Difference between revisions of "Bush-Cheney administration/corruption"

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==Overview==
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<hide>
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This page is about corruption in the [[2000-2007 US Presidential administration]] of [[George W. Bush]].
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[[page type::article]]
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[[thing type::intersection]]
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[[subject::corruption in the Bush-Cheney administration]]
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[[category:corruption]]
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</hide>
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==About==
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This page is about [[corruption]] in the [[Bush-Cheney administration]].
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Although the phrase "corruption in the administration" perhaps evokes images of administration officials accepting payoffs to act against the best interests of those it serves, in this case the entire administration itself is actively corrupting the ideals of [[America]] and [[democracy]], and hence betraying the oaths of office taken by [[George W. Bush|Mr. Bush]] at his inauguration. It is largely that larger, more deliberate sort of corruption being documented here.
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The corruption which began &ndash; or at least became orders of magnitude worse &ndash; under this administration seems to have continued with the successor [[Obama-Biden administration]]. Much has been written about this which Issuepedia has not had time to collate, but in brief the causes go back to the [[1979 economic shift]] and the subsequent accumulation of wealth by corporations and their owners, ultimately leading to control of the elections by a relatively small number of special interests.
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===Possible Goals===
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Bush's goals seem consistent with the idea of converting the {{USA}} into a [[religious]] ([[religious right|Christian fundamentalist-evangelical]]) [[kleptocracy]], with the president as a quasi-religious leader ("God is in the White House") having absolute power much as in the [[Nehemiah Scudder]] scenario (written in 1940 and set in 2016). It is not clear whether he is aware that his actions fit into this pattern or if he is largely being manipulated by others, but it seems quite unlikely that the pattern could have emerged by sheer chance. If it is ''not'' deliberate, then his actions at least imply a significant level of pure selfishness, incompetence, and disregard for the democratic process, and all the morals of a playground bully: a Genghis Khan wannabe without an ounce of military sense.
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==Related Pages==
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* [[Bush's impeachable offenses]]
 
==Specifics==
 
==Specifics==
 
* [[Bush's elevation of presidential power]]: Bush seems to be trying to completely remove the restraints on presidential power.
 
* [[Bush's elevation of presidential power]]: Bush seems to be trying to completely remove the restraints on presidential power.
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* The Bush administration's consistent overlooking of facts which contradict the picture they want to paint:
 
* The Bush administration's consistent overlooking of facts which contradict the picture they want to paint:
 
** It seems likely that people at the top level knew, or should have guessed from the evidence available, that the Yellowcake documents were inaccurate; see [[wikipedia:Yellowcake forgery|Yellowcake forgery]]
 
** It seems likely that people at the top level knew, or should have guessed from the evidence available, that the Yellowcake documents were inaccurate; see [[wikipedia:Yellowcake forgery|Yellowcake forgery]]
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** If Bush honestly believed that Saddam Hussein had WMDs, he was overlooking a lot of reports from his lower-level advisors
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** If Bush honestly believed that [[Saddam Hussein]] had [[weapons of mass destruction|WMDs]], he was overlooking a lot of reports from his lower-level advisors
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* Showed classified map of planned Iraq invasion, marked with a classification meaning that it wasn't to be shown to non-US officials, to Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia on 2003-01-11 &ndash; two days before then-Secretary of State Colin Powell was informed of the plans.[http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0419-01.htm]
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* Showed classified map of planned [[US invasion of Iraq|Iraq invasion]], marked with a classification meaning that it wasn't to be shown to non-US officials, to [[Prince Bandar]] of [[Saudi Arabia]] on 2003-01-11 &ndash; two days before then-Secretary of State [[Colin Powell]] was informed of the plans.[http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0419-01.htm]
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* "As the ranking minority member of the Government Reform Committee, [[Henry Waxman|Waxman]] has earned a reputation as the chief [[US Democratic Party|Democratic]] muckraker, obsessively cranking out reports on official misconduct and incompetence. Among them is a lengthy document detailing all of the wrongdoing by the [[Bush Jr. administration|Bush administration]] that should have been investigated &ndash; and would have been, in any other era. The litany of fishy behavior left uninvestigated in the Bush years includes the manipulation of intelligence on Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees, the leak of Valerie Plame's CIA status, the award of Halliburton contracts, the White House [[response to Hurricane Katrina|response to Katrina]], secret NSA wiretaps, [[Dick Cheney]]'s energy task force, the withholding of Medicare cost estimates, the administration's politicization of science, contract abuses at Homeland Security and lobbyist influence at the EPA." [http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12055360/cover_story_time_to_go_inside_the_worst_congress_ever/5]
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* "As the ranking minority member of the Government Reform Committee, [[Henry Waxman|Waxman]] has earned a reputation as the chief [[US Democratic Party|Democratic]] muckraker, obsessively cranking out reports on official misconduct and incompetence. Among them is a lengthy document detailing all of the wrongdoing by the [[Bush Jr. administration|Bush administration]] that should have been investigated &ndash; and would have been, in any other era. The litany of fishy behavior left uninvestigated in the Bush years includes the manipulation of intelligence on Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees, the [[Plame leak|leak of Valerie Plame's CIA status]], the award of [[Halliburton]] contracts, the White House [[response to Hurricane Katrina|response to Katrina]], secret NSA wiretaps, [[Dick Cheney]]'s energy task force, the withholding of Medicare cost estimates, the administration's [[Bush II administration anti-science|politicization of science]], contract abuses at [[US Department of Homeland Security|Homeland Security]] and lobbyist influence at the [[Environmental Protection Agency|EPA]]." [http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12055360/cover_story_time_to_go_inside_the_worst_congress_ever/5]
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* The [[2007 US attorney firings]] were largely unexplained, and would seem to be part of a larger strategy to undermine the legal/judicial process as it affects [[Bush's elevation of presidential power|the power of the presidency]]
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==Links==
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===Filed Links===
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{{links.tagged}}
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===Opinion===
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* '''2007-07-15''' [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2003788230_pitts15.html The Bush presidency: Is nothing real?] by [[Leonard Pitts Jr.]]
  
