[Peace-discuss] Democrats for Chertoff

[Morton K.Brussel]

Published on Thursday, February 17, 2005 by The Progressive

  Dems Lie Down for Chertoff

by Matthew Rothschild

 

  On February 15, the Senate confirmed Bush’s nomination of Michael 
Chertoff to head up Homeland Security.

  The vote was shamefully unanimous.

  He sailed through 98 to nothing.

  Not a single Democratic Senator stood up to oppose him.

  Not Barbara Boxer.

  Not Ted Kennedy.

  Not Russ Feingold.

  Not Frank Lautenberg.

  Not Richard Durbin.

  Not John Kerry.

  They all took a dive, even though Chertoff doesn’t deserve the post.

  A chief Ashcroft aide, Chertoff was in on some of the most 
anti-liberty policies of this Administration, as the ACLU notes in a 
devastating memodated January 28 and available on its website at 
www.aclu.org.

  Chertoff was instrumental in the policy of rounding up Arab and Muslim 
men on mere pretexts after 9/11.

  Chertoff was instrumental in holding them on specious material witness 
grounds.

  Chertoff was instrumental in lifting the thirty-year ban on the FBI 
spying on public meetings or in houses of worship without probable 
cause.

  Chertoff was instrumental in drafting Ashcroft’s edict to allow the 
government to eavesdrop on prisoner-client conversations.

  And Chertoff, according to The New York Times, told the CIA it was OK 
to subject detainees to such torture tactics as waterboarding.

  Even on procedural grounds, at least one Democrat or two should have 
voted against Chertoff because the Bush Administration withheld an FBI 
document on him that may have shed light on his knowledge of torture at 
Guantanamo.

  Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid said the withholding of this 
document “prevents us from truly understanding Judge Chertoff’s role.”

  Then why, Harry Reid, did you vote for the guy?

  Like the approval of Gonzales for Attorney General, the Senate’s 
confirmation of Chertoff sends all the wrong signals.

  But at least some Senators had the courage to stand up and oppose 
Gonzales.

  There’s no excuse for all of them to then go and lie down for Chertoff.

© 2005 The Progressive

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