Former GOP Congressman Demands Bush Investigations

By GottaLaff

A welcome voice:

A former Republican member of House of Representatives demanded on Thursday that Congress launch an investigation into possible crimes committed under Bush administration.

Former Rep. Mickey Edwards (R-Okla.) argued, in a brief interview with the Huffington Post, that his one-time GOP colleagues in Congress were skirting their constitutional obligations by refusing to probe the Bush administration.

"I don't think it is complicated at all. I mean, oversight is oversight. If there are allegations that people in public office committed crimes, than we have an absolute obligation to investigate and find out if it is true," Edwards said. "I think it is Congress' job. You could have an independent investigation I suppose. But Congress has to keep control of it. It is Congress' obligation under the Constitution to do the oversight." [...]

Speaking at a panel on congressional oversight powers on Thursday, Edwards was far more forthright. He said he was not concerned that an investigation into the Bush presidency would be bogged down in partisanship, citing the work done on Watergate and other congressional inquiries. "It is a congressional responsibility," he said, "and you can easily set up bipartisan investigations."

Asked if he was surprised by the ongoing allegations of misconduct and secrecy from the Bush years, he replied: "It doesn't shock me because I've become quite aware that during the last eight years under the Bush administration, there were all kinds of things being done that stretched the limits of the Constitution: A lot of secrecy, a lot of claims of executive power that are extra-constitutional. So no I'm not surprised."

It's nice to see a Republican speak out like this. Better late than never, at this point.

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

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Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.