Response to Elizabeth de la Vega: Disagreement with a Friend and a Hero

By David Swanson

There are lots of supposed reasons not to appoint a special prosecutor. The first set of such supposed reasons to come from someone intelligent and well-informed with good intentions has come from Elizabeth de la Vega. Here is a response.

1. If we do not extend the statutes of limitations, the careful and considered delay could end up becoming immunity. Simply claiming that the clock doesn't start ticking until the last act of conspiracy to conceal does not do it, since half the legal experts like that reasoning and half do not and we would have to argue each case, including cases that do not clearly involve conspiracies to conceal. In fact, the most egregious crimes have involved open confessions from the highest officials.

2. The Senate as a whole will never ever approve any useful investigation except in committees, but it might convict following an impeachment that changes public awareness.

3. Congressional hearings produce relatively little.

4. Congress should extend the statutes of limitations, bust the media monopolies to produce more reporting, and reissue and enforce the outstanding subpoenas into which lots of careful work went over the past 2 years.

5. Leahy joined the DOJ in pushing a commission as a substitute, not as a first step, and anything like that begun before a special prosecutor is begun will be treated as a substitute.

6. Impeaching Bybee should begin at once.

7. A House select committee looking into restoring Congressional power and restricting presidential should begin at once or after a prosecution begins, but Conyers' or Leahy's proposal for a commission created by both houses will not go anywhere.

8. House and Senate committees should hold hearings, including to reissue all the outstanding subpeonas.

9. We should not let a hearing begin that can be seen as a substitute for enforcing laws, and there is no reason to delay enforcing laws -- certainly not a deficiency of evidence!

10. De la Vega knows the law and means well and I'm open to being convinced by her, but haven't been yet.