South by Southwest: Conyers: "Constitution in Crisis"

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Conyers: "Constitution in Crisis"

U.S. Representative John Conyers, D-Michigan, who serves on the House Judiciary Committee, is a blogger at The Huffington Report. On the fourth of this month he posted about the release of his final Iraq report, "Constitution in Crisis." To quote,

The report, which is some 350 pages in length and is supported by more than 1,400 footnotes, compiles the accumulated evidence that the Bush Administration has thumbed its nose at our nation's laws, and the Constitution itself.
Approximately 26 laws and regulations may have been violated by this Administration's misconduct.
Our Constitution established a tri-partite system of government, with the notion that each branch of government would act as a check on the other two. Unfortunately, for the last six years, the Republicans in Congress have largely viewed themselves as defenders of the Bush Administration, instead of a vital check on overreaching by the Executive Branch. By doing so, I believe they have acted to the detriment of our Constitutional form of government.

Here is the report: At the House.gov website is the official Iraq Report," with links to all aspects of the report.
Good summary - Mother Jones gives an excellent write-up about the Conyers Iraq Report.

Beginning with post-9/11 false intelligence and public deception, Conyers uses sources including public statements, the Downing Street Memo, CIA reports and intelligence briefings to refute Bush’s carefully constructed propaganda advocating a war with Iraq. Step by step Conyers traces the different reports citing no links between Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, and the lack of evidence of WMDs. . .
The report makes clear that the blame cannot lie solely with Bush and his inner circle. Conyers faults the Senate and House Intelligence Committees for refusing to conduct any independent, serious investigations into these matters. He also faults the courts for being slow to act and easily stymied by the “procedural defenses” asserted by the administration.
Conyers quotes Martin Luther King Jr.’s warning that “there comes a time when silence is a betrayal,” concluding, “In my judgment, that time is now.”

Conyers interview (1) - Hat tip to bartcop.com for this link from Justin Rood of TPMmuckraker, August 4, 2006,

Earlier this week I had a chance to talk with Conyers about why he produced the report.
"We could get no response from the president" about their concerns over pre-war intelligence and the march to war in Iraq, he said. "Then we tried to get hearings in the Judiciary Committee," which met with a "no way" response, according to Conyers.
"We said, 'look, we'll do it ourselves'" -- compile a document that lists every instance of alleged wrongdong by the Bush administration's handling of intelligence, the war in Iraq, and retaliation against those who tried to speak out about it. "Every sentence,
every allegation, every accusation that we have in this 371-page report has a citation or a reference to it of where we got it," Conyers explained, with a hint of pride at his staff's work. . . .
If the Democrats take back the House, would this lead to impeachment?
"There's no way I can predict whether there will ultimately be an impeachment proceeding underway or not," Conyers replied. But with three months to go until the midterm elections, "to be putting together a list, an agenda for the Judiciary Committee. . . smacks me as being a little. . ." he didn't finish the sentence.

Conyers interview (2) - Harpers published an essay, "The Case for Impeachment," by Lewis H. Lapham, February 27, 2006. It asks why Conyers prepared and published the report? To quote from the essay,

Unless the congressman intended some sort of symbolic gesture, self-serving and harmless, what did he hope to prove or to gain? He answered the question in early January, on the phone from Detroit during the congressional winter recess. “To take away the excuse,” he said, “that we didn't know.” So that two or four or ten years from now, if somebody should ask, “Where were you, Conyers, and where was the United States Congress?” when the Bush Administration declared the Constitution inoperative and revoked the license of parliamentary government, none of the company now present can plead ignorance or temporary insanity, can say that “somehow it escaped our notice” that the President was setting himself up as a supreme leader exempt from the rule of law.
A reason with which it was hard to argue but one that didn't account for the
congressman's impatience. Why not wait for a showing of supportive public opinion, delay the motion to impeach until after next November's elections? Assuming that further investigation of the President's addiction to the uses of domestic espionage finds him nullifying the Fourth Amendment rights of a large number of his fellow Americans, the Democrats possibly could come up with enough votes, their own and a quorum of disenchanted Republicans, to send the man home to Texas. Conyers said: “I don't think enough people know how much damage this administration can do to their civil liberties in a very short time. What would you have me do? Grumble and complain? Make cynical jokes? Throw up my hands and say that under the circumstances nothing can be done? At least I can muster the facts, establish a record, tell the story that ought to be front-page news.”

How we can help - Democrats.com gives good suggestions for follow-up actions we can take to move this project forward.
References:

Conyers webpage - John Conyers website
The beginnings: From CNN, Conyers initiated a letter (signed by 89 Democratic House Members) to President Bush in May 2005 asking for an explanation of the "Downing Street Memo."
Previous Conyers posts @ S/Sw: Brits Own Deepthroats, Democrats - the Generations
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