Reply #15: Like nailing jelly to a wall [View All]

[Dogmudgeon]

The problem is that the contents of confidential, high-security briefings can not be released to the public. This makes it very easy for the White House to tell Congress anything it wants them to hear. The Senators and Representatives can describe it, comment on it, and debate about it, but they can't divulge it.

Presidents Carter and Clinton do not seem to have abused that assumption of secrecy; on the other hand, literally every Republican since Nixon (and possibly excepting Ford) has used it as a lever between the representative branch and its constituents. And there is no realistic possibility of avoiding it, since when the President deigns to address the House and Senate, they must listen.

I have to assume that after 9-11, Bush "informed" the Senators and Representatives with fictitious intelligence designed to get them to do his bidding. This is completely in line with what we know about Bush and his cronies.

I don't give the Democrats a pass, either, but imagine the situation they are in: Anything they say might be an act of treason, they have to accept being bamboozled on at least one level, and they have no control over the message.

If they later choose to fight it, they are accused of "flip-flopping", and usually end up looking uninformed. Looking stupid. So, over time, it has become important to appear tough. It hides the fact that the legislators are treated like mushrooms -- kept in the dark and fed manure. They should speak out more, but who wants to isolate themself and face possible criminal prosecution?

The President and the Executive Branch have almost exclusive control over issues of national security and military power; the Congress is simply a rubber stamp, and have never been given the full details of any war they've agreed to, not even going back to the skirmishes right after the Revolutionary War was over.

This issue has never been systematically addressed by the public and in the press, not even by the progressive press, let alone by the nightly news.

Our representatives didn't know, and we don't know, and probably never will. Bush & Co. formulated a strategy, cooked up a story that they then camouflaged as sensitive military secrets, and we have to live with the fallout.

And they know they will get away with it.

--bkl