Bill Moyers' Journal: Inside The White House's War on Terror
By Nicole Belle Saturday Sep 08, 2007 9:02pmBill Moyers had on Jack Goldsmith, former head the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department, to discuss how the White House was reacting in their prosecution of the "War on Terror." Note how fear-mongering wasn't limited to the general American public, but to their legal counsel as well.
From the YouTube description:
In these two excerpts from Bill Moyers' Journal, Jack Goldsmith, former head the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department, gives an insider's view of advising the President on the limits of executive power during the war on terror.
In the second excerpt, Goldsmith recounts what he calls "the most amazing scene I'd ever witnessed"-the night then White House counsel Alberto Gonzalez and former White House chief of staff Andrew Card Gonzalez, went to the hospital to try to persuade Attorney General John Ashcroft to give his permission on a secret surveillance plan, overriding acting Attorney General James Comey.
You can watch the entire episode online at PBS.com
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I don't get why Ashcroft was so dead against this secret plan, when he didn't seem to care much about other aspects of constitutional privacy and speech rights that were being trampled.
"Moyers," not Moyer
Moyers is a national treasure. Thank God he kept his voice through the Bush years. He just kept plodding along in the mud. He has his respect where most lost theirs.
BTW there is a U Tube of James Brown singing It's a Man's World with Pavarotti. It is haunting. So beautiful. Nicole, I'm recommending it.
In the spirit of "Bring it on!" and with the same foresight of the people who said (after the towers were hit) "No one could have anticipated that!":
"President Bush's homeland security adviser said Sunday the fugitive al-Qaida leader is 'virtually impotent...'"
That visit to what could have been Ashcroft's deathbed shows the incredibly low morals and regard for life that Bush and his cadre have. Even when it is one of their own.
I watched Jack on C-Span the other morning. I think he had a line he would not cross and he reached this limit when he saw Hamdi lying on his cot in a fetal position. I think it sank in that this was not humane treatment.
I also think Ashcroft had a limit as to what he would sign on to as far as spying and the use of torture. For most of us that limit would have been reached a hell of a lot sooner. But, they worked in the most murderous administration this country has ever had. It just became too murderous and vile for some and they were replaced by others who had the stomach for it.
Cheney and Bush have no limits. They have no consience. They are amoral. If they are not impeached for their crimes against humanity, against our Constitution, then we have lost our country.
Dear cable news anchors,
Bill Moyers reveals more in 60 minutes than you do in a decade. Watch his show and learn how to do your jobs.
If you check out the whole interview on PBS, Goldsmith flat out admits that the Bush administration is doing illegal stuff that he couldn't justify so he had to quit. And he says they are still doing it and that he doesn't think anyone who came after him would be able to leagally justify their activity.
Bush, Cheney, Gonzalez and all they others need to be in jail. Even though I can't stand Ashcroft this guy confirms that Gonzalez going to him in the hospital is one of the most amazing things he has ever seen (obviously amazing means disgusting, unprofessional, immoral here).
The bottom line is that even if there was a legitimate terrorist threat (which I don't believe because the 'war on terror' is just a fraudulent tactic like the 'war on drugs' that governments use to expand power and diminish civil rights), allowing ANYONE at ANY TIME to have the powers BushCo thinks they have is not only not in the constitution but it is specifically prohibited by the constitution.
We need to fight back before it is too late. These guys need to be inpeached and tried for treason before they do something really insane like nuke Iran or stage another phoney 911 style attack. I know many of you think that Bush will just serve out his term and leave quietly and you will get a Democrat in there to fix things, but that is ridiculous. If Bushco are not held accountable our country is doomed...
You know based on Goldsmith's reporting, it would seem that if the administration is basing its legal reasoning regarding the civil liberties that make this country what it is, because they are afraid of 'bodies in the street' then the terrorists have won. And not only have they won, but it would appear they've specifically won by terrorizing the president and his administration.
If I were Ashcroft's wife they would have been wearing a bedpan for a necklace if they even tried to pull a stunt like that....
Damn
Jeanne @ 3:
Mr. Moyer's did the most compelling and insightful series on healthcare back in the late 80's early 90's. . . that's when I was first introduced to him by a professor.
He reminds me SO much of Studs Terkel . . . . a heart, mind, and desire to talk to the PEOPLE on the street about THEIR voices . . . . thanks to Nic Belle for the linky . . . and post.
c.blogads.com is killing your site - I all but block waiting for it.
