All We Need Now is a Shirt Color

In a move reminiscent of Hitler and Mussolini, al-Maliki, according To CNN, has established his own sketchy security office in Iraq with a distinctly Shi'ite agenda (Iraq's in civil war, mind you). The Office of the Commander-in-Chief (that reeks of American democracy, doesn't it?) has great range in its practices as shown by CNN:

The "Office of the Commander in Chief" has the power to overrule other government ministries, according to U.S. military and intelligence sources.

Those sources say the 24-member office is abusing its power, increasingly overriding decisions made by the Iraqi Ministries of Defense and Interior and potentially undermining the entire U.S. effort in Iraq.

Now, if I were surprised that something like this was happening, my reaction would be outrage, horror, and general hysterics, something that wouldn't be out of place in a 1970's slasher movie that takes place at a summer camp or otherwise idyllic locale where high school kids can make out and do drugs. But, I'm not, and the reason why is very simple: Unitary Executive

The current Bush administration is a huge fan of the Unitary Executive. The Unitary Executive is a theory that there are not really checks and balances within the Constitution, that the president has control over all aspects of executive power, which is as written in the Constitution also held in minority by the other branches of government. Bush has been doing this frequently. The most noticeable way that Bush has used the power of the unitary executive is through the application of signing statements. These statements essentially say that the President is free to interpret the law how they see fit. Bush has used hundreds of these during his time in office to put his spin on things. This is also in addition to the myriad other ways of hiding information used by the administration such as changing the rights to accessing presidential records.

With an administration as bent on secrecy as this one, an shadowy office of power isn't as much of a shock any more, regardless of how wrong it actually is. Next thing you know, this office will be in round-ups and its Kristallnacht all over again. This is something to watch. I hope more comes out about it because I want to know what's going down in this shadow office.

*creepy music*