Website review: Law.com - Inspectors General May Ge...
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rodneyj43 discovered 2 months ago- This is all good news (more independent reviews of what's going on internally within the government), but it doesn't substitute for aggressively going after the Bush Administration on numerous crimes that have heretofore been covered up simply by uttering "9/11." The "Terrorist Surveillance Program" enacted before 9/11 should probably top the list; plenty of impeachable offenses there for a whole variety of cabinet members. An extremely close second is the torture of terrorism suspects, as this is probably a war crimes matter to be taken up by the UN and the World Court, and our president and vice president should be extradited to the Hague to face these charges. In light of new evidence the Plame-leak case should be reopened, but this may be a small part of a larger case about the mis-information campaign on the run-up to the Iraq war (and it's open defiance to the UN and security council). Ahh yes, and not let us forget the attorney firings, of which there is a current case involving the revelation of evidence to congress (that is right now in civil court over contempt of congress charges) by the executive branch. I think there's no question that laws were broken by this administration, and it is our duty to pressure congress to do their duty with respect to oversight of the executive branch and impeach both Bush and Cheney before this term is over (and perhaps try them criminally afterwards if necessary). From the page: "Congress is close to enacting the most significant boost in three decades in the independence of the cadre of government watchdogs -- federal inspectors general -- but the lawmakers have retreated from a key change involving the U.S. Department of Justice. The Senate on April 23 approved, by unanimous consent, S. 2324, the Inspector General Reform Act of 2008. But the bill passed only after the lawmakers agreed to an amendment by Senator Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., which, among other items, deleted a provision giving the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) jurisdiction to investigate misconduct allegations against department attorneys, including its most senior officials. Unlike all other OIGs who can investigate misconduct within their entire agency, Justice's OIG must refer allegations against department attorneys to the department's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). The latter office, unlike the OIG, is not statutorily independent and reports directly to the attorney general and the deputy attorney general. The House last October passed a substantially similar bill -- H.R. 928 -- by a vote of 404-11. The House bill, sponsored by Representative James Cooper, D-Tenn., eliminates the requirement that Justice's OIG refer attorney misconduct allegations to OPR. Both bills normally would be referred now to a joint House-Senate conference committee to resolve the differences. But congressional sources say there will be no formal conference. Given the political climate on Capitol Hill, they explain, the House is likely to vote on the Senate bill as the most politically expedient way to get the proposed reforms to the president's desk. President Bush had threatened to veto the House bill for a variety of reasons. The Kyl amendment to the Senate bill was seen by many as a vehicle for the White House's objections. "The Kyl amendment took out a lot of the substance of the bill, but it didn't kill the bill," said Cooper, a Harvard Law graduate who has pressed legislation for years to strengthen the independence and accountability of inspectors general. "I think we should lock in these improvements and leave to a future Congress further improvements.""
