George Bush and Iraq

The Constitution is once again being stepped on with the Senate Judiciary Committee’s request for the appointment of an independent counsel to investigate the Bush Administration’s dealings with Iraq.

Envisioned as a safeguard against the abuse of power, the independent counsel has become just that. A rogue with an unlimited budget, who effectively answers to no one and with no realistic possibility of being fired, is an affront to the constitutionally mandated checks and balances and separation of powers.

Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution states that the President “shall take care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” This provision reserves solely for the executive the duty to ascertain whether the laws are being obeyed, determine if there is probable cause to believe that they are not and to seek indictments on that basis.

The Constitution never mentions the notion of an independent counsel as an overseeing fourth arm of government. To have it empowered to duplicate the duties of the executive with no accountability is unconscionable.

Lawrence Walsh has not been able to make a single Iran-Contra conviction stick. How many more millions of taxpayer dollars will Walsh waste and how many more innocent lives will he ruin before we see the independent counsel for what it really is? A partisan attempt to criminalize policy differences that circumvents the Constitution.

RANDY R. WALLEN

Playa del Rey