"Never in U.S. history has a president so readily exploited a crisis to amass unchecked power..."

[DeepModem Mom]

WP op-ed: EXECUTIVE EXCESS
Where's Congress In This Power Play?
By Frederick A.O. Schwarz Jr. and Aziz Huq
Sunday, April 1, 2007; Page B01

....Unlike Lincoln and other past chief executives, President Bush asserts that he has the power to set aside fundamental laws permanently -- including those that ban torture and domestic spying. The White House today argues that there will never be a day of reckoning in Congress or the courts. To the contrary, it does all it can to shield its use of unilateral detention, torture and spying powers from the review of any other branch of government. Even after five years, the lawfulness of incarcerating hundreds of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has not been reviewed by another branch.

Never before in U.S. history, we believe, has a president so readily exploited a crisis to amass unchecked and unreviewed power unto himself, completely at odds with the Constitution. This departure from historical practice should deeply concern those in both parties who care for the Constitution. Even in military matters, Congress has considerable authority. For instance, the Constitution specifies that Congress can "make Rules for Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces." Military intelligence, military surveillance and military detention are all matters on which Congress can dictate the terms of how the commander-in-chief's power is exercised.

Debates at the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, and in the state ratifying conventions that ensued, conclusively undercut the current administration's claim to unaccountable power....There is no reason to abandon the founding generation's skepticism of unchecked executive power. The Constitution rests on a profound understanding of human nature. Hamilton, James Madison and the other framers and ratifiers knew that no single individual, whether selected by birth or popular vote, could be blindly trusted to wield power wisely. They knew that both the executive and Congress would make mistakes.

The Supreme Court has repeatedly backed a strong oversight role for Congress. "The scope of power of inquiry . . . is as penetrating and far-reaching as the potential power to enact and appropriate under the Constitution," it wrote in 1975. Congress has repeatedly met its constitutional responsibility as a coequal branch, even in times of war, and regardless of partisan interests....Today's questions about presidential power are certainly not ones that have Republican or Democratic answers. The institutional imbalance that is evident today should trouble legislators of both parties.

We believe that most Americans still would agree with the Church Committee when it stated: "The United States must not adopt the tactics of the enemy," for "each time we do so, each time the means we use are wrong, our inner strength, the strength that makes us free, is lessened."

(Frederick A.O. Schwarz Jr., a lawyer with New York University's Brennan Center for Justice, was chief counsel for the Church Committee in 1975-76. Aziz Huq is a Brennan Center fellow. Their book is "Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in a Time of Terror.")

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/30/AR2007033002075.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

[Reterr]

1. k and r.eom

[cassiepriam]

2. Never has a president CREATED so much crisis to amass power and money.

[Vincardog]

12. You beat me to it. Read about the PNAC

[cassiepriam]

13. I can't bear to read much more about PNAC. Like a horror movie come to life.

[Vincardog]

15. I responded to you; but was not talking to you.

:evilfrown: :think: :hug: :grouphug: :pals: :headbang: :dilemma:

[cassiepriam]

16. OK :) nice smilies......

[onecent]

3. K and R. n/t

[acmavm]

4. In the Washington Post, huh? I suppose they don't see the irony when

they publish an article like this, do they?

[AlGore-08.com]

6. I was just thinking the same thing. Where's Bob Somerby when you need him?

eom

[Kagemusha]

5. "Church committee" is a dirty word in this administration

and is held as the example of all that is foul and improper in government.

Not that I think so but just mentioning it for perspective; the author of the above can hardly be unaware of that view by the administration.

[DeepModem Mom]

11. Interesting here, re. Cheney --

"In some ways, the 'Magna Carta' of this combative ideology was the minority report issued by eight of the Republicans on the Iran-contra committee that investigated the Reagan administration's handling of covert arms sales to Iran and the secret -- and illegal -- effort to finance the contra rebels fighting in Nicaragua.

Among the report's signers was then-Rep. Dick Cheney, who led the group. They rejected the idea that separation of powers would 'preclude the exercise of arbitrary power' and argued that the president needed to act expeditiously and secretly to achieve American aims in a dangerous world. Their solution to executive abuse was to water down congressional and judicial oversight. The minority report referred approvingly to 'monarchical notions of prerogative that will permit (presidents) to exceed the law' if Congress tried to exercise oversight on national security matters. Cheney later insisted in an interview that 'you have to preserve the prerogative of the president in extraordinary circumstances,' by not notifying Congress of intelligence operations.

Cheney's views have not shifted since then. In December 2005, he referred reporters to the minority report for his view of 'the president's prerogatives.'"

[TahitiNut]

7. Once upon a time, the highest priority in any war was to get it done with.

(This is the only rational approach and the historical exceptions yield some interesting lessons - but that's for background study beyond the scope of a post on DU.)

To this end, nations mobilized all their assets, allies, and resources to expediently and single-mindedly overcome the opposition. This is NOT what we're seeing. We are told it's a "war" but it's not - at least not in any conventional sense. It is a "war" only in the sense that the economic elite of the globe have appetites that can no longer be sated by peaceful means. Armed conflict yields 'benefits' to some. Assuming this is intended and to some extent planned, I can only suspect that to the same extent it is a kind of global 'isometric' with the opposing sides being driven/influenced by collaborative forces. (Again, history is our guide.)

Cui bono?

[SammyWinstonJack]

8. What else can be expected from a pResident that was never elected?

Once he got away with that crime, he figured everything else was fair game and he wouldn't be held accountable and it seems he is correct in that assumption.

[Ms. Clio]

9. K&R n/t

[Olney Blue]

10. There's something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there?

[cassiepriam]

14. Yes the repugs did not come to power in a vacuum.

They represent the dark side of the American psyche.

[grannylib]

17. Yes, it is extremely hypocritical of the WaPo to talk about the power

grab; they, along with the rest of the MSM, have been complicit. So have our representatives in both houses of Congress. And so have we. We let them.
Yeah, we write LTTEs and volunteer on campaigns and contact our reps and sign petitions and march and demonstrate and work toward free and fair elections, but WE MUST DO MORE.

We cannot allow the media to remain nothing more than kool-ade mainlining whores for the Publican party. We cannot allow our representatives to rubber stamp or back down in ANY way ANY more to this sorry-assed cabal of unelected liars and thieves. This government is supposed to be OURS. OF, BY and FOR WE THE PEOPLE.

[The Count]

18. Isn't this editorial about 5 years too late?

Glad it's there, but I can't stop wondering - where was WaPo when it was happening?

[rodeodance]

19. hey, not bad from theWP

[Quantess]

20. Great article!

Recommended.:thumbsup:

[IWantAChange]

21. K&R - is the fifth column getting its collective head out of its rear-end??

[Senator]

22. Congressional Excess: Excessive Dereliction of Duty to the Nation

Not a single Dem member of Congress would defend the actions of the regime as within the boundaries of the Constitution -- as NOT impeachable. It's likely true of most of the Repubs as well.

And yet they continue in silent complicity -- refusing to admit that they are duty-bound to act.

For the crimes against the American People, that is simply part of the continuing crisis of democratic and Constitutional values that began with the Stolen Electon of 2000.

But for the ongoing torture of detainees, it is participation in War Crimes.

The world is wondering why today -- as our children and grandchildren will wonder all too soon.

Only Impeachment ... can stop the madness.

--

[EFerrari]

23. "If impeachment is off the table, so is democracy."

Chalmers Johnson