Quote:
Originally Posted by roachboy
[...] the system will bear the consequences of the erosion that this will engender in its legitimacy.
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I think this is the crux of the problem here. If the Bush administration was able to do what it did and suffer no consequences (essentially conducting several actions that break international law and getting off scot-free), what does this enable for future presidencies?
If the actions of Bush in this respect go unchecked, unexamined, unpunished, his term will be regarded as an example of some of the extremes an administration can go to without worrying much about the consequences personally and politically. It will be Bush's legacy.
And then there are the things the Bush administration did that we may never know about.