Impeachment and removal, followed later by indictment and conviction, will be a long struggle. (It will, sadly, slow Congress down for a while in its work of destroying the world.) But it is needed to restore the U.S. Constitution as well as international law, and to establish a standard of accountability for the launching of aggressive wars. So, while the process may need to begin with crimes that Congress has been less complicit in, such as the use of signing statements, it must end with the offenses our world cannot well survive if they are repeated.
The first subpoena sent to the White House will be refused, of course, and the conflict will develop from that point. Democrats and any Republicans of conscience should be prepared for that and have a plan that will see us through to George Bush's removal from office for the highest of high crimes and misdemeanors.
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Note on Bush and Books: The New Impeachment Literature
The fact that a sizeable collection of books exists on the subject of impeaching George W. Bush is a phenomenon worthy of comment in itself. Some of the offenses committed by Bush and Cheney have been reported first -- and sometimes only -- in books as was the case with James Risen's State of War: The Secret History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration and Philippe Sands' Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules. The books that follow, all exploring where U.S. citizens must take that evidence, constitute a field of reporting that has yet to make an appearance in a major American newspaper or on a major American television network. Books (and the internet) are now the first draft of history as well as the last, since the other news media have abandoned the field. Yet the analysis in these books is not only largely in agreement but readily comprehensible by anyone with an elementary school education, no less a reporter, and there is no reason to imagine that the views expressed could not be effectively expressed on television or in a newspaper.
If you know nothing about the impeachment movement, pick up at least one of the following. They tend to be brief, easy to read, and enormously important:
*The Impeachment of George W. Bush: A Practical Guide for Concerned Citizens, by Elizabeth Holtzman, former Congresswoman and member of the Nixon impeachment panel, and Cynthia L. Cooper (Nation Books, 268 pages, $14.95), an excellent and readable book, lays out five major grounds for the President's impeachment, and offers a bonus section on Dick Cheney.
*Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney, edited by Dennis Loo and Peter Phillips, with an introduction by Howard Zinn (Seven Stories Press, 208 pages, $17.95), is a wonderfully well written collection of essays organized around a list of 12 grounds for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney.
*The Case for Impeachment, the Legal Argument for Removing President George W. Bush from Office by Dave Lindorff and Barbara Olshansky (Thomas Dunne Books, 275 pages, $23.95), an amazingly popular and extremely readable book, explains the context for impeachment proceedings, while also setting forth six articles of impeachment against Bush, plus an extra section on Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, and Alberto Gonzales.
*Articles of Impeachment Against George W. Bush by the Center for Constitutional Rights (Melville House, 144 pages, $9.95) is a short book that simply lists and explains four (multi-part) articles of impeachment
*George W. Bush versus the U.S. Constitution: The Downing Street Memos and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution, and Cover-ups in the Iraq War and Illegal Domestic Spying by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff (Academy Chicago Publishers, 260 pages, $16.95) not only collects the evidence but also tells us what Congressman John Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, is thinking. The full text, minus a new introduction by Joseph Wilson, is available here and the book can be purchased here.
*Verdict and Findings of Fact by the International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration of the United States ($10), a report that looks at five major international crimes and overlaps significantly with most lists of impeachable offenses. The full text is available by clicking here.
*Impeach Bush: A Funny Li'l Graphical Novel About the Worstest Pres'dent in the History of Forevar (Blatant Comics, $12.95) is a comic-book account of Bush's impeachable offenses -- the crimes really are self-evident, but pictures don't hurt. It can be purchased by clicking here.
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David Swanson, co-founder of the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition, works for ImpeachPAC.org, which is funding pro-impeachment candidates. Each one has committed to making the introduction of articles of impeachment his or her first act in office. Swanson also works for MyDem.org, which is giving people tools to help make sure their votes are counted. A former newspaper reporter, he was the press secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign.
Copyright 2006 David Swanson
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