http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/441
09/30/2006
Independent Investigation Needed: Did Congressional Republicans Cover
Up Page Abuse Scandal?
by Brent Budowsky
How can one explain that a senior Republican Congressman is only now
forced to resign over a major scandal involving apparent sexual
overtures to pages that were reported to Republican Congressional
Leaders almost a year ago?
When a second Republican Congressman found out about these acts long
ago, did he only report it to the Republican in charge of electing
Republicans to Congress?
He should have immediately gone right to the Speaker, but apparently
he did not, it appears he wasmore interested in alerting the partisan
Republican Campaign Committee?
Exactly who did he report this dangerous situation to?
There was significant provable documentation of the acts in question
long ago, including e-mails and instant messaging.
Could it be true that Congressional Republican leaders did not
immediately seek them?
For Republican leaders so hell bent on eavesdropping and invasions of
privacy, it would be derelict if they did not seek this provable
evidence eleven months ago, and equally derelict if they sought it,
had it, but did nothing for almost a year.
Surely they dont believe that the legitimate seeking of emails and IM
to protect young pages is less important than the eavesdropping they
otherwise champion so aggressively?
Either they did nothing, in which case the safety and security of
young Congressional pages was endangered by extreme neglect, or they
did, in which case they covered up some very wrong and dangerous
conduct.
These acts were committed, incredibly, by the Congressman in charge of
the group with the responsiblity of protecting children against abuse.
Why was he not removed, immediately, ten or eleven months ago, with a
public acknowledgement of the acts and a public statement of
commitment by the group he led to protect our children from abuse?
Were the emails and IM's immediately read, or not, eleven months ago?
Exactly which Republican leaders were aware of this and exactly what
did they do eleven months ago, ten months ago, nine months ago?
Was there at least a serious investigation about whether any other
pages were approached by Congressman Foley, eleven months ago?
Was there a serious investigation about whether new protections are
needed for all pages, from potentially dangerous abuse, eleven months
ago?
What is urgently needed is some form of investigation, special
counsel, outside advisor or some appropriate way to investigate what
actually happened, and immediately and without any delay report back
to the public and the full Congress about measures that should have
been taken, and will be taken now, to protect the pages.
We do not need another case where we find out long after the fact that
our entire intelligence community believes the Iraq war creates more
terrorists.
We do not need another case where a Senate Intelligence Committee
report is covered up until after the election, about false statements
made by high level officials, misleading the public and Congress about
Iraq intelligence.
We do not need a sham investigation by a political committee in a one
party Congress desperately trying to maintain control and therefore
highly unlikely to seek and report the truth.
The safety and security of the Congressional pages is paramount to all
other considerations.
The protection of the Congressional pages from abuse by Congressmen
must be first, second, and third order of importance and the partisan
and political convenience of politicians seeking to protect their
power must not endanger even one of these good young men and women who
serve as pages.
We must get the truth.
We must protect the pages.
We must enforce the law.
We must punish the wrongdoers.
We must have an independent investigation beyond partisan influence
and we must have it now, immediately, until we are 100% certain that
not one page is endangered by one Congressman.
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
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I'm sure Republicans running for office are anxious to get to the
bottom of this disgusting mess. Don't you think so?
Harry
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