Truth commission?

A segment of the Democratic party wants hearings to be held to examine various aspects and actions of the Bush administration. One suggestion has been to set up a "Truth Commission" to get to the bottom of these issues. This blogger is in favor of this, provided that Senators from both parties are hauled in front of the Commission to recount how they were briefed on the matters in question and chose to do nothing!

On another front, the Obama administration has disappointed a number of supporters by taking similar positions as the Bush administration in a number of areas e.g. use of the 'state secrets privilege', etc. "Justice Department lawyers told the court Friday that despite the changeover from Bush to Obama, there would be no change in the legal position of the government in this case... The position taken by the Obama administration in the Yoo lawsuit is consistent with its efforts in a whole series of court cases involving national security and democratic rights, where the Obama Justice Department has essentially adopted the Bush administration's standpoint as its own. This includes assertion of the "state secrets" privilege to suppress lawsuits against illegal kidnappings by the CIA ("rendition") and illegal surveillance by the National Security Agency."

Not much of a surprise - in the November 8th entry, Post-electoral predictions, this blogger predicted, "Post-inauguration a President Obama will display a new-found respect for the office of the President of the United States, and will not help (and will almost certainly impede (even while trying to keep this "behind the scenes") any attempts to drag former-President Bush, former-vice president Cheney, and some of their senior aides before panels to hold them to account for some of their actions while in power. This will be to the profound dismay of very many of his supporters..."

Facing the Cold, Hard Truth
Obama administration backs immunity for author of Bush torture memos