| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Harry Hope" |
| Date: |
12 Aug 2003 09:48:48 AM |
| Object: |
Watergate Redux |
The most serious horror was that Nixon and his aides believed that
Nixon as president had the absolute power and right to order these
crimes to be committed.
Nixon told an interviewer, "When the president does it, it can't be
wrong."
Mitchell testified before the Senate Watergate Committee that he would
have "done anything" to get Richard Nixon re-elected.
"Anything?" asked a senator.
"Would that include murder?" Mitchell puffed on his pipe and replied,
"That's a tough question, Senator."
This lesson of Watergate is particularly pertinent now.
In responses to terrorists' attacks on our country that threaten our
national security, President George W. Bush and Attorney General John
Ashcroft have sought and obtained from an acquiescent Congress
unprecedented powers that are inconsistent with the Bill of Rights'
protections.
The government overreaches when it employs its war against terror to
attack the liberties of American citizens.
We now face sweeping federal wiretapping, secret searches and
seizures, arrest and detention without trial or right to counsel,
infiltration by FBI agents in our places of worship and in our social
and political clubs and associations.
Not even what we read, either from libraries or bookstores, is
respected.
It is the time of the anonymous informer and the chilling threat,
reminiscent of Watergate, that dissent is unpatriotic and giving aid
to the enemy.
The logic of the government appears to be that the only way we can
preserve our freedom and liberty from the efforts of terrorists to
destroy them is to temporarily destroy them ourselves.
But true security comes from our being a free society blessed with
constitutional democracy and a Bill of Rights - rights that if lost
cannot be easily recovered.
Instead of offering leadership, our congressional representatives
defer to the White House in an attempt to show they are as patriotic
as the president.
The lesson of Watergate should teach them that a president free to
assert excessive power could, even unintentionally, irreparably harm
our democracy.
Benjamin Franklin wisely wrote, "They that would give up essential
liberty to attain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty
nor safety."
From New York Newsday, 8/11/03:
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vpdas113410046aug11,0,3084688.story?coll=ny-viewpoints-headlines
By Samuel Dash
Samuel Dash is professor of law and director of the Institute of
Criminal Law and Procedure at Georgetown University Law Center. He
served as chief counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee.
August 11, 2003
Thirty years ago the Senate of the United States prevented President
Richard Nixon from destroying constitutional democracy in our country.
Watergate was a wrenching turning point in our history and its lessons
must be learned and re-learned.
Now our lives as a free people are also being threatened by an
administration bent on grabbing unprecedented power, a timid Congress
and an uninformed electorate.
That is why the Watergate experience remains so relevant to our
republic today.
Watergate was much more than a bungled burglary of the Democratic
National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office building by
agents of President Nixon to obtain information that would help Nixon
get re-elected in the presidential election of 1972.
It was the culmination of a series of criminal acts authorized by
Nixon and carried out by his in-house secret espionage team to
maintain his power, smother dissent and punish his enemies.
Former Attorney General John Mitchell, who headed Nixon's re-election
campaign and authorized the Watergate burglary and wiretaps, called
these criminal acts by the president and his aides "the White House
horrors," which had to be covered up if the president was to be
re-elected.
The most serious horror was that Nixon and his aides believed that
Nixon as president had the absolute power and right to order these
crimes to be committed.
Nixon told an interviewer, "When the president does it, it can't be
wrong."
Mitchell testified before the Senate Watergate Committee that he would
have "done anything" to get Richard Nixon re-elected.
"Anything?" asked a senator.
"Would that include murder?" Mitchell puffed on his pipe and replied,
"That's a tough question, Senator."
It was a scary time in America when we almost lost our constitutional
freedom and democracy.
_______________________________________________________
"I want you to stonewall it."
Richard M Nixon to staff on news of break-in at Watergate headquarters
of Democratic Party, taped conversation 22 Mar 73
Harry
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