Bush administration misconduct hearings: Liveblog Part 7

By GottaLaff

Vincent Bugliosi: I can quote Bush, but I can't accuse him of a crime. I have to use the words "Bush administration" according to the rules today. They took us to war on a lie, so under the law, they are guilty of the deaths of over 4000 soldiers and the innocent Iraqis. I know this is a serious charge, but I don't have time for fanciful reveries. I believe there's more than enough evidence to convict them. One piece: Documented, when Bush said Saddam was an imminent threat, he was saying the opposite of what he was told privately. It gets worse: They put out a summary version of unclassified paper, the White Paper, that US intel said Saddam was not a threat, and that part was completely deleted. Congress, U.S. never saw it. What could be more criminal than keeping this from America and Congress? If Clinton can be impeached for what he did, there should be no difficulty making a criminal referral to the DoJ for first degree murder charges. Americans should be outraged. How dare they do what they've done? How dare they? [applause] [now there's an R request to clear the room because of the outburst, denied by Conyers] It would deny the dead if the case isn't referred to DoJ.

Professor Jeremy Rabkin (international law prof., U.S. Institute of Peace): People are angry at the Bush administration. I'm not here to defend them, but I was asked by the minority to add perspective. Charges ofconspiracy to take nation into war for no reason, knowingly: If you believe that, you shouldn't take time on FISA. This is more important (he's being facetious). The secondary things don't add credibility to this explosive charge. It's understandable how people can do things that in retrospect we think of differently. I'm astonished at the tone in this room: it's slightly demented. The president isn't Caligula. We don't need to reach for the most extreme interpretation. Congress has a legislative process... it doesn't have to be "somebody must pay!", "impeach"! Our enemies aren't D's and R's, it's terrorists who want to kill us.