GOP congressman says Congress must investigate the Bush administration

Mickey Edwards:

There should be a thorough investigation of the ways in which the current Administration may have disregarded the Constitution (examples: under the Constitution, the suspension of habeas corpus rights -- for anybody -- is flatly prohibited; the Constitution gives to the Congress, not the Executive, the sole authority to determine the treatment of captives; surveillance of American citizens requires a warrant). But that investigation should -- no, must -- be carried out not by an independent commission but by the Congress, just as Harry Truman, a Democratic Senator, investigated the War Department in a Democratic Administration and just as a Congress controlled by Democrats investigated the Watergate break-in during a Republican Administration. Party considerations must not trump legislative responsibility. The Congress has the obligation to examine whether laws were broken or new laws are needed. Members of Congress have taken an oath to defend the Constitution. During the Bush Administration, the Congress receded further and further into irrelevancy; it is up to its new members to ensure that it regains its position as the First Branch of government. The original post begins with the wrong premise: the competing forces in this drama are not Republicans and Democrats but the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch and it's high time that the legislative branch re-established itself as a separate, independent and equal check on the presidency.