On May 11th, a five panel tribunal delivered a unanimous verdict convicting George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and legal advisors Alberto Gonzales, David Addington, William Haynes, Jay Bybee, and John Yoo of War Crimes. The week-long trial in Malaysia was run according to the standards set by the Nuremberg Trials to convict war criminals after World War II. While they may be unable
to enforce the conviction, they can turn it in to the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, the United Nations, and the Security Council. Bush, Cheney, and the others probably won’t be arrested in the United States, but they could be arrested in other countries. I remember Cheney having to sneak in and out of France last year, to avoid arrest for War Crimes. And I understand Bush has canceled a trip to Switzerland for the same reason.
What is it about some politicians and lawyers that makes them think they are above the law? I first encountered this with the first U.S. President I voted for — Richard M. Nixon. Yes, I voted for him. 😦 I even worked for his campaign in 1972. Someone explained to me that because lawyers deal with the law on a daily basis, they may lose respect for it. They help create laws and realize that in courts the law can be twisted in a variety of ways. After Nixon’s Watergate scandal, and subsequent resignation, this 
was refered to as Nixon Syndrome (when a lawyer or politician sees themselves as above the law). Maybe Nixon did me a favor, because I have distrusted politicians ever since. But I’m pragmatic, and I still vote. I still hope.
I love living here in Northern California, and in many ways I am proud to be a U.S. citizen. But there are things our Nation and our national leaders have done that make me ashamed. I was ashamed of Bush and his handlers when he was President. Their disrespect for the average citizen, for people in other nations, and for the Earth, made me sick at heart every day he was in office. Now he, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and five of their legal advisors are convicted war criminals. 
They are offering the same excuses other war criminals have offered, that they were serving their country. No they weren’t . . . . they were serving themselves and the Big Money that put them into office. Today, again, I am sick at heart for the shame they have brought the United States. I hope they do suffer consequences.
Please — those of you who are running for office in this U.S. election year — remember you are not above the law. No, everyone doesn’t cheat. You will be held accountable to the people you are supposed to represent, NOT Big Money.
Hermit by Moonlight 
I was born in 1964 so I was only a child when Nixon was president. I was convinced that he and Leonid Brezhnev of the USSR were brothers (go check their photos if you don’t believe me) 🙂 I was visiting my grandmother at the time of Nixon’s resignation speech, and she made sure that I watched it (she was a lifelong Republican who worked the polls at every election and remembered a time when women couldn’t vote). When I asked what he had done, she only said that he told “stories.” She would never use the “L” word, ever.
Oddly enough, Nixon’s most lasting legacy may be that he was the most “environmental” president that we’ve had since Teddy Roosevelt. Nixon signed the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act (two of the world’s most important pieces of environmental and human health legislation) and the Endangered Species Act, which – flawed and poorly-implemented though it is – has still been a powerful tool (though its influence is waning and I expect to see it overturned in my lifetime).
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lol! I remember what Nixon and Brezhnev looked like, and you have a point. 🙂 I didn’t remember all those Acts happening during Nixon’s watch, but it makes sense. He was also the President who went to China (something a Democratic President might not have done). Only someone who used to be so strongly anti-Communist could get away with it. Nixon also wanted very much to be liked.
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