Congress Must Clean Executive Branch Clock
Congress Must Clean Executive Branch ClockThe most recent White House scandal is that the CIA filmed at least one harsh interrogation of terror suspects, lied about having any tapes, and then destroyed the tapes. The tapes were made while George Tenet was head of the CIA and they were destroyed under Porter Gross who was the subsequent head of the CIA. The CIA is an Executive Branch organization.
Part of the checks and balance between Congress and the Executive Branches is that the Senate is kept informed by the Executive Branch. In this case the CIA should have been honest in declaring the existence of the tapes to the Senate Intelligence Committee while the tapes existed.
First of all why can’t we expect to have honest people lead the CIA? Secondly, why should there be secrets and lies to the Senate Intelligence committee by the CIA? If the White House was involved in the taping and outright secrecy of the taping, lies about the existence of the tapes, and the destruction of the tapes then it should be brought out publicly and the guilty should be punished.
Another scandal the Executive Branch was involved in was the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame to the news media and only one person, while there was many others involved in the outing, was convicted not for outing the agent, but on four counts of perjury, obstruction of justice, and making false statements, and was acquitted of one count of making false statements. Libby was sentenced to 30 months in prison, a fine of US$250,000, and two years of supervised release after his prison term. President Bush gave amnesty to the sentenced individual, keeping all of his White House staff out of jail. The American and International public was embarrassed by the President who said On September 30, 2003, that if there had been "a leak" from his administration about Plame, "I want to know who it is... and if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of." I guess Bush wanted to personally reward the individuals rather than have them punished.
When Executive Branch organizations cannot supervise themselves to follow the law, then Congress has the mandate to clean their clock. As Congress does not step up to the task of keeping the Executive Branch honest, then they are guilty too. It seems there is so much soap coming out of the White House that they should win all of the soap opera awards. It seems there is almost nothing in the many soap opera shows on TV that at least has not been equaled and usually been bested by the White House. If I want to watch a soap opera I’ll find a TV and watch one; soap operas do not belong in the White House Executive Branch or Congress. In fact other government soap opera players running for President and Congressional seats should just step down because we do not want you in office. The age of American government soap operas is ending, hopefully.
posted by God Bless America - Bob @ 5:02 PM
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