For a defining example of the concept of irony, consider the case of an Attorney General who relinquishes his office to a subordinate on the eve of major surgery, anticipating his incapacitation, and is then visited in his hospital room by executive branch officials who attempt to get him to reverse his decision while incapacitated and become Attorney General again in order to re-authorize an illegal program and cover some asses.
If I were a prosecutor, I think there is enough evidence to prosecute Gonzalaz. I would wait for it to be too late for Bush to pardon him though.
While I understand the point that is being made by this clip with regards to fearmongering, there most important part of that interview are not captured by the clip. The cartoon from Harper's which is posted above this story is a good segway as to why the Democratic leadership or members of Congress for that matter must exercise their Consttitutional authority by placing "constraints" on the Bush administration. Part of the Moyers' transcript...
BILL MOYERS: You come to an illuminating moment for me in the book when you realize that, quote, "these people in the White House think of power as the absence of constraint. They could do anything as long as no one pressed back."
JACK GOLDSMITH: They did view presidential power in terms of the absence of constraint. This is why they didn't go to Congress because-- in the early years, because they thought going to Congress, Congress may say no. Congress may not give us everything we want. The very act of going to Congress may imply that we don't have the power on our own. And so they viewed presidential power as operating with minimum of constraint. And that's the conception of power that I certainly came not to share.
BILL MOYERS: What I don't understand, Mr. Goldsmith, is that the Republicans, their party, Bush's, Cheney's party was in control of Congress. Why didn't the Republican president go to the Republican majority and say, "Here's what I want"?
JACK GOLDSMITH: It was a puzzle to me about why the administration didn't go to Congress. And the answer was it was David Addington would always ask two questions. And this really captured the view of-- this really captured why they didn't go to Congress. One was, "Do we have the power to do it on our own? Do we have -- do we think we have the legal authorities, are there precedents that allow us to do this?" And the answer was almost always yes. The second question is, "If we go to Congress and try to get this affirmative authorization from Congress, is there a chance that Congress is gonna say no or to constrain us a little bit?"
The answer to that question was yes. And, therefore, if we could possibly be constrained and the president couldn't so what he wanted to do and people might get killed. And because of that chain of logic which basically these powers the absence of constraint-- they didn't go to Congress in the first four or five years.
If you wish to watch the show or read the entire transcript go to:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09072007/watch.html
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09072007/transcript4.html?print
why arent all these cocksuckers in jail??
why do i have to resort to expletives to be heard??
why do i feel like every day i go deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole??
sam @ 8:
You're spot on, Sam!
I am no Ashcroft fan and his boob-a-phobia alone was enough to tell me that he's nuts. But, when these goons came into office using slogans such as INTEGRITY! and ACCOUNTABILITY! it looks like one person thought they were serious.
Silly John, your job was not to follow the constitution ...It was to puff up Bush.
I watched this on Friday. Moyers is a treasure.
I only wish more people would tune into Bill Moyers Journal. This particular episode was also very good. I had to watch it online. For some mysterious reason, Tivo only recorded garbled images and no sound, which oddyly enough has never happened before. Although he never came right out and said, I wondered if Goldsmith finally resigned because he just couldn't take trying to justify lawlessness anymore. It sounded like much of what the administration was doing didn't sit well with him. The scene with Ashcroft must have just blown him away. That was truly way beyond the bounds of decency. With everything that's come out, I just don't understand why these creeps haven't been impeached. We are so on the verge of dictatorship, fascism, tyranny, whatever name you'd like to give it, that it's really pretty frightening. And still, nothing is done.
'The White Houses' War FOR Terror'.... Please note the correction. Don't let it happen again.
Rehen @ 18:
Boob a phobia???? Aw shit, you mean that subscription to "Juggs" magazine I sent him as a get well gift might not have been particularly appropriate? Fuck!
Considering all the incompetant personnel in the WH they should consider a War on Error.
gene214 @ 22:
He'd a prefer Babyface.
johnnyRockeTpants@1
and similarly
Jo@6
It is almost certain that fredo and Addington were tooling Ashcroft before the hospital scene. He regularly signed off on this same TSP numerous times. Cheneys office morphed and expanded greatly the whole program without telling Ashcroft.*
When Comey and Goldsmith came on board and reviewed it, they went to Ashcroft. Thats when he learned of the expanded program, and the fact the WH was "using" him.
When Comey told fredo and Card FU, they ran to Ashcroft not knowing that he was now up to date on their perfidy. That was at the hospital.
*expanded to most of the known illegal activities.
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