A BuzzFlash Guest Contribution

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Note to America's Press

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Kristina Borjesson, author of FEET TO THE FIRE: The Media After 9/11, Top Journalists Speak Out

For a while now, there has been a blizzard of articles and editorials, as well as miles of weblog commentary documenting the Bush administration's dubious activities before and during the Iraq war. The details of how members of President Bush and Vice-President Cheney's offices organized and operated an impressive pre-war manipulation and deception machine are old news now. Questions raised about the legality of the war have been followed by stories examining torture, the use of white phosphorous among Iraqi civilians, the long, indefinite detention of alleged enemy combatants, the use of independent contractors for military and intelligence operations (raising serious accountability issues), and other activities that have been part and parcel of prosecuting the war. A great job has been done by many, including mainstream bigs like the Washington Post's Walter Pincus, Knight Ridder's John Walcott, Warren Strobel and Jonathan Landay, and independent intelligence expert and author, James Bamford.

For everyone who contributed to this body of information, the next assignment should be clear: What, if any, laws were broken throughout this entire process? Who, if anyone, is guilty of what crimes? If crimes have been committed, where should they be prosecuted and by whom? Ladies and gentlemen, get out your rolodexes or blackberries and call your constitutional law sources, your specialists in impeachment law, in laws governing war and the activities of war -- and maybe even RICO experts. If the Bush administration and/or the U.S. military are guilty of breaking laws, report it. If they aren't, report it. Granted, trying to answer some of these questions may lead to murky areas, but that murkiness must be explored in depth, lest our democracy disappear within it.

BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION

Kristina Borjesson is the author of FEET TO THE FIRE: The Media After 9/11, Top Journalists Speak Out, a book of 21 interviews with the nation's leading journalists, including those mentioned above.