We need to start laying the groundwork for a truth commission in the United States. A truth commission is a tribunal that is set up to investigate past large-scale crimes; especially those perpetrated by the government. In many cases, they issue a report detailing everything that they found during their investigations. Sometimes they then pardon those participants who have fully confessed their role in the crimes.

     What would our truth commission investigate? The United States has certainly been involved in many large-scale crimes. The slaughter of indigenous peoples comes to mind. Slavery is a big one. We have overthrown many democratically elected governments and replaced them with brutal dictatorships that we control.

     But clearly the most recent and most immediately pressing example of large-scale criminality by the U.S. government is its overall conduct of the “war on terrorism.” That overarching crime has been achieved by using the following additional crimes, among others: war crimes, treaty violations, crimes against humanity, use of banned weapons, murder, kidnapping, torture, rape, warrantless wiretapping and mayhem. I think that more than enough crimes to justify convening a truth commission.

     I don’t expect the Bush administration to support this idea. They don’t want the truth. They are allergic to the truth, and classify as much information as they possibly can to keep us ignorant of what the government has been doing in our names. Fortunately, they won’t be in power forever.

     One of the lessons from the primary election we just held in Alaska is that incumbents are vulnerable in the current political climate. Ben Stevens gave up his seat rather than face the voters. Frank Murkowski didn’t step aside, and lost a political campaign for the first time in many elections. Several other incumbents lost to members of their own political party in primary races.

     The voters don’t like what they have been seeing, and are ready for some changes. That creates the possibility that a movement to establish a truth commission might gain some popular support. With a new administration in 2008, it may even gain some official support. But if ordinary citizens don’t start laying the groundwork, it is not likely to happen.

     One potential obstacle to the establishment of a truth commission is that many congressional Democrats are also guilty of supporting the Bush administration’s crimes. They may be reluctant to support a commission that could reveal their own complicity in those crimes.

     With enough popular support among the people, however, this potential obstacle could be turned into an advantage. A strictly non-partisan commission that was required to investigate all participants in the crimes, without any favoritism, could be supported across the board. The commission could show that it was non-partisan, and not just an attempt to vilify one political party. But this can only happen if there is broad public support, such as existed for the 9/11 Commission.

     The United States has been very good at articulating its support for sweeping principles of justice and democracy. It has failed miserably to live up to those principles. It is time to start demanding that the United States actually support its lip service to truth, justice and the American way.

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