November 28, 2011

Elite Immunity –

United States, Christmas 2011

“We are a nation of laws, not men”

(John Adams, U.S. President 1797-1801)

“When the president does it, that means it is not illegal”

(Richard Nixon, U.S. President 1969-1974)

In the United States, the notion that criminality at the highest

level of Government should be shielded from legal repercussions,

was openly expressed first in relation to the Watergate scandal –

the 1972 break-in by the Nixon Administration (1969-1974) into

the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. Nixon

resigned in 1974, and within a month, was shielded from the

legal consequences of his actions through a pardon granted by

his successor, Gerald Ford (President 1974-1977) whom Nixon

himself had selected. In his memoirs, Ford explicitly admits to

having dispensed with the rule of law when pardoning Nixon.

The presence of high-level offenders in the Reagan Administration

(1981-1989) was amply demonstrated by the Iran-Contra scandal

which came to light in 1986. Profits from covert arms sales to Iran

were being used to fund the Nicaraguan Contras, a rebel group

fighting to overthrow their (Sandinista) Government. The 1982

Boland Amendment specifically forbade such aid. In 1992, Reagan’s

successor, George H. W. Bush (President 1989-1993) pardoned

Reagan’s Defense Secretary, Caspar Weinberger, and five other

Reagan appointees. Two aides (John Poindexter and Oliver North)

had their convictions overturned on appeal. No one served jail time.

As candidate, Bill Clinton (President 1993-2001) repeatedly referred

to the illegality of both the Iran-Contra and the Iraq-gate scandals. The

latter entailed allegations that Reagan (and his then Vice-president,

George H. W. Bush) had fueled the Iraq-Iran war (1980-1988) by illegally

supplying large amounts of money, weapons technology, training,

military intelligence, and nuclear components to Iraq. A 1983 photograph

shows Donald Rumsfeld, then Reagan’s Special Envoy to the Middle East,

shaking hands with Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq (1979-2003).

Once elected, however, Clinton suppressed all inquiries into Iraq-gate.

He himself admitted to lying under oath, and was never prosecuted.

In the George W. Bush Administration (2001-2009), the culture of

elite lawlessness was extreme. Bush himself has admitted to having

authorized a global torture regime, “black sites” (about 112 secret

prisons worldwide), imprisonment without trial, the kidnapping of

innocent people, the “disappearing” of prisoners, spying on American

citizens without the warrant required by law, and the destruction of

incriminating evidence. Other alleged crimes include a war of aggression

against Iraq (2003), politicized prosecutions, obstruction of justice,

and inaction in the face of both systematic plundering by Wall Street,

and fraudulent home foreclosures by the nations’ largest banks.

As presidential candidate, asked if he would consider investigations

and prosecutions of crimes committed by the W. Bush Administration,

Barack Obama offered emphatic defenses of the rule of law. Once

elected, however, he did not even wait until after his inauguration

to signal his disinterest in enforcing accountability for the crimes of

his predecessor – relying on the same argument that Bill Clinton had

used 16 years earlier, upon his refusal to enforce accountability for

the crimes of his predecessor: “We need to look forward as opposed

to looking backwards.” To date, President Obama has actively

blocked or suppressed almost all investigations of Bush-years crimes.

Like W. Bush, President Obama asserts that the Executive Branch is

beyond reach of the law. When, in 2008, Jose Padilla, an American

citizen imprisoned since 2002 without charge, and, he claims, tortured,

sued John Yoo, the Bush-appointed lawyer, author of the 2002 “torture

memos,” Obama vigorously defended Yoo. Even more egregiously, Obama

now kills American citizens whom he considers “terrorists,” declaring

his decisions to be state secrets, hence barred from all review by the court.

On September 30, 2011, Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan were thus killed

by a drone strike, in Yemen. Two weeks later, al-Awlaki’s 16-year-old son,

Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, was similarly killed, in Yemen, by a drone strike.

The rest of us are subject to laws which are increasingly harsh, with an

increasing number of specified offenses, and increasing lengths of sentence

for specified offenses. In terms of both rate and absolute number, the U.S.

imprisons more of its citizens than any other country. In 2009, 3.1 percent

of adult U.S. residents (7.2 million) were under correctional supervision –

1 percent (2.3 million) incarcerated, and 2.1 percent (4.9 million) on

probation or parole. In addition, 87,000 juveniles were in detention.

From 1980 to 2003, the number of prisoners quadrupled. With 5 percent

of the world’s population, the U.S. has 23 percent of the world’s prisoners.

In 2008, one out of every 28 American children had a parent behind bars.

