Is the ingenuity of our judges and lawyers so trifling we cannot establish that linkage without revealing things that are truly secret? (Establish waterboarding, for instance, without going into what questions the torturers were asking? Or conduct certain proceedings in camera?) Is it beyond all possibility to chart a judicial path to consequences for the people who did these things?
To make something disappear, have it occur off the books, on someone else’s balance sheet. This approach works equally well if you want to make a war disappear. Use Special Ops forces, or foreign proxies.
Without the aid of the courts, Congress is no match for the Executive. Presidents decide, period. Congress, outgunned by the Executive and deserted by the Judiciary, goes along. The Framers would have been dismayed.
The Big Picture Home Page | Previous Big Picture Column | Next Big Picture Column War Powers Page | Previous War Powers Column | Next War Powers Column War Powers, War Lies: A Series Part 4: Willingly Deceived Published in the Maryland Daily Record April 29, 2005 Last time, we considered the dishonesty of President Lyndon Johnson in […]