New report lists Bush's 'numerous abuses'

Source Politico

Few Democrats on the Hill will applaud George W. Bush as he rides off into the sunset next week after eight years in the Oval Office, but it appears that one Congressman isn't quite ready to let him to go quietly. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), released a nearly 500-page report on Tuesday documenting the "numerous abuses and excesses" of the Bush administration and calling for continued investigations of his presidency. In the report, Conyers also called for a separate blue ribbon commission to investigate Bush and his top advisers, and he encouraged independent prosecutors to start criminal probes of administration officials. Last week, as part of the House rules package, Democrats authorized Conyers and his committee to continue their lawsuit against current White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and former counsel Harriet Miers, charging that the pair failed to observe congressional subpoenas. "Even after scores of hearings, investigations, and reports, we still do not have answers to some of the most fundamental questions left in the wake of Bush's Imperial Presidency," Conyers said in a statement released with the new report. It included 47 recommendations to "restore traditional checks and balances" to the constitutional system. The report rehashes a series of controversies from the Bush presidency, some of which remain unresolved. The dossier of complaints includes allegations of torture and inhumane treatment by U.S. military and intelligence officials, the administration's warrantless wiretapping, legal arguments expanding the scope of executive powers, the U.S. attorneys scandal and the leak of Valerie Plame-Wilson's name to the media. "Investigations are not a matter of payback or political revenge," Conyers said. "It is our responsibility to examine what has occurred and to set an appropriate baseline of conduct for future Administrations." Bush has defended many of these practices, particularly those regarding the treatment of suspected terrorists, as necessary for national security.