Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Sign Sen. Leahy's Petition for Truth and Reconciliation Commission
We have just emerged from a time when White House officials often acted as if they were above the law. President Obama wants to move forward rather than back, and does not seem willing to investigate those abuses of power.
Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont has proposed the idea of a truth and reconciliation commission, not to seek vengeance, but to make sure it does not happen again.
Please take a moment to read Leahy's online petition here and then decide for yourself if you would like to sign on.
We already have over 86,000 signatures. Please consider joining us.
Here's the text in full:
I hereby join Senator Patrick Leahy's call for the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission, to investigate the Bush-Cheney Administration's constitutional abuses so we make sure they never happen again. These abuses may include the use of torture, warrantless wiretapping, extraordinary rendition, and executive override of laws.
A truth and reconciliation commission should be tasked with seeking answers so that we can develop a shared understanding of the failures of the recent past. Rather than vengeance, we need a fair-minded pursuit of what actually happened. The best way to move forward is getting to the truth and finding out what happened -- so we can make sure it does not happen again.
Signed by:
[Your name]
Given last week's statement on HARDBALL from Bush spin doctor Ari Fleischer who is still - STILL! - pushing the myth that Saddam was behind 9/11, saying that the war in Iraq was necessary to stop him from hitting us 'again', it is clear to me that we need both Truth and Reconciliation.
Sign the petition today. It only takes a minute. Thank you.
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4 comments:
A friend at my former church in NJ had contacted me, asking if I felt that the petition would actually get to Sen. Leahy. I checked his website and since that's where the petition originated I told her it would. My friend wanted to make a copy of the petition and have folks sign it at church. However, the Senatior's website also says that are "sorry but they only read mail from their home state." So, I'm having my friend send me her signed petition and I'll mail it to the Senator's office from here in VT. (It sounds complicated doesn't it? I'd already signed the on line petition myself.)
VTcrone, the sight just took my mail from NY.
I would hope that they could introduce into this commission something like the reconciliation that was part of South Africa's reconciliation process. Granted the situation IS different. But I fear that if this "truth" commission is left just to dig deeply, it will just contribute to the polarization that has characterized the past 10 years.
I agree that we need to get to the depth of the disception but I am not sure that surfacing it will do much to ease the divisions
Signed.
Gee, Jim, wonder where you heard it first? ;~)
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