The meaning of investigation

Let me make clear how I define the word investigation within the context of this letter…
Each investigation is to include: Televised congressional hearings, sworn testimony from all parties involved, and an un-biased non-partisan pursuit of truth. Followed by published documentation of the resulting findings to the public domain and further publishing of a congressional agenda that includes legislative solutions to address the issues at hand. In the event that unlawful conduct is uncovered, I expect that Congress, together with our President and the Judicial Branch will enforce the rule of law and bringing justice to the people of America by prosecuting credible offences against the people.

I request the following investigations:

• A re-assessment of the corruption that has consumed the justice department. The official mission statement of the DOJ is “To enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime; to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.” Be it the dismissal of competent attorney generals or Monica Goodling’s illegal hiring practices, it is clear that our Justice Department is under siege by negative and undemocratic principals. We rely on our Department of Justice to provide “justice for all.” How can we do that if bias is the standard, rather than the exception?

• Investigate the attorney generals that were not fired by the DOJ. It is clear that the reasons that motivated the DOJ to let go numerous competent attorney generals was not was not the inability to do their jobs but instead their refusal to taint the integrity of their jobs with partisan politics. With this knowledge, it is hard to ignore that the motivations for keeping the remaining attorney generals were possibly that they did not refuse the partisan politics. I further suggest that all attorney generals that were let go should be considered for reinstatement in a future administration. Make right what is so obviously wrong.

• Address the many ways that the current administration has attempted to fix the documentation of history. If the history, which has been manipulated or deleted, cannot be recovered in its entirety, then it is the responsibility of congress to see that history be reconstructed through official testimony to the best of the abilities of all parties involved.

• Investigate NSA warrantless wire-tapping and all parties involved: As I understand it, the NSA wire-tapping is now on hold because our government has not paid the telecom industry for its participation in the wire-tapping program. The fact that we did not pay our bills does not mean that it is acceptable to leave these questions unanswered and unaddressed. This illegal program was not the result of an attack on our nation. In the years that have passed, evidence has surfaced that indicates that this program was in effect long before 9/11 was a permanent fixture in the consciousness of the American people. Our fore fathers fought bravely to secure the freedoms offered by our constitution. Due to their own history, they were hyper aware that undisputed power corrupts the best of intentions. Today, in the grander landscape of our society, some Americans would say, “those who have nothing to hide, should not worry.” Protections can be deceiving. One does not recognize the true value of protections until they are needed. Under the current administration, the grounds have been solidified for rampant abuse of power. This is unacceptable. We are Americans and we do not accept secretly listening to one another by our government without probable cause or documentation. Do we?

• Investigate the current administration for war crimes and or prosecutable offenses for knowingly and willingly misleading the American public to gain support for an unwarranted and devastating war. In addition to the “Downing Street memos,” Scott McClellan recently brought to light what we already knew to be the truth. We now have confirmation that the current President knowingly and willingly offered misleading information to the American public in order to drum up blind support for an unprecedented, and unwarranted Liberation/Occupation/War in Iraq. From Scott McClellan we also learn that the administration intentionally lied regarding the release of covert agent Valerie Plame’s name. We cannot change this but we must hold accountable all parties involved. The law works on precedent. Precedent is more than just a word. If we allow this to stand, we condone these actions and therefore expand what we are willing to accept from future government officials. I don’t care what side you stand on. It does not benefit the future of Democracy to not address the blatant abuses of our constitution that we have seen in the last 7 years. Our children and their children will pay the price for the precedents we set in our lifetime. Let us not forget our responsibilities as parents, as grandparents, and as people of the global community.

• Investigate the use of propaganda to influence the opinion of the American people. In 2005, The Government Accountability Office, in an official memo declared, “video news releases — or prepackaged TV segments — that fail to reveal they were produced by the government constitute illegal propaganda.” In 2008, Rep. Rosa Delauro of Connecticut, in a letter to The Department of Defense, signed by 39 other members of congress had this to say: “When the Department of Defense misleads the American people by having them believe that they are listening to the views of objective military analysts when in fact these individuals are simply replaying DoD talking points, the department is clearly betraying the public trust,” the Connecticut Democrat wrote. “Moreover, when these analysts are simultaneously representing defense contractors, the apparent conflict of interest can easily lead to fraud and abuse. We find this deeply troubling, and expect you will share our deep concern.” This practice is illegal and cannot be tolerated.

• Investigate Patriot Act Abuses: I understand that our “war on terror” might require less traditional avenues of investigation but we must protect our citizens from the abuses that erode our civil liberties. Linda Popova is quoting Leo Strauss when she says “The moral worth of an action proceeds from the goodness of the will by which that action is animated, which in turn means the purity of that will – the goodness of the will in its abstraction from every empirical end. Purity of will implies purification of the will of all substantive intention, the animation of the will only by its self-respect, its respect for the formal principle of will in general, in other words respect for law as such. Duty itself means the necessity of performing an action out of respect for law.” According to the ACLU reports indicate that the Patriot Act has been used to:

Secretly search the home of Brandon Mayfield, a Muslim attorney whom the government wrongly suspected, accused and detained as a perpetrator of the recent train bombing in Madrid

Charge, detain, and prosecute a Muslim student in Idaho, Sami al-Hussayen, for providing “material support” to terrorists because he posted to an Internet website links to objectionable materials, even though such links were available on the websites of a major news outlet and of the government’s own expert witness in the case.