The non-stop sequence of Christmas carols at the shopping

mall seems vicious, enticing us into the illusion that all is well,

and that Christmas is for goodwill and communal generosity.

But our leaders have more cynicism than goodwill. What

next step toward totalitarianism will they take while we sing?¹

I dream, not of a white Christmas,

but of a democracy,

a country of laws, not of men.

Note No. 1

As the Senate presently considers the Fiscal-Year 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (S. 1867), it is instructive to note the level of the debate – torture and indefinite military detention without charge.

Torture:

1. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) introduced Amendment S.A. 1068 which would specify a set of “classified” (secret) interrogation techniques to be attached to the Army Field Manual on Human Intelligence Collection.

The Amendment would:

(a) Supersede the Obama’s anti-torture Executive Order (January 2009) which requires all interrogations to abide by the Army Field Manual. (Some interrogation techniques presently specified in the Manual do not conform with international norms, such as the Geneva Conventions).

(b) Undermine the Detainee Treatment Act (2005) by permitting some service members to engage in interrogation techniques outside those specified in the Army Field Manual.

(c) Prevent any interrogation by agencies other than the military. This would remove from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), federal prosecutors and federal courts their present authorization to charge and try suspected terrorists [See also below, under “Indefinite military Detention,” No. 1. (b)].

Indefinite military Detention:

1. Already in the Act is S.A. 1107, co-sponsored by Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain (R-AZ). The amendment would:

(a) Mandate military detention and authorize indefinite detention without charge of individuals suspected of involvement with terrorism (including American citizens apprehended on U.S. soil). The measure would effectively extend the country’s “battlefield” to the whole world, including inside the U.S.

(b) Mandate military interrogation. This would remove from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), federal prosecutors and federal courts their present authorization to charge and try suspected terrorists [See also above, under “Torture,” No. 1. (c)].

2. Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) introduced an amendment (defeated on November 29, 2011) to eliminate three provisions in the Act:

(a) Eliminate the authorization for indefinite detention by the military [Part of S.A. 1107. See under No. 1. (a) above].

(b) Eliminate the requirement that law enforcement officials transfer suspected terrorists to military custody [Part of S.A. 1068. See above, under “Torture,” No. 1. (c). Also part of S.A. 1107. See above, under “Indefinite military Detention,” No. 1. (b)].

References

Principal Reference:

Greenwald, Glenn. 2011. With liberty and justice for some – how the law is used to destroy equality and protect the powerful. New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt/Metropolitan.

George W. Bush: pp. 2, 16-18, 32, 48, 50, 54, 61, 103, 107, 137, 156, 173, 193, 199, 206-207, 215, 218, 233, 252, 262-263.

John Adams: p. 3.

Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford: pp. 18, 23, 48-49, 53, 131, 157, 205-206, 228, 232, 266.

Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush: pp. 25-36, 206, 232.

Bill Clinton: pp. 34-35, 233.

Barack Obama: pp. 51, 94, 96, 103-104, 124, 139, 141, 143, 153, 155-156, 159-163, 187, 189-193, 261-264.

Imprisonment of U.S. citizens: pp. 223-225, 243.

Other References:

AllGov.com. 2011. “Third U.S. Citizen killed by Obama’s Yemen Drone Strikes was a 16-Year-Old Boy.” October 20.

http://www.allgov.com/ViewNews . . . 111020. Accessed 11/29/11.

Democracy Now! 2011. “Battlefield America: U.S. Citizens face indefinite military Detention in Defense Bill before Senate.” November 29.

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/11/29. Accessed 11/30/11.

Human Right First. 2011. “Retired military Leaders decry Torture Provisions in Defense Authorization Act.” November 28, 2011.

http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/2011/11/28. Accessed 11/30/11.

New York Times. 2011. “President Obama: Veto the Defense Authorization Act.” (Andrew Rosenthal). (Opinion Page). November 30.

http://loyalopposition.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/30. Accessed 11/30/11.

ThinkProgress.org. 2009. “Obama’s first 100 Hours: A clean Break from Bush.” January 24.

http://thinkprogress.org/security/2009/01/24/35216. Accessed 11/20/11.

Truth-out.org. 2011. “Senate Amendment calls for a Return to Bush-era Torture.” (Jeffrey Kaye). November 30.

http://www.truth-out.org/ayotte . . . /1322665677. Accessed 11/30/11.

Wikipedia, 2011.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki. Accessed 11/29/11.

“Anwar al-Awlaki.”

“Black Site.”

“Detainee Treatment Act.”

“Incarceration in the United States.”

“Samir Khan.”

“Jose Padilla.”

“Torture Memos.”

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