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personally, i think that such reluctance as you might impute to congress follows from two main facts: the close split between parties and the fact that congress approved the bullshit case for war that the administration advanced, legitimated the action and so is entirely implicated in whatever the results of an investigation might be---as an institution. the first one is obvious; the second cuts both ways--you might think that congress would be VERY interested in investigating how and why it was duped as a way of exculpating itself--but this bizarre partisan thing on the part of the republicans and the closeness of the numbers between parties perhaps disables that as well.
what's amazing to me is that there is no particular legitimation problem that has followed from this for the system as a whole.
my cynical conclusion is that the bush administration has demonstrated that impunity will get you far in america, that almost nothing can happen that will create any real problems for the state itself, that legitimation is not an issue---these are indicators of the soft authoritarian system we live under, while we wander about imagining ourselves to be politically free.
compare even on the issue of fuel prices the total passive inaction in the states as over against what is happening in spain, france, south korea.
which system is more free?
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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