NOT AS GOOD AS IMPEACHMENT BUT... EQUALLY IMPORTANT

I don't think you have to be clairvoyant to know what kind of fate I'd like to see for George Bush, Dick Cheney and many of their cronies and lackeys. Impeachment would be a good place to start. But impeachment is also something separate from well-deserved punishment. In fact, impeachment is way more important than even a nice long stay in that secret camp in the bowels of Guantanamo. Why? In short, denazification can't seriously begin until the crimes of the Bush Regime have been dragged out into the light. Nancy Pelosi and the political calculations of the Insider Democrats around her have guaranteed that that won't happen.

Steven Aftergood has an interesting proposal at Nieman Watchdog today. He suggests that "the next president should open up the Bush Administration's record."

The next President will have the authority to declassify and disclose any and all records that reflect the activities of executive branch agencies. Although internal White House records that document the activities of the outgoing President and his personal advisers will be exempt from disclosure for a dozen years or so, every Bush Administration decision that was actually translated into policy will have left a documentary trail in one or more of the agencies, and all such records could be disclosed at the discretion of the next President.

A new President may find it advantageous to quickly distinguish himself (or herself) from the current Administration and its policies. By exposing what is “shameful” in our recent past the new Administration could demonstrate a clean break with its predecessor, and lay the foundation for a more transparent and accountable Presidency.