Thursday, August 10, 2006
Summary of Rep. Conyers’ Report
on the Bush Administration
This Minority Report has been produced at the direction of Representative John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee. The Report is divided into two principal parts: - Part I, released in draft form in December, 2005, concerns “The Downing Street Minutes and Deception Manipulation, Torture,Retribution, and Cover-ups in the Iraq War; ”and Part II, released in June 2006, concerns “Unlawful Domestic Surveillance and Related Civil Liberties Abuses under the Administration of George W. Bush. ” (At the conclusion, we include an Addendum including additional matters which have come to light since Part I of the Report was issued in December, 2005 and Part II was written in May, 2006).
In preparing this Report we reviewed tens of thousands of documents and materials, including testimony submitted at two hearings held by Rep. Conyers concerning the Downing Street Minutes and warrantless domestic surveillance; hundreds of media reports, articles, and books, including interviews with past and present Administration employees and other confidential sources; scores of government and non-profit reports, hearings, and analyses; numerous letters and materials submitted to Rep. Conyers; staff interviews; relevant laws, cases, regulations, and administrative guidelines; and the Administration ’s own words and statements.
In brief, we have found that there is substantial evidence the President, the Vice-President and other high-ranking members of the Bush Administration misled Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war in Iraq; mis-stated and manipulated intelligence information regarding the justification for such war; countenanced torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in Iraq; permitted inappropriate retaliation against critics of their Administration; and approved domestic surveillance that is both illegal and unconstitutional. As further detailed in the Report, there is evidence that these actions violate a number of federal laws, including:
The Report rejects the frequent contention by the Bush Administration that their pre-war conduct has been reviewed and they have been exonerated. No entity has ever considered whether the Administration misled Americans about the decision to go to war. The Senate Intelligence Committee has not yet conducted a review of pre-war intelligence distortion and manipulation, while the presidentially appointed Silberman-Robb Commission Report specifically cautioned that intelligence manipulation “was not part of our inquiry. ” There has also not been any independent inquiry concerning torture and other legal violations in Iraq; nor has there been an independent review of the pattern of cover-ups and political retribution by the Bush Administration against its critics, other than the very narrow and still ongoing inquiry of Special Counsel Fitzgerald into the outing of Valerie Plame.
There also has been no independent review of the circumstances surrounding the Bush Administration ’s domestic spying scandals. The Administration summarily rejected all requests for special counsels, as well as reviews by the Department of Justice and Department of Defense Inspector Generals. When the DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility opened an investigation, the Bush Administration effectively squashed it by denying the investigators security clearances. Neither the House nor Senate Intelligence Committee have undertaken any sort of comprehensive investigation, and the Bush Administration has sought to cut off any court review of the NSA programs by repeatedly invoking the state secrets doctrine.
As a result of our findings, we have made a number of recommendations to help prevent the recurrence of these events in the future, including:
on the Bush Administration
This Minority Report has been produced at the direction of Representative John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee. The Report is divided into two principal parts: - Part I, released in draft form in December, 2005, concerns “The Downing Street Minutes and Deception Manipulation, Torture,Retribution, and Cover-ups in the Iraq War; ”and Part II, released in June 2006, concerns “Unlawful Domestic Surveillance and Related Civil Liberties Abuses under the Administration of George W. Bush. ” (At the conclusion, we include an Addendum including additional matters which have come to light since Part I of the Report was issued in December, 2005 and Part II was written in May, 2006).
In preparing this Report we reviewed tens of thousands of documents and materials, including testimony submitted at two hearings held by Rep. Conyers concerning the Downing Street Minutes and warrantless domestic surveillance; hundreds of media reports, articles, and books, including interviews with past and present Administration employees and other confidential sources; scores of government and non-profit reports, hearings, and analyses; numerous letters and materials submitted to Rep. Conyers; staff interviews; relevant laws, cases, regulations, and administrative guidelines; and the Administration ’s own words and statements.
