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In an interview with George Stephanopoulos, just prior to taking office in 2009, President Obama made it clear that he had “a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards.” This statement set the tone even to the present – the 10th anniversary of the war in Iraq – for not holding accountable the perpetrators of an illegal preemptive war in Iraq, of torture, and of illegal surveillance of U.S. citizens.
Essentially the president’s position has allowed criminals to go about their lives uninhibited, to have no fear of being held accountable, and even to enjoy rehabilitation in the eye of the public.
I and many of my fellow Americans are appalled by the lack of regret that three leading Bush administration figures expressed for their role in promoting the Iraq war, despite clear evidence the intelligence was “cooked,” lies were told and Congress was seriously misled. The three to whom I refer are Richard Perle, Dick Cheney and George W. Bush.
Perle, a purveyor of lies and innuendo as he beat the drums for war in Iraq, responded to a question on NPR about the worth of the human cost of the war: “What we did at the time was done with the belief that it was necessary to protect this nation. You can’t a decade later go back and say we shouldn’t have done that.”
Cheney stated in a Showtime documentary: “I did what I did. It’s all on the public record, and I feel very good about it. If I had it to do over again, I’d do it in a minute.”
President Bush in responding to Matt Lauer’s question about apologizing to the American people, said: “I mean apologizing would basically say the decision was a wrong decision. And I don’t believe it was the wrong decision.”
That these three men and other members of the Bush administration can hold their heads high and defend their actions with no apparent recognition of how wrong their actions were, for this I hold President Obama accountable.
An example of rehabilitation is the recent confirmation of John Brennan to head the CIA, a man who was deeply involved in torture programs, extraordinary renditions, and enhanced interrogation techniques while serving in the Bush administration. In the Obama administration he has promoted targeted assassinations by drones in Pakistan and elsewhere and has had the audacity to claim that not a “single collateral death” has resulted. Such a rehabilitation!
During my involvement in the campaign to impeach Bush/Cheney, I came to realize that the most important argument for impeachment was to prevent future presidents from breaching the Constitution and enhancing an imperial presidency.
Unfortunately, impeachment did not take place, accountability has not been demanded and Obama has been able to continue to exercise and enlarge upon an imperial presidency.
The 10th anniversary of the war/occupation in Iraq is a time for reflection – it is also a time for action. While it seems that the president does not have any inclination to hold members of the Bush administration – or his administration – accountable for illegal acts and war crimes, Obama still has an opportunity to redeem himself, and in so doing fill in the historical gaps with facts and create a record to guide future administrations by convening a process for truth and reconciliation as put forth by former Congressman Dennis Kucinich “where those who were responsible for taking us to war are brought forth in an officially sanctioned setting, and, under oath, testify to what they knew. The American people must know the truth about the grave decision made by our government to go to war…. We must know the truth. Truth and reconciliation is the process. It has worked in other countries struggling with their past. It can work in America.”
I urge the president to do the right thing and help reset the path toward a democratic government, a healed nation and peace.
