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Investigate Bush: Conyers

Congress must review his abuses to prevent a repeat

By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 16, 2009 11:29 AM CST

(Newser) – As the country moves forward, we can’t afford to repeat the mistakes of the past: it’s time to review the abuses of the Bush administration, writes Michigan congressman John Conyers, Jr. in the Washington Post. Congress must keep pushing for “stonewalled” Bush documents; it should create an independent probe of Bush’s secret programs; and the Obama administration should begin a criminal investigation to see if Bush’s moves broke any laws.

Conyers himself got the process started with the 486-page report on Bush’s “imperial presidency” the Judiciary Committee issued this week, “detailing the abuses and excesses of the Bush administration.” Congress has a lot on its hands right now, he writes, and “many feel we should just move on.” But healing the distorted relationship between the government’s branches requires a hard look at what went wrong.

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President George W. Bush arrives to deliver his farewell address to the nation, from the East Room of the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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It would not be responsible to start our journey forward without first knowing exactly where we are. - John Conyers, Jr.

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Investigate Bush: Conyers