Bruce Fein

Bruce Fein (born March 12, 1947) is an American lawyer who specializes in constitutional and international law. Fein has written numerous articles on constitutional issues for The Washington Times, Slate.com, The New York Times, and Legal Times, and is active on civil liberties issues. He has worked for the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation, both conservative think tanks, as an analyst and commentator. Fein is a principal in a government affairs and public relations firm, The Lichfield Group, in Washington, D.C.. He is also a resident scholar at the Turkish Coalition of America.

Bruce Fein in 2011

Quotes

• The Justice Department's conclusion that Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 does not prohibit discrimination based on actual or perceived capacity to transmit AIDS to others has been assailed as legally or medically flawed, mean-spirited, and antagonistic toward the gay community. The criticisms are misplaced. The Department's sober examination of the Rehabilitation Act reveals a commendable dedication to the rule of law and the belief that Congress, not bureaucrats, should be the foremost architect of national public policy. [...] The gay community and other political minorities, as the foremost beneficiaries of the rule of law, should applaud, not condemn, the Department's opinion. By refusing to usurp policy making power from Congress, the Justice Department acted in the highest tradition of executive restraint.
  • AIDS in the workplace; the administration's impeccable logic, The New York Times (July 13, 1986)

• Congress does act slowly, often without foresight, and in ways detrimental to efficient government. But our entire consitutional scheme of checks and balances is intended to curb swift government action and to subordinate efficiency concerns to safeguard liberty and freedom.
  • AIDS in the workplace; the administration's impeccable logic, The New York Times (July 13, 1986)

• The paramount political benefit of membership on a large-sized intelligence committee is the capacity to leak information to favored reporters in order to elicit media good will.
  • A Tight Plug on Intelligence Leaks, The New York Times (June 10, 1987)

• Information sharing and liaison arrangements, however, are indispensable to success in combating worldwide terrorism, narcotics trafficking and other such activities. By sharply curtailing the likelihood of leaks, a joint intelligence committee would encourage the executive branch to be more forthright with Congress and would help rebuild foreigners' trust in our intelligence community. Congressmen opposing such commendable results shoulder a heavy burden.
  • A Tight Plug on Intelligence Leaks, The New York Times (June 10, 1987)

• If you crave presidential lawlessness, war crimes, and international mayhem, you should adore Democratic presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton.
  • Hillary Clinton: Unfit for the Presidency (October 16, 2015), Huffington Post

• Hillary Clinton is a clear and present danger to the Constitution, the rule of law, and international peace and security. Her eagerness for war, i.e., legalized murder, to create an image of adolescent toughness makes her a worse fit for the Presidency than would Lady Macbeth.
  • Hillary Clinton: Unfit for the Presidency (October 16, 2015), Huffington Post

Armenian crime amnesia? (2007)

Armenian crime amnesia?. The Washington Times (October 16, 2007)

• Armenian crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Ottoman Turkish and Kurdish populations of eastern and southern Anatolia during World War I and its aftermath have been forgotten amidst congressional preoccupation with placating the vocal and richly financed Armenian lobby.

• A historically supportable resolution would have condemned massacres against Armenians with the same vigor, as it should have condemned massacres by Armenians against the innocent Muslim populations of the crumbling Ottoman Empire.

• Nothing seems to have changed from those days, when Christian lives were more precious than the lives of the “infidels.”

• Best contemporaneous estimates place the number of Armenians who died in the war and its aftermath at between 150,000 and 600,000. The Armenian death count climbed to 1.5 million over the years on the back of political clout and propaganda.

• Like Benito Mussolini, Armenians believe truth is an assertion at the head of a figurative bayonet.

• In parts of Europe, disbelief in the Armenian genocide allegation is a crime on par with Holocaust denial. But the Holocaust was proven before the Nuremburg Tribunal with the trappings of due process. Armenians, in contrast, have forgone bringing their genocide allegation before the International Court of Justice because it is unsupported by historical facts.

• Congress should reject that cynicism in defense of historical truth.

Lies, Damn Lies, and Armenian Deaths (2009)

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and the number of Armenians who are claimed by Armenians and their echo chambers to have died in an alleged World War I genocide.

Not a single one of those deaths necessarily falls within the definition of genocide in the authoritative Genocide Convention of 1948.

Lies, Damn Lies, and Armenian Deaths, The Huffington Post (April 24, 2009)

• To paraphrase Mark Twain, there are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and the number of Armenians who are claimed by Armenians and their echo chambers to have died in an alleged World War I genocide.

• Not a single one of those deaths necessarily falls within the definition of genocide in the authoritative Genocide Convention of 1948. It requires proof that the accused was responsible for the physical destruction of a group in whole or in substantial part specifically because of their race, nationality, religion, or ethnicity. A political or military motivation for a death falls outside the definition.

• Immediately after the war, when events and memories were fresh, Armenians had no incentive to concoct high casualty figures or genocidal motivations for their deaths. Their objective was statehood.

• To make their case more convincing, Armenians hiked the number of deaths. They also altered their story line from having died as belligerents against the Turks to having perished like unarmed helpless lambs.

• After statehood was lost, Armenians turned to their genocide playbook which exploited Christian bigotries and contempt for Ottoman Muslims. They remembered earlier successful anti-Ottoman propaganda.

• Henry Morganthau, was openly racist and devoted to propaganda.

• From 280,000-750,000, Armenians initially raised their death count to 800,000 to test the credibility waters. ... They are now testing the waters at 2.5-3 million killed as their chances for a congressional genocide resolution recede. It speaks volumes that champions of the inflated death figures have no explanation for why Armenians on the scene would have erred. Think of the absurdity of discarding the current death count of Afghan civilians in the United States-Afghan war in favor of a number deduced in the year 2109!

• Armenians have a genuine tale of woe. It largely overlaps with the tale of tragedy and suffering that can be told by Ottoman Muslims during the war years.

• Unskewed historical truth is the antechamber of Turkish-Armenian reconciliation.

• Armenians are balking because they are skeptical of their own figures and accusations.

External links

• Statement of Bruce Fein Before The House Judiciary Committee Re: Impeachment 7/25/2007
• Columns written by Bruce Fein for Slate
• Bill Moyers explores the talk of impeachment of Bush and Cheney with Fein, PBS, July 2007
• Video of Fein in a debate/discussion with Jane Hamsher on Bloggingheads.tv
• Lon Snowden Praises Glenn Greenwald, ACLU After Split With Legal Team