We've long been skeptical of our elected officials and of the government in general. But look at the voting percentages. We are also apathetic; we like to complain, but don't bother to vote. People, you had your chance to participate in our political process and blew it off. And now look where that got us.
Bill Clinton was impeached because he couldn't keep his zipper in a locked and upright position. Nobody died.
George W Bush lies about weapons of mass destruction and thousands are dying. "Exit strategy"? What's that? Top positions in the administration were filled not by qualified candidates, but by FOGs: Friends of George.
And you want to get really pissed? Come back in a couple days when I post my rant on Abramoff! (Here's a spoiler: he calls Native Americans monkeys and troglodytes. I'm part Lenape. Give you any idea of what the tone will be like?)
This is from ImpeachNow. My guess is it's going to be one of many groups actively calling for Bush and Cheney's impeachment or resignation.
GROUNDS FOR IMPEACHMENT
The President and Vice President misinformed citizens in the most serious act that a government can undertake—leading its people to war. The principal reasons they gave have been exposed as unfounded, namely:
That there was an imminent threat of a secret attack by Iraq which would use weapons of mass destruction against the US and its allies;
that Saddam Hussein was cooperating with the al Qaida terrorists, with the implication that he was involved in the attack of those terrorists on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001.
There is ample evidence to believe that the President and Vice President systematically misrepresented the poor intelligence provided them with the intention of deliberately deceiving the public and Congress in order to take the nation to an unnecessary and illegal war. Even if the President and Vice President were misinformed by their intelligence agencies, they did not take due diligence in evaluating the information and analysis provided them in making the decision to go to war, for which they are accountable.
The President undertook aggressive war against Iraq under cover of a defensive, preventive first strike, contrary to the United Nations Charter which by treaty is the law of the land in this country. Therefore he violated US law.
The President undertook aggressive war against Afghanistan without pursuing the negotiations offered by its government to deliver Osama bin Laden to international authorities for trial.
In the aggressive wars against Iraq and Afghanistan tens of thousands of civilians and military personnel were killed and wounded on all sides for which the President and Vice President must be held responsible.
President Bush took the nation to war twice in violation of the authority to declare war that is solely vested in Congress by the Constitution. The President sought and received from Congress unconstitutional authority to take the nation to war against any persons, groups or nations that he designated as responsible for the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, or as harboring such groups. A year later he sought the same authority to go to war against Iraq without a declaration of war by Congress. In both instances he took the nation to war at his own discretion against parties and at a time of his deciding rather than seeking authority from Congress, which is a violation of the war-making power that the Constitution gives only to it. Further, the war powers resolution with regard to Iraq specifically provided that the President secure the authorization of the UN Security Council, which he failed to do, thereby violating the power that Congress gave to him, albeit, illegally.
President Bush also took the nation to war against Afghanistan without approval of the UN Security Council. Its resolution 1368, drafted by the US, specifically avoided seeking UN authorization of the use of force because the Bush administration claimed that its right to self-defense did not require approval by the UN, a clear violation of the UN Charter that forbad retaliation. Afghanistan was not mentioned by the resolution. The US attack on that country weeks later therefore added a further violation of the UN Charter and hence US law.
The President in The National Security Strategy that he promulgated in September, 2002, declared it to be the policy of the United States to seek military and economic supremacy around the world as necessary to US security and prosperity. It adds that the US will be ready to use pre-emptive first strikes unilaterally and without UN approval against any nation or group that threatens US supremacy. In a supplementary statement in December of that year the President declared that the government was entitled to use nuclear weapons for this purpose. These brazen statements violate the Preamble of the Constitution’s declaration that the aim of the US government should be to “establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity….” They also violate the UN Charter’s goal of world peace through collective security, to which the US is legally bound..
The President rammed through Congress the USA Patriot Act and subsequent legislation that abridge the civil liberties of citizens and non-citizen residents, protected by the Constitution. The fact that the Congress approved this legislation does not in itself make it constitutional.
The President and his appointees also issued executive orders that infringe the constitutional rights of citizens and residents, including persons held in custody as “enemy combatants,” a newly invented category of what international law calls prisoners of war. These prisoners have been held in indefinite custody without charge, denied benefit of legal counsel and the right to attorney-client confidentiality.
The President has obstructed justice by restricting the investigation of the attacks of September 11, 2001. He has also refused to provide information and records necessary and appropriate for the constitutional right of congressional oversight of executive functions.
President Bush must be held accountable for engineering the coup against the elected democratic president of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and instructing the US ambassador to Haiti and US troops to remove him from office by threat and force, when his presidency should have been defended. This constitutes a violation of US law, the UN Charter and other international law.
These are all on-going offenses, and the failure to prosecute them will compound the damage already done, increasing the numbers of lives lost and maimed, the disruption of world affairs and increasing the terrorism that these officials claimed they sought to halt.
Now let's be serious for a moment. Impeachment? Prosecution? At this moment in time, our country is in a crisis caused by natural disasters. We are in a war we cannot win. Our economy is going down the tubes. Do we want to spend the time working on impeachment or rebuilding our country?
I think we need to keep the impeachment option open. But right now there are hundreds of thousands of Americans who need food and shelter and medical care. The deserve to have it and an impeachment would just slow down their healing.
Also, an impeachment would add even more chaos to an already inept government. My gut say wait until 2008 and vote the crooks out!
However, I will keep the Impeach Bush banner up as a reminder that we need to be very vigilent. We need to watch Bush and his FOGs. And we need to point out injustice, lies, and just plain stupid things this (mis)administration does.
It's time to be "eternally vigilant" citizens of this country many of our ancestors fought and dies for.
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