Bush dictatorship

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"The danger is not abstract or merely symbolic. Bush's abuses of presidential power are the most extensive in American history. He has launched an aggressive war ('war of choice,' in today's euphemism) on false grounds. He has presided over a system of torture and sought to legitimize it by specious definitions of the word. He has asserted a wholesale right to lock up American citizens and others indefinitely without any legal showing or the right to see a lawyer or anyone else. He has kidnapped people in foreign countries and sent them to other countries, where they were tortured. In rationalizing these and other acts, his officials have laid claim to the unlimited, uncheckable and unreviewable powers he has asserted in the wiretapping case. He has tried to drop a thick shroud of secrecy over these and other actions.

"There is a name for a system of government that wages aggressive war, deceives its citizens, violates their rights, abuses power and breaks the law, rejects judicial and legislative checks on itself, claims power without limit, tortures prisoners and acts in secret. It is dictatorship," Jonathan Schell wrote in the January 9, 2006, issue of The Nation.

According to George W. Bush

  • "If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."—President-elect George W. Bush, CNN.com, December 18, 2000.

On a dictatorial / imperial presidency

  • "Paradoxically, preserving liberty may require the rule of a single leader—a dictator—willing to use those dreaded 'extraordinary measures,' which few know how, or are willing, to employ."—Michael Ledeen, White House advisor and fellow of the American Enterprise Institute, Machiavelli on Modern Leadership: Why Machiavelli’s Iron Rules Are As Timely and Important Today As Five Centuries Ago. [1]
  • "This is not a monarchy. The legislative branch has oversight responsibility to make sure there is no corruption in the executive branch."—Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), December 2001. [2]
  • "An imperial presidency or an imperial justice department conflicts with the democratic principles of our nation."—Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), December 2001. [3]

Websites

Legislation

  • H.J. Res. 64, Short Title: "Authorization for Use of Military Force," Congressional Record, House, September 14, 2001.

Articles & Commentary

2000

2001

2002

2003

2005

2006

2007

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