Bush/Cheney War Crimes and Corruption Update

Vets protest Bush/Cheney War Crimes today at the National Archives

Bush/Cheney War Crimes and Corruption Update:

• Cheney is told he can not destroy his records in violation of the Presidential Records Act (... which means he is destroying them now).

LA TIMES: Judge rules Cheney must preserve records - In her ruling, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly cast doubt on the vice president's argument, given that the Presidential Records Act was specifically amended to prevent former President Richard Nixon from destroying any of the tapes or documents that led to his resignation. And here's the kicker: Any violation by the preliminary injunction is punishable by immediate contempt -- including the power to jail the offender.

• Bush loses effort to keep torture photos secret.

AP: Court: US govt can't block detainee photos release. The United States cannot conceal pictures of abusive treatment of detainees by its soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan by saying their release might cause enemies to hurt someone, a federal appeals court said Monday in ordering the release of 21 photographs.

• Worsening situation in Afghanistan hidden by Bush until after the election

ABC: 'Grim' Afghanistan Report To Be Kept Secret by US "No Plans to Declassify" New National Intelligence Estimate for White House - US intelligence analysts are putting the final touches on a secret National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Afghanistan that reportedly describes the situation as "grim", but there are "no plans to declassify" any of it before the election, according to one US official familiar with the process.

• Maliki says Bush wants to prolong the war for political purposes to help McSame. This is exactly what they accused Obama of and now, Maliki has confirmed that Bush is doing exactly that.

TP: White House communications staff were concerned that Maliki’s endorsement of the 2010 time line would damage Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) presidential campaign. Indeed, during an interview with Iraqi television last week (according to an Open Source Center translation), Maliki suggested that the U.S. presidential elections played a role:

Actually, the final date was really the end of 2010 and the period between the end of 2010 and the end of 2011 was for withdrawing the remaining troops from all of Iraq, but they asked for a change [in date] due to political circumstances related to the [U.S] domestic situation so it will not be said to the end of 2010 followed by one year for withdrawal but the end of 2011 as a final date. -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki

Thus the legacy of GW Bush