Cirumstances would have been much different if the Dems won the majority in Congress in 04 instead of 06. That would have provided the time to do it thoroughly and judiciously.
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Originally Posted by Willravel
....President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Dr. Rice, and other high ranking Bush Administration officials should be investigated without interference and prosecuted based on the crimes which they have committed if for no other reason but to make future Bush's think twice before leading the US down this dark road again.
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On this, I agree
Which is why I want to see Obama, if elected, follow through on his comment on how he might proceed:
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What I would want to do is to have my Justice Department and my Attorney General immediately review the information that's already there and to find out are there inquiries that need to be pursued. I can't prejudge that because we don't have access to all the material right now. I think that you are right, if crimes have been committed, they should be investigated. You're also right that I would not want my first term consumed by what was perceived on the part of Republicans as a partisan witch hunt because I think we've got too many problems we've got to solve.
So this is an area where I would want to exercise judgment -- I would want to find out directly from my Attorney General -- having pursued, having looked at what's out there right now -- are there possibilities of genuine crimes as opposed to really bad policies. And I think it's important-- one of the things we've got to figure out in our political culture generally is distinguishing betyween really dumb policies and policies that rise to the level of criminal activity. You know, I often get questions about impeachment at town hall meetings and I've said that is not something I think would be fruitful to pursue because I think that impeachment is something that should be reserved for exceptional circumstances. Now, if I found out that there were high officials who knowingly, consciously broke existing laws, engaged in coverups of those crimes with knowledge forefront, then I think a basic principle of our Constitution is nobody above the law -- and I think that's roughly how I would look at it.
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/a...n_torture.html
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One of the most recent surveys on impeachment that I am aware of, from Nov 07, justifies further investigation and possible criminal charges after Bush/Cheney leave office, if appropriate.
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A total of 64% of American voters say that President George W. Bush has abused his powers as president....but only 34% say that Bush should be impeached.
A total of 70% of American voters say that Vice President Dick Cheney has abused his powers as vice president...but only 43% say that Cheney should be impeached.
http://americanresearchgroup.com/impeach/
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I think we know who here are in that minority of 30-36% who believe Bush/Cheney have not abused the powers of their respective offices.
Obama can make a strong case that an overwhelming majority of Americans believe that Bush/Cheney should not be above the law if further investigations find that they may have engaged in illegal actions....and that it should proceed at a judicial level, without the politics of impeachment.