Deja Vu
After Poetrooper’s article earlier today concerning “Fast and Furious”, I’m a bit hesitant to post this. I generally try to stay mostly away from politics unrelated to the military here at TAH. But today I feel compelled to make an exception.
“I don’t give a shit what happens. I want you all to stonewall it, let them plead the Fifth Amendment, cover-up or anything else, if it’ll save it – save the plan.”
No, the above isn’t a quote from any official of the current Administration about “Fast and Furious”. But it sounds like it could be.
I doubt this is news to most TAH readers, but the current Administration is now claiming “executive privilege” regarding documents relating to “Fast and Furious”.
I’m not going to debate the merits of “Fast and Furious”, or the possible motivations (political or otherwise) which led to that DOJ operation. Nor am I going to opine on whether “Fast and Furious” was a good idea, or was executed competently. I’ll leave that to others.
But the claim of executive privilege for “Fast and Furious” is, well, IMO bullshit. And it’s also highly dangerous bullshit.
Under certain conditions executive privilege can indeed be legitimately invoked by the POTUS. But it’s generally limited to matters of national security or diplomacy. It can’t be invoked to hide matters that are merely criminal or embarrassing. No Administration should ever invoke a claim of executive privilege for such reasons.
But the current Administration has yet to make the case why Fast and Furious qualifies for a claim of executive privilege. And absent such justification, they’re essentially making a claim that all, regardless of political leanings, should find deeply disturbing and dangerous. Essentially, they’re arguing for unlimited application of executive privilege – that is, they are arguing that executive privilege should be allowed whenever desired by the POTUS and/or senior Administration officials, and about matters that do not involve national security or diplomacy. Because Fast and Furious is not a national security or diplomatic matter. It’s a law enforcement operation gone awry.
Allowing such unrestricted claims of executive privilege essentially places a serving POTUS above the law. And if extended to other senior officials, it would similarly render serving senior officials above the law as well.
In short, it would render the President a King, answerable to no one, and his senior officials untouchable nobility. That’s not something I ever want to see in this nation. Do you?
And in case you’re wondering: yes, you’ve indeed heard the above quote before. That was Nixon – speaking to some of his senior advisors about Watergate.
Nixon’s claim of executive privilege was a transparent attempt to obstruct investigation of Watergate. It was absolutely wrong, and was slam-dunked by the SCOTUS. And unless the current administration makes a far better case than it has to date, the same needs to happen today.
The magnitude of the issues which you’ve
raised warrants a focus on those issues.
Don’t ever forget President Clinton’s attempt to use the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act to shield him personally from lawsuits. And Clinton bombed Iraq on the day before his impeachment vote as well.
Obama invoking executive privilege in this case looked so much like his attempt to hide Holder behind his skirts, it wasn’t even funny.
I think that’s a tangential issue, Beretverde. While IMO inappropriate, as I recall Clinton’s invoking the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act as CINC didn’t involve an attempted claim of executive privilege as a shield. Rather, that was an attempt to use an existing law questionably. This appears to me more an attempt to claim that “the law doesn’t apply to me – you can’t subpoena me!”
However, the Clinton Administration also claimed executive privilege on fourteen occasions. And when Clinton tried to use that to avoid testifying in the Lewinsky matter, the courts slam-dunked him.
In fairness, the Bush(43) Administration made executive privilege claims on six occasions as well. A cursory look at those leads me to believe many if not all of those were also questionable.
I have a real problem with the concept of executive privilege being used as a mechanism to avoid disclosure of wrongdoing. In my view, that’s a very dangerous precedent for the reasons I stated above.
@4 Point taken. Just trying to say that all presidents will use all types of powers to justify their means.
hmmmm….this sounds like a good start to a “watergate” -esque situation….Executive privilege my neon white butt.
“…the current Administration has yet to make the case why Fast and Furious qualifies for a claim of executive privilege.”
Of course it’s a coverup, and a feeble one at that. I watched those Watergate hearings when they were being broadcast live, and I wondered then just how long it would take to pry Nixon out of his seat in the White House.
Anyone want to take bets on how long this takes? Oh, that’s right — there are elections coming up. Geezo pete, I miss the 1960s.
“Can’t you see this is the last act of a desperate man?”
I thought it was an appropriate movie quote!
“It would render the President a King, answerable to no one, and his senior officials untouchable nobility”. Isn’t that what he envisions himself to be?
After all, Congress declined to pass the DREAM Act, and he went ahead and implemented it anyway. Even after saying that he couldn’t do it, legally. He’s said that he and Joe Bite-Me will do so whenever they feel the need to, because they don’t want to wait for Congress.
And, this only has to drag out until the first Wednesday in November. After that, it’ll be, Who cares?
I don’t care I it is the first act of Henry the V…oh wait sorry…channeling Mel Brooks there.
It’s like he is everything he claimed George W Bush was cranked up a notch. Once he is out of office and the layers of deciet and cronyism are peeled back we will see exactly how dirty he is. Right now he just has sycophants and his public fooled onto thinking he is some kind of paragon and he is justified in what he does because it is for a “greater good”. When Bill Clinton thinks the guy is shady…he has more than skeletons in the closet. This is the kind of guy who can say he wants something done without saying it and has lackeys dumb enough to do it without him saying it.
Considering that it is not simply likely but obvious that the porous in not only leaking drugs and weapons but people OTM, many/most of whom are enemies intent upon blowing up this country, this is definitely a topic worthy of consideration by military types.
What has overlooked is the field agents told the higher-ups that once the weapons entered Mexico that BAFT and cronies had no assets to trace the weapons in Mexico.