may also produce some sort of revulsion from the public. Republican power has been seriously damaged. The last four major Republican presidents--Bush, Bush, Reagan, Nixon--have all engaged in stupefying acts of negligence, incompetence, malfeasance, mendacity, warmongering, duplicitousness, intrigue, and flat-out crazy shit. Most of the bad actors have been recurring figures--who could have guessed that reprising individuals from the Watergate/Vietnam era and the Iran-Contra era would have engaged in misdeeds? The GOP is in retreat.
We have had a tendency to believe that Bush and Co. are invincible for far, far too long. With the warmongers on the run, now is the time for us to continue to apply pressure: write your representatives, your local papers, even challenge Rush on his home turf. The wheels of justice turn very slowly; let's grease 'em!