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==Possible Goals==
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===News===
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Bush's goals seem consistent with the idea of converting the {{USA}} into a religious (Christian fundamentalist-evangelical) [[kleptocracy]], with the president as a religious leader ("God is in the White House") with absolute power much as in the [[Nehemiah Scudder]] scenario (written in 1940 and set in 2016). It is not clear whether he is aware that his actions fit into this pattern or if he is largely being manipulated by others, but it seems quite unlikely that the pattern could have emerged by sheer chance. If it is ''not'' deliberate, then his actions at least imply a significant level of incompetence and disregard for the democratic process.
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* '''2007-08-24''' [http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/08/24/ap4052736.html Whistleblowers on Fraud Facing Penalties] by Deborah Hastings, [[Associated Press]]: "One after another, the men and women who have stepped forward to report corruption in the massive effort to rebuild Iraq have been vilified, fired and demoted." See also: [[KBR]], a former subsidiary of [[Halliburton]]; whistleblowers: [[Donald Vance]], [[Bunnatine Greenhouse]], [[Nathan Ertel]], [[Robert Isakson]]; Chicago FBI agent Travis Carlisle; companies: [[Shield Group Security Co.]], [[Custer Battles]]; U.S. District Judge [[T.S. Ellis III]] maintained that the [[Coalition Provisional Authority]], the [[US occupation of Iraq|U.S.-backed occupier of Iraq]], is not part of the US government
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==News==
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* '''2007-08-23''' [http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/16076312/the_great_iraq_swindle The Great Iraq Swindle]: "How Bush Allowed an Army of For-Profit Contractors to Invade the U.S. Treasury": the corruption in the "rebuilding" of [[US occupation of Iraq|Iraq]] reads like dark comedy and boggles the mind.
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* '''2007-01-16''' [http://www.airamerica.com/node/3190 White House Purging Ranks of US Attorneys; Replacements to Skip Confirmation] (with discussion)
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* '''2007-08-03''' [http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/8/3/73224/71674 Sibel Edmonds: I assumed the enemy was foreign]: "Within a few months, i came across some serious issues. Wrongdoing. Some of those would be considered criminal, within the FBI. Some of those involved security breaches, 911 related cover-ups, and sabotaged intelligence operations. In one case, due to the pressure of the State Dept and Pentagon, the FBI was prevented from criminally investigating certain US officials who were engaged in actions against our national security, having loyalties to other governments." See also: [[Sibel Edmonds]]
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* '''2007-03-20''' [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/29/AR2007032902003.html Report Faults Interior Appointee] "A senior Bush political appointee at the Interior Department has repeatedly altered scientific field reports to minimize protections for imperiled species and disclosed confidential information to private groups seeking to affect policy decisions, the department's inspector general concluded."
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* '''2007-03-19''' [http://www.miamiherald.com/285/story/45779.html Blind loyalty led Bush's team into big sinkhole] by [[Leonard Pitts Jr.]]
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* '''2007-01-31''' [http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013107Z.shtml Cheney's Handwritten Notes Implicate Bush in Plame Affair] by Jason Leopold and Marc Ash
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* '''2007-01-16'''
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** [http://www.airamerica.com/node/3190 White House Purging Ranks of US Attorneys; Replacements to Skip Confirmation] (with discussion)
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** [http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002348.php White House Moved Swiftly to Replace US Attorneys] (with discussion)
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* '''2007-01-15''' [http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002339.php ''Congressional Quarterly'': Officials Covered Up Oil Lease Problems, Interior Department inspector general Says] (with discussion)
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* '''2007-01-14''' [http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2152438.ece Shock and oil: Iraq's billions & the White House connection]: "[[BearingPoint|The American company appointed]] to advise the US government on the economic [[US occupation of Iraq|reconstruction of Iraq]] has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars into [[US Republican Party|Republican Party]] coffers and has admitted that its own finances are in chaos because of accounting errors and bad management." ... "Its contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan coincide with a big increase in its lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill. In 2005, the latest year for which figures have been collated, BearingPoint paid $1m to lobbyists, equaling the record total it paid in 2003. That is five times its average annual bill for lobbyists prior to the war in Iraq."
 
