Bush, The Unconstitutional Dictator

When I think about comparisons between George W. Bush's Global War On Terror (GWOT), and Abraham Lincoln's Civil War, I think about a relative I learned about while doing genealogy, a fellow born in 1832 named Henry Hudson Drake. The only things I know about him are in this list. As you can see, Mr. Drake had an eventful 1864:

1853-1857: Lived near Keokuk, Iowa
1864: Captured as a Federal spy at Bayou Sara, Louisiana.
Tried and acquitted in Canton, Mississippi.
Confederate conscript at Enterprise, Mississippi.
Escaped at Mobile, Alabama and fled to Pensacola, Florida.
1865-1869: Retail shoe trade at New Orleans.
1869: Moved to Mobile, Alabama and entered wholesale shoe trade.
1884: After New Orleans 'Exposition', formed new business engagements and travelled in Louisiana and Texas.
1888: Moved to Claude (Armstrong Co.), Texas.
1900: Still in general merchandising.

Remember, in 1864, Mississippi was in a shambles. Worse yet, given his birthplace, Mr. Drake may well have been somewhat guilty, or at least not entirely innocent, of the charge of being a Yankee spy. Nevertheless, he was still able to find justice in a Confederate courtroom in 1864! (It sounds like he bargained his way into the hard-pressed Confederate army). Despite everything, the wheels of justice still functioned in that dark, dark time.

That's what the rule of law means. Everyone's actions are constrained by applicable law. Everyone. When soldiers fired at each other on the field of battle, they were doing so lawfully. Anyone freelancing was doing so unlawfully.

Which just makes the way the Bush Administration approached the GWOT such a defamatory blot on American history. George Bush was freelancing, which is very, very dangerous:

It was during the Civil War that President Abraham Lincoln became known as a "constitutional dictator," said former Nixon White House counsel John Dean during a Monday broadcast of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

Responding to the recent release of several legal justifications for President Bush's most criticized policies, Dean summarized, "Reading these memos, you've gotta almost conclude we had an unconstitutional dictator. It's pretty deadly and pretty serious, what's in these materials.

"The memos, released by Obama's Justice Department on Monday, outline possible methods for the president to ignore treaties and International laws, kidnap and torture American citizens and overrule the First Amendment to the Constitution which ensures freedom of speech and of the press.

All of these things and more could be done exclusively by the president in the name of fighting terrorism."Who in this formula was supposed to decide that these were terrorists?" asked Olbermann.

"Well, according to these memos, that was rather limited to the President of the United States and there are no guidelines as to how he might describe who was or was not a terrorist," said Dean.

Dean also said that the repeal of several of these memos just days before the Bush administration left power, was "definitely a bit of C-Y-A," though he did not ascribe "evil intent" to anyone.

...Dean has previously warned of "serious consequences" around the world if the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress are not willing to "point fingers" at Bush administration members who may be guilty of war crimes.