As part of my penance for Lent, I was reading a recent budget briefing for the State Department, tottering on the edge of my chair with each gust of hot air. I came across an intriguing comment by Ambassador James Jeffrey, “the Senior Advisor to the Secretary and Coordinator for Iraq.” He chirped about the Bush administration’s request for additional funding “for the Regime Crimes Liaison Office that is a special, Department of Justice-led interagency task force with a lot of people on the ground in Baghdad that works with the Iraqi Special Tribunal in the cases against Saddam Hussein and other high-value people.” This notion of a Regime Crimes Office has lots of potential.If American taxpayers can afford to bankroll a Regime Crimes Office in a foreign land, why not have one here, too?
How much is the Saddam trial costing? Certainly far less than the U.S. government wastes on AmeriCorps – and maybe less than it spends for the combined budget for the military bands.
Why not set up a Regime Crimes Office and prosecute some of our top officials?
Maybe some academic has already produced a scholarly study revealing the optimal number of politicians that should be imprisoned (or otherwise punished) to prompt their colleagues to obey the law, or at least to mitigate their pilfering.
http://theaginghipster.blogspot.com/2006/03/book-review-bush-betrayal.html
Check it out, JB.
Steve – Thanks very much! I greatly appreciate your kind words on the book – and all the time you invested in plowing through it.
I’m glad you thought it worked! It is important for people to recognize and remember the wide array of lies and abuses this administration committed early on. Bush apologists are continually working to erase memories – either through flag waving or smears or simple table pounding.
But if we want to retain our freedom, we must remember the rascalities of our rulers.
I see on your blog that you are a “left-leaning libertarian.” Left-leaners can bring some energy that, at times, some parts of the libertarian movement have lacked. I have been surprised how many @libertarian organizations have given Bush a pass, or at least seem to be pulling their punches.
Either of you familiar with the Blogosphere of the Libertarian Left? It was created by my friend Tom Knapp. The only thing that keeps me from signing on is that I defy categorization. 😉
Sunni- No, I am not familiar with it. Thanks for pointing it out.
Thanks Sunni. i am going to have a look, and Jim, sorry about hijacking the thread…
I’m not familiar with all the bloggers signed on at present, but visit a number of sites regularly and am quite impressed.
Steve – you aren’t hijacking the thread. Whatever perks it along is fine.