In tomorrow morning’s newspapers, there will be printed cryptic stories referring to the U.S. government hiring of assassination squads assembled by Blackwater, a corporation of mercenaries now known by the name XE Services. Blackwater / XE teams planned illegal killings, and may have even been preparing to execute the assassinations. At least, so say the newspapers. The information is all anonymously leaked, and there’s no corroboration because there are no public hearings through which the American people have been able to learn about these criminal conspiracies.

Apparently, the CIA outsourced this crime because they knew it was a crime. An anonymous CIA source for the Washington Post story claims that, “Outsourcing gave the agency more protection in case something went wrong.” What does “protection” mean? It means shielding from legal liability. The CIA apparently was fully aware that the Bush Administration was engaging in clearly criminal behavior, and did nothing to stop it.

Assassination is against the law. This conspiracy of mercenary assassins therefore was not just a plan to target foreign enemies of the USA. It was a plan to target the very system of American law upon which our liberty is founded.

Members of Congress have known about this criminal conspiracy for quite some time now. Where is the investigation? Where are the hearings? What have the Democrats in charge of Congress done to hold the people involved in these high crimes responsible?

Almost nothing. The American people have seen nothing. All that’s taken place are closed door meetings, part of supposed secret “investigations”, the contents of which are classified, so that once again, the American people have no idea of what’s going on – or even if there really is an investigation at all. The so-called “investigation” by the House Intelligence Committee so far looks more like a whitewash. There have been no public hearings. Not a single individual has been held legally accountable.

Why, more than half a year into the Democrat-run government, have we not yet seen one single serious public investigation into any of the Bush Administration crimes? For the sake of political advantage? So the Democrats would have the chance to enact their political agenda?

This excuse no longer makes any sense. Look at the disaster that has been made of health care reform by the Democrats. Look at the failure of the Democrats to come up with adequate climate change legislation. Look at the downright corrupt system of corporate bailouts that took place instead of honest economic stimulus. Look at the shocking expansion of wasteful military spending for deadly boondoggles like the F-22.

For this? For this, we’ve been told to sacrifice our hopes for investigation and accountability for the Bush Administration’s thorough trashing of the Constitution and the rule of law? So that the Democrats would retain enough political power to perpetrate their disastrous domestic agenda?

No, the sacrifice has not been worth it. Progressives have been asked to stand aside so that the Democrats could create a capable government, but the progressive retreat has only been answered by Democratic Party refusal to stand strongly for the values that progressives believed in.

Will the Democrats finally learn the lesson now, that they don’t gain political advantage by failing to hold their opponents accountable for outrageous violations of the law? No, I don’t think that lesson is even close to surfacing in the Democrats’ political consciousness.

The original crimes of the Bush Administration are now being compounded by the cowardice of Democrats too timid to merely demand that the Constitution of the United States, and the laws established under its authority, be honored and upheld.