In brief, we have found that there is substantial evidence the President, the Vice-President and other high-ranking members of the Bush Administration misled Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war in Iraq; mis-stated and manipulated intelligence information regarding the justification for such war; countenanced torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in Iraq; permitted inappropriate retaliation against critics of their Administration; and approved domestic surveillance that is both illegal and unconstitutional. As further detailed in the Report, there is evidence that these actions violate a number of federal laws, including:
- Making False Statements to Congress, for example, saying you have
learned Iraq is attempting to buy uranium from Niger, when you have
been warned by the CIA that this is not the case.
- The War Powers Resolution and Misuse of Government Funds, for
example, redeploying troops and initiating bombing raids before
receiving congressional authorization.
- Federal laws and international treaties prohibiting torture
and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, for example, ordering
detainees to be ghosted and removed and tolerating and laying the
legal ground work for their torture and mistreatment.
- Federal laws concerning retaliating against witnesses and
other individuals, for example, demoting Bunnatine Greenhouse,
the chief contracting officer at the Army Corps of Engineers,
because she exposed contracting abuses involving Halliburton.
- Federal requirements concerning leaking and other misuse of
intelligence, for example, failing to enforce the executive order
requiring disciplining those who leak classified information, whether
intentional or not.
- Federal regulations and ethical requirements governing conflicts
of interest, for example, then Attorney General John Aschcroft ’s
being personally briefed on FBI interviews concerning possible
misconduct by Karl Rove even though Mr. Rove had previously received
nearly $750,000 in fees for political work on Mr. Ashcroft ’s campaigns.
- Violating FISA and the Fourth Amendment, for example intercepting
thousands of communications “to or from any person within the United
States, ” without obtaining a warrant.
- The Stored Communications Act of 1986 and the Communications Act
of 1934, for example, obtaining millions of U.S. customer telephone
records without obtaining a subpoena or warrant, without customer
consent, and outside of any applicable “emergency exceptions.
- The National Security Act, for example, failing to keep all
Members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees “fully and
currently informed ” of intelligence activities, such as the warrantless surveillance programs.
The Report rejects the frequent contention by the Bush Administration that their pre-war conduct has been reviewed and they have been exonerated. No entity has ever considered whether the Administration misled Americans about the decision to go to war. The Senate Intelligence Committee has not yet conducted a review of pre-war intelligence distortion and manipulation, while the presidentially appointed Silberman-Robb Commission Report specifically cautioned that intelligence manipulation “was not part of our inquiry. ” There has also not been any independent inquiry concerning torture and other legal violations in Iraq; nor has there been an independent review of the pattern of cover-ups and political retribution by the Bush Administration against its critics, other than the very narrow and still ongoing inquiry of Special Counsel Fitzgerald into the outing of Valerie Plame.
There also has been no independent review of the circumstances surrounding the Bush Administration ’s domestic spying scandals. The Administration summarily rejected all requests for special counsels, as well as reviews by the Department of Justice and Department of Defense Inspector Generals. When the DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility opened an investigation, the Bush Administration effectively squashed it by denying the investigators security clearances. Neither the House nor Senate Intelligence Committee have undertaken any sort of comprehensive investigation, and the Bush Administration has sought to cut off any court review of the NSA programs by repeatedly invoking the state secrets doctrine.
As a result of our findings, we have made a number of recommendations to help prevent the recurrence of these events in the future, including:
- obtaining enhanced investigatory authority to access documentary
information and testimony regarding the various allegations set forth in
this Report.
- reaffirming that FISA and the criminal code contain the exclusive
means for conducting domestic warrantless surveillance and, to the
extent that more personnel are needed to process FISA requests,
increasing available resources.
- requiring the President to report on the pardon of any former or
current officials who could implicate the President or other Administration officials implicated by pending investigations.
- requiring the President to notify Congress upon the declassification
of intelligence information.
- providing for enhanced protection for national security whistle-
blowers.
- strengthening the authority of the Privacy and Civil Liberties
Oversight Board.
- increasing funding and resources for local law enforcement and
first responders and insuring that anti-terrorism funds are
distributed based on risk, not politics.
- implementing the 9-11 Commission Recommendations, including
providing for enhanced port, infrastructure, and chemical plant
security and ensuring that all loose nuclear materials are secured.
- banning corporate trade with state sponsors of terrorism and
eliminating sovereign immunity protections for state sponsors of
terrorism.
- enhancing laws against wartime fraud.
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