* '''2006-11-03''' [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/03/world/middleeast/03reconstruct.html?hp&ex=1162616400&en=590b5ef31979d828&ei=5094&partner=homepage Congress Tells Auditor in Iraq to Close Office]: [[Stuart Bowen]] may have done his job too well
 
* '''2006-11-03''' [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/03/world/middleeast/03reconstruct.html?hp&ex=1162616400&en=590b5ef31979d828&ei=5094&partner=homepage Congress Tells Auditor in Iraq to Close Office]: [[Stuart Bowen]] may have done his job too well
 
* '''2006-09-17''' [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/16/AR2006091600193.html Ties to GOP Trumped Know-How Among Staff Sent to Rebuild Iraq] by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, ''Washington Post'' Staff Writer
 
* '''2006-09-17''' [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/16/AR2006091600193.html Ties to GOP Trumped Know-How Among Staff Sent to Rebuild Iraq] by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, ''Washington Post'' Staff Writer

Latest revision as of 14:08, 9 January 2012

About

This page is about corruption in the Bush-Cheney administration.

Although the phrase "corruption in the administration" perhaps evokes images of administration officials accepting payoffs to act against the best interests of those it serves, in this case the entire administration itself is actively corrupting the ideals of America and democracy, and hence betraying the oaths of office taken by Mr. Bush at his inauguration. It is largely that larger, more deliberate sort of corruption being documented here.

The corruption which began – or at least became orders of magnitude worse – under this administration seems to have continued with the successor Obama-Biden administration. Much has been written about this which Issuepedia has not had time to collate, but in brief the causes go back to the 1979 economic shift and the subsequent accumulation of wealth by corporations and their owners, ultimately leading to control of the elections by a relatively small number of special interests.

Possible Goals

Bush's goals seem consistent with the idea of converting the United States into a religious (Christian fundamentalist-evangelical) kleptocracy, with the president as a quasi-religious leader ("God is in the White House") having absolute power much as in the Nehemiah Scudder scenario (written in 1940 and set in 2016). It is not clear whether he is aware that his actions fit into this pattern or if he is largely being manipulated by others, but it seems quite unlikely that the pattern could have emerged by sheer chance. If it is not deliberate, then his actions at least imply a significant level of pure selfishness, incompetence, and disregard for the democratic process, and all the morals of a playground bully: a Genghis Khan wannabe without an ounce of military sense.

Related Pages

Specifics

  • Bush's elevation of presidential power: Bush seems to be trying to completely remove the restraints on presidential power.
  • Bush's lies: the man has lied repeatedly, on record, with no apology or apparent remorse; he also makes promises and then quietly contradicts them with subsequent actions
  • Bush's unapologetic use of torture
  • Bush has "consistently advanced policies contradictory to his professed values" (Is George W. Bush a Conservative? by William Frey, M. D.)
  • The Bush administration's consistent overlooking of facts which contradict the picture they want to paint:
    • It seems likely that people at the top level knew, or should have guessed from the evidence available, that the Yellowcake documents were inaccurate; see Yellowcake forgery
    • If Bush honestly believed that Saddam Hussein had WMDs, he was overlooking a lot of reports from his lower-level advisors
  • Showed classified map of planned Iraq invasion, marked with a classification meaning that it wasn't to be shown to non-US officials, to Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia on 2003-01-11 – two days before then-Secretary of State Colin Powell was informed of the plans.[1]
  • "As the ranking minority member of the Government Reform Committee, Waxman has earned a reputation as the chief Democratic muckraker, obsessively cranking out reports on official misconduct and incompetence. Among them is a lengthy document detailing all of the wrongdoing by the Bush administration that should have been investigated – and would have been, in any other era. The litany of fishy behavior left uninvestigated in the Bush years includes the manipulation of intelligence on Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees, the leak of Valerie Plame's CIA status, the award of Halliburton contracts, the White House response to Katrina, secret NSA wiretaps, Dick Cheney's energy task force, the withholding of Medicare cost estimates, the administration's politicization of science, contract abuses at Homeland Security and lobbyist influence at the EPA." [2]
  • The 2007 US attorney firings were largely unexplained, and would seem to be part of a larger strategy to undermine the legal/judicial process as it affects the power of the presidency

Links

Filed Links

  1. redirect template:links/smw

Opinion

News

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