Bush and Cheney: Accused Individuals Entitled to Trial!

Scooter Libby

Scooter Libby has been indicted, resigned from the White House, where he was Chief of Staff for Vice-President Dick Cheney, and received this comment from the President:

Special Counsel Fitzgerald's investigation and ongoing legal proceedings are serious, and now the proceedings -- the process moves into a new phase. In our system, each individual is presumed innocent and entitled to due process and a fair trial.

President Bush at the White House

This is Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby's boss, the source of his information on Valerie Plame, and our country's Vice-President.



Dick Cheney had this to say about the indictment of his Chief of Staff:

In our system of government an accused person is presumed innocent until a contrary finding is made by a jury after an opportunity to answer the charges and a full airing of the facts. Mr. Libby is entitled to that opportunity.

But is that really how our President and our Vice-President view the Justice System? Do they really believe that persons acused of crimes deserve a trial and are presumed innocent?

In Guantanamo, detainees are now being force-fed, often brutally, as they protest the fact that they are being detained with physical abuse and without charges. They don't have any presumption of innocence.

That each individual is "presumed innocent and entitled to due process and a fair trial?" Or is that just for loyal Republican members of his Administration?

What about the Guantanamo detainees? Don't they deserve to be charged with a crime and face trial?


Detainees at Guantanamo Bay in 2001

As reported 10/27/05, detainees are now being force-fed in response to hunger strikes by groups in Guantanamo protesting their treatment and the fact that they were not even granted the right of knowing what charges are being made against them:

Kessler ordered the Pentagon to release the medical files weekly and to alert lawyers within 24 hours if they start force-feeding clients.

Prisoners' attorneys called her ruling an important but partial victory in an array of legal battles over the 500-plus Guantanamo detainees, all but four of whom are being held without charges. Most lack outside counsel.

When individuals from the White House are accused of crimes, they are presumed innocent by this President, and guaranteed a trial. This nation must guarantee the right to trial by all individuals accused of crimes by this government. Regardless of how horrible we think the crime might be, each person deserves a time in court. To hold individuals indefinitely without being accused of a crime, is UNAMERICAN.

This Administration is being exposed for the corrupt, malevolant leadership that believes in the politics of personal destruction, and which suspends the Writ of Habeas Corpus, spies on private citizens, publishes propaganda instead of news, and threatens religious freedom by distorting the First Amendment to this Constitution.

Senator John Kerry knows about these people. He knows what Swift Boating is about. Dan Rather knows about these people. He knows about how this Administration has used its position to smear and destroy its opponents! America needs John Kerry to be at our helm. We need to restore decency to government and protect the freedom for all individuals who are accused by our government, not just Republican cronies of this President. We shall bring America back to the values that make our nation great. We shall have to wait for 2008! We have your back John!

Bob