 |
|
Go read Hilzoy on Bush and the separation of powers:
As I wrote someone earlier today, my read of John Yoo's legal philosophy is that even without 9/11, Bush in wartime has the power to order all of the grandmothers raped and all the children killed, all without oversight, all without checks. According to Yoo, there are simply no limits on the commander in chief's right to determine what is necessary in wartime. He is the law, according to Yoo. What American supports that legal interpretation?He is, essentially, claiming that he has the right not just to execute the laws, but to write them himself, and then to judge their application. Moreover, he claims the right to do this in secret. Were he to announce openly that he had decided to concentrate all the powers of government in his own hands, we could at least argue about whether or not we thought that was a good idea. But by acting in secret, he is, essentially, asserting the right to amend the Constitution unilaterally and without having the decency to let us know.
And while it seems unprecedented in American life, in democracies governed by the rule of law, this is the typical state of affairs in dictatorships. Dictators, typically, are the law, and they find the individuals like Yoo easily enough to interpret the piece of paper that is known as the law to justify whatever the leader wants, all in the name of national security of course. A permanent state of emergency. Yoo and Rice are not the exception. Their type are typical features of dictatorships, familiar to anyone who has lived in the Soviet Union or Belgrade or East Germany. The technocrat intellectuals that put the intellectual, legal gloss on such shortcircuiting of the law, that make such abuses easier, the enablers.
If Bush authorizes extraordinary renditions or black site prisons or torture or turning American citizens into "enemy combatants" at the drop of a pin, if he authorizes warrantless spying on Americans, Rice is sure to show up on Meet the Press and invoke the thousands of Americans saved by such illegal measures. Just like she assured us Bush's invasion of Iraq was necessary to prevent an Iraq nuclear mushroom cloud. Until that too is exposed as fraudulent, when she seamlessly changes her tune. She considers this her duty. Loyalty above all else.