Recently Published Letters
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We failed by allowing Bush to rule as king |
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Written by Nick Reina
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Friday, 15 February 2008 |
A recent study by the Center for Public Integrity revealed that President Bush and members high in his administration made a total of 935 false statements about Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction, ties to al-Qaida and imminent threat of nuclear attack. Our Congress failed us. Instead of pressing Bush to continue the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, they supported a preemptive war in Iraq without hard evidence from our own CIA and U.N. weapons inspectors. Our media failed us. They could have asked the administration hard questions about Iraq wanting to buy uranium from Africa, aluminum tubes for centrifuges, Iraqi agents meeting with Mohamed Atta in Prague and drones for delivering WMD. We have failed ourselves by remaining silent and allowing Bush to rule our country not as a president but as a king. His signing statements, executive orders and recess appointments are his way of going around Congress. Bush subscribes to the Unitary Executive Theory, which he believes gives him the inherent authority to go beyond enacted laws and the Constitution to keep Americans safe. He can authorize warrantless wiretaps, suspend Habeas Corpus, establish military tribunals and approve torture and rendition. Congress seems content to let Bush ride out his term, but I think they do us an injustice. The framers intended for three equal branches of government, but Bush has upset that balance. If Congress does not act and justice does not uphold, who is to say that there will not be another unitary executive more extreme than Bush?
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