Gag that ISP from disclosing this abuse to the public, and gag the ACLU itself, which represents the ISP, from disclosing this abuse to the public when ACLU became aware of it, and from disclosing important circumstances relating to this abuse and other possible abuses of the gag, even to this very day.

Serve a National Security Letter (NSL) on an Internet Service Provider (ISP) so coercive under the provisions of the NSL statue that a federal court struck down the entire statute – as vastly expanded by the Patriot Act – used to obtain information about e-mail activity and web surfing for intelligence investigations.

Investigate and prosecute crimes that are not terrorism offenses, even though it cited terrorism prevention as the reason Congress should enact the law, and cites terrorism prevention as the reason why it cannot be changed.”

• Investigate Blackwater: I Why would the government need a private army that owes allegiance to their paycheck and not the American Flag? Why would the government need a private army that costs more than our traditional armed forces? Why would our government need mercenaries from other countries to offer security on behalf of the American people and their elected officials? Why would our government have a private army that cannot be held accountable for their deeds while they represent us? Why would our government allow its private unaccountable army to bypass the traditional military chain of command by dictating orders to soldiers? We have our own military that is proud and trustworthy and holds their allegiance to the United States. Why would our government need more?

• Investigate Presidential Directive 51: I am disturbed that our President could so easily re-write how this country handles crisis. In this directive our president demotes congress and deems himself the sole authority in times of crisis. How is this acceptable?

• Investigate Vice Pres. Dick Cheney’s Energy committee meetings and include the minutes from those meetings. Publish all findings to the public domain.

• Investigate Anthrax: Domestic terrorism against officials of congress is a serious offense. To this day there is no conviction for the anthrax attacks of 2001. We have seen law enforcement speculate publicly about the wrong suspect and now we have seen the, seemingly too convenient, death of the “Real” suspect. I am not convinced-many in this public are not convinced. Trading one war for another is inexcusable. How do we expect to manage terrorism worldwide if we can’t even solve the mystery of who sent anthrax to congress? Please appoint an independent task force and assign that task force a high priority. In our “War on Terror,” we travel the globe demanding that the rest of the world play by our rules and yet terrorism in our homeland is forgotten and allowed to fade. How is that acceptable?

• Investigate and address price gouging by the oil industry and suppliers of gasoline. $4.00 a gallon gas and windfall profits for the oil industry are strong indications of possible corruption and or abuse. Oil prices must follow some sort of clearly defined logic that dictates their pricing. A logic that enables them to adapt to shortages while protecting consumers from blatant abuses of sympathy for industry woes. I would further suggest that a comprehensive study be conducted that details the anatomy of the gas price. This study should include the increase in charges to move gasoline shipments, the geography of what countries supply our gas and to where that gas is shipped in the US, a detail list of the companies that are paid for that gas and their profits correlated to the price of oil per barrel and what they charged for that same time era. The closer we investigate these possibilities—the closer we will find ourselves to explanations that make sense and leave us more satisfied. WE know something is wrong and so do you. Investigate. Protect. Do your job.

9/11:

The United States of America was deeply and emotionally wounded in the attacks of September 11th of 2001. Like any wound, this wound leaves the average American with a need to understand. The events of that day still don’t make sense to most of us. Some of us believe the government played an active roll. Some of us think that the White House had the intelligence and willfully did nothing because this attack potentially offered an open door for their supreme agenda. There are those who believe that George Bush and his cabinet are simply incompetent. Even funnier, some of us think that George Bush Jr. is a brilliant man who manages to impressively orchestrate intentional political chaos in a way that has never been seen. SOME AGREE with the government explanations but they ARE few. Most of us just know that something isn’t right. The investigations, into this matter, that have taken place thus far have been shamefully edited in their scope and ability to probe. No accountability was dished. We just shopped. The people who died on that day, the ones that are still dying, and the ones that they loved, deserve truth and understanding. Truth has no bias. Understanding requires study. As a society, we do not know enough about that day. It will not rest until evidence and clarity are brought to the forefront so that we may understand.

• A further investigation into the casualties of first responders and NYC residents and what could have been done to lessen the effect of the 9/11 tragedies. The conclusion of this investigation should provide a public apology to those injured and a plan to help those who have survived but still suffer.

• Investigate the NORAD failures and its procedures on 9/11.

• Investigate, and release to the public domain, all tapes collected as evidence in the Pentagon attacks.

