IRAQ, TEN YEARS LATER: WHAT ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION? Posted by Seymour M. Hersh

[xchrom]

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/03/iraq-ten-years-later-what-about-the-constitution.html



In a few days, we will have a new anniversary to celebrate, or to mourn. The bombing or Baghdad ten years ago this week marked the beginning of another senseless American war fought for reasons that turned out not to exist, driven by wrongheaded, cockeyed, and manipulated intelligence.

We know the history. After a few weeks in which the Iraqi Army scattered without putting up much of a fight, the situation quickly got out of control. By mid-2004, with a Presidential election under way, it was clear to many that we were deep into a guerrilla war that would turn out badly and take the lives of thousands of Americans, and many times that number of Iraqis. And yet George Bush, the man who brought us there, won reëlection that November.

So the question that presents itself is: What’s up with our Constitution? How could a small group of hard-line conservatives around President Bush, including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and a few neoconservatives so quickly throw us over the cliff? This included not only a war fought on false pretenses but also a system of torture and indefinite detention that, in far too many cases, ran against our laws and values (and was only partially checked by the Supreme Court). It’s not enough to blame it on the fear, anger, and confusion brought on by the 9/11 attacks. What happened to our press corps with its alleged independence and its commitment to the First Amendment and the values of the rest of the Bill of Rights? What about Congressional oversight—laughable in the run-up to the war, and even more laughable today, as American enters its twelfth year of its worldwide War on Terror. Is our Constitution that fragile?

The dominate question that marked the Watergate and Iran-Contra scandals—what did the President know and when did he know it?—no longer needs to be asked. We have a President who found a way, last May, to let the world—and, most importantly, those wavering independents in the months before last year’s election—know via the New York Times that he personally participated in discussions about which terrorist, real or suspected, was to be assassinated. The Times quoted John Brennan, then a senior Presidential adviser and now our newly confirmed director of Central Intelligence, as explaining that the suspects went through a checklist that included “the infeasibility of capture, the certainty of the intelligence base, the imminence of the threat, all of these things.” The question about all of these things that has yet to be asked—at a Presidential news conference or during Brennan’s confirmation hearing—is this: How many suspects on your list have been taken off the list because of unreliable intelligence or a conclusion that the “imminent” threat was no longer so imminent? The answer, according to people who know of such matters, is very few, if any. Meanwhile, we are creating more and more terrorists as we drone and predator along.


Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/03/iraq-ten-years-later-what-about-the-constitution.html#ixzz2NVgDqm8O

[MadHound]

1. No president willingly give up power given to them by their predecessors,

Obama is no different.

Furthermore, as Hersh well knows, Obama is just doing his job, his real job, namely keeping the MIC well fed and cared for. This has been the primary job of presidents and politicians since the end of WWII. Which is a huge reason that we're in the fucked up state this country is in.

[graham4anything]

2. Seymour has made a nice cottage industry for himself all these years. 15 minutes of fame x 40 years

Why didn't he run for office if he wants things changed?
Surely there was a house district he could..

oh, wait, yeah, that would actually take time and all that.

plus, this famous statement Hirsch made-
"Sometimes I change events, dates, and places in a certain way to protect people... I can’t fudge what I write. But I can certainly fudge what I say."[41](41.^ a b c d Sy Hersh Says It’s Okay to Lie (Just Not in Print). The runaway mouth of America’s premier investigative journalist. By Chris Suellentrop. Published April 11, 2005)

One never knows then what is or isn't so in his world. I have no idea.
Work? who knows.
But he surely has made a nice life for himself, hasn't he?

not to mention this famous quote-
the odd thing is, a quote like this sabatoged Jesse Jackson, yet no one seemed to hold it against Hirsch. Why is that?

When, in October 2007, asked on presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's hawkish views on Iran, Hersh claimed that Jewish donations were the main reason for these:

“ Money. A lot of the Jewish money from New York. Come on, let’s not kid about it. A significant percentage of Jewish money, and many leading American Jews support the Israeli position that Iran is an existential threat. And I think it’s as simple as that. When you’re from New York and from New York City, you take the view of – right now, when you’re running a campaign, you follow that line. And there’s no other explanation for it, because she’s smart enough to know the downside.[25]


yeah, Seymour is smart enough to know who butters his bread, and has now for 40 years.

His perogative, that's America!
It's a whole industry to hate Obama, hate Hillary, hate everything and make a fortune doing so.

[Hissyspit]

8. Oh good lord...

[n2doc]

9. +1

The icon worshippers are up early.

[Berlum]

3. k and r

[bemildred]

4. Since the supposed defenders of our Constitution (the USSC) INTERVENED to put Bush/Cheney in office,

I don't see why anybody would expect them to protect the Constitution otherwise, and the current behavior of the currect crop of USSC justices does not fill me with confidence either. Corrupted institutions cannot be expected to do their job well.

[marmar]

6. k/r

[spanone]

7. k&r...

[magellan]

10. K&effin'R

And to the pom pom brigade.