Katrina:

In the summer of 2005 an American city was lost. With the loss of New Orleans also came devastation in regions of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. To this day, these regions are still broken. The official death toll in New Orleans is now 1,464 fatalities. At that time, surprisingly, martial law was declared in a major American city. Citizens looted to feed themselves or to scavenge items they could use to barter in order to survive because we didn’t send help for 3 days. Instead we sent men with guns to police victims like criminals. Neighborhoods armed themselves with guns for protection because they were alone. They only had each other but in America we aim to never leave anyone alone to deal with such enormous tragedy–or so I thought. We watched them die on national television while President George W. Bush continued to vacation at his ranch. Scores of colored people anguished on National television. They had no water. They were hungry and scared and they couldn’t leave. Then we saved them. We gave them trailers to live in that caused sickness and loss. Now residents are scattered across the map mourning the loss of one of our oldest American sub-cultures. There has never been any place like New Orleans. If you have been there, you know that. New Orleans will never be the same. The country will never be the same. This country has seen so much loss. The heart of the country needs to be assured that the government will not forget the people again. Why is it that I do not hear Katrina being mentioned by the presidential campaigns of 2008? Recently the House of Representatives offered an official apology for slavery and I couldn’t help thinking that their apology would have had more impact if they had also presented an aggressive agenda to address the devastation that Katrina left behind.

• Investigate the maintenance and attention paid to the levees prior to the hurricane as well as the progress of the levee repairs. As Hurricane Katrina approached, many warnings were issued to the White House and to the elected officials of the affected areas. Yet the government now claims that no one could have known that the levees would erupt in the storm. This is not only untrue but the history of the levees, their budgets, and their maintenance tells us a very different story. It is unacceptable that our government officials did not do all that was in their power to protect the “victims” of Hurricane Katrina before we had a reason to call them “victims.”

• Investigate the government’s response to Katrina and what could have been done to prevent such a tragic loss. FEMA failed. People died. If accountability is not enforced then we, by default, condone the deaths of American citizens. I’m not okay with that.

• FEMA trailers: Again FEMA failed and People died. Is it acceptable to offer victims of a tragedy a place to live that is laced with large concentrations of formaldehyde that further jeopardizes the salvaged health of the individual, their family and their pets? I think not.

• Investigate the recovery of the Justice Department in affected areas. Unfortunately, in the wake of this storm, New Orleans and similar areas became havens for sexual predators, felons, and unsavory individuals. In addition to new arrivals, many who already lived there were on house arrest, in the probation system, in the sexual predator tracking system, or were awaiting trials. Many of those individuals were lost to the storm. Some of them died in the storm while others found the storm to be their new saving grace—the perfect cover for their disappearance. Existing trials were put on hold. New trials had to wait. The system became backlogged because there are fewer people to do the work. Justice in these areas must be restored. The people who lived through the atrocities of Hurricane Katrina deserve to feel safe.

• Investigate the failures and strengths of post-progress in all areas affected by Katrina.

• Investigate the recovery of the social services and foster care system in all affected areas.

• Investigate the purpose and actions of Blackwater in all affected areas.

• Investigate the fate of all public housing in those areas. Public housing that was not affected by the hurricane has been closed down and tenants were not allowed to return to the buildings. These buildings are prime real estate and belong to tenants who were economically stressed prior to the hurricane. These people cannot afford litigation to gain access to their homes. Who will protect them?

• Investigate the reality of rebuilding the levees.

• Investigate the allocation of damaged and undamaged property as well as the compensation for those properties.

Iraqi Liberation/Occupation/War:

In our name, the United States of America, pre-emptively invaded a country that posed no valid threat to our nation. According to the newest Senate Intelligence Report our government not only did this—but even worse they knew we were doing it. Even further, we sent contractors in with guns and gave them immunity for any crime they might commit on foreign soil. In fact we defined that immunity in such vague terms that its unclear if we can prosecute them here or anywhere. Our men and women are dying. Other soldiers from “the Coalition of the Willing” have died. We lied to the world and people died. The world got worse while we led the charge. Across the sea and beyond our borders the world is watching how we conduct ourselves in this Liberation/Occupation/War. If we do not investigate, if there are no explanations, if accountability is not upheld, if the world doesn’t see us trying to resolve these issues…they might not be there for us when we need them.

• Investigate the profits of the companies who have supplied the war, their no-bid contracts and their ties to all government officials who voted for the war and the administration who instructed them, so that we may begin to understand the full cost of this war.

• Investigate the un-recovered finances of the Iraqi Liberation/ Occupation/War. 9 billion dollars used in Iraqi reconstruction is unaccounted for. There are no receipts. This wasn’t petty cash and Iraq is not re-built. Large portions of Iraq are still limited by rationed electricity and scarce portions of water. How is this acceptable?

• Investigate the misplaced American weapons of the Iraqi Liberation/Occupation/War: Pistols, Machine guns, Ak-47’s, assault rifles, and rocket propelled grenades meant to arm 325,500 Iraqi security forces are gone and cannot be accounted for. We bought these weapons with government funds and registered only 10,000 of 400,000 weapons by their serial numbers. Without registration, they could be anywhere. Those same guns, in the wrong hands, can be used to kill American soldiers. We cannot undo the past yet we should know: When and how did this breach of security succeed? Who was involved? How was it implemented? Where were these weapons recovered from, if recovered? Who will pay the price for this mishap? And last but not least, where are the remaining weapons likely to be found? Until we have answers to these questions, we are ill-prepared and that leaves our soldiers in greater danger.