If you, my fellow Americans, will not demand the impeachment of the worst president in American history, a man who is a traitor to our Constitution, an instigator of unjust wars, a destroyer of worlds, a strutting global tyrant, and a threat to the very survival of human life on this planet, who will you impeach?
This George W. Bush, this wastrel, this smirking twister of truth, this volcano of lies, this heinous torturer, this killer of innocents, this Thief-of-Baghdad, this mass murderer, this open sewer of aggressive militarism, in short, this blot on the very name of America, must be compelled by Congress and the American People to answer for his alleged and apparent crimes.
He, and every culpable member of his cabal must be impeached and made to stand trial before the Senate for the Genocide of Iraq and countless other criminal acts. One of the least of his crimes, ordering wiretaps without court order in violation of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, entitles him to a five-year incarceration at Leavenworth for trampling the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable search and seizure.
His most heinous crime, his War of Aggression upon Iraq, violates the United Nations Charter and other convenants to which the U.S. is signatory, a war when unleashed then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan denounced as "illegal."
Surely, Americans who are too timid to sign a petition for impeachment might well consider there are 650,000 Iraqis who, had they lived, could have written their signatures in their own blood.
Far from being the war of self-defense it was claimed, the war on Iraq is a crime of aggression since exposed as a mechanism for stealing its oil wealth, and a war that has brought about the destruction and dismemberment of an innocent nation.
In October, 2005, an Ipsos Public Affairs poll found 50% of the public agreed with the statement, "If President Bush did not tell the truth about his reaons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should consider holding him accountable by impeaching him." A year later a Newsweek Poll found a majority favored impeachment.
Now, as new evidence comes to light each day documenting how Bush and his aides lied this nation into a criminal war of aggression, yes, just as Hitler lied when he invaded Poland, just as Stalin lied when he invaded Finland, just as Mussolini lied when he invaded Ethiopia, just as Japan lied when it invaded China, the numbers of Americans who want George W. Bush impeached is swelling by the millions. Passively favoring impeachment, though, is not the same as actively demanding it.
At the Constitutional Convention, Ben Franklin insisted on the inclusion of the impeachment provision in the name of fairness, to give the president an opportunity to defend against charges of "high crimes and misdemeanors." Otherwise, Franklin said, the only way to remove an errant president would be to assassinate him.
Today, Americans have more urgent reason to remove King George Bush II from office than the Colonists had for overthrowing King George III and founding this nation. King George III's crimes against the Colonists were as nothing compared to the damage this self-made King George Bush II has visited upon America and Americans, and upon the Middle East.
Even though he is not a king, George W. Bush conducts himself as one, for he has arrogated to himself sweeping kingly powers, powers seized in secret, powers stolen in the dead of night without debate, powers aggrandized with the compliance of a lied-to Congress, powers to arrest any citizen, fling the individual in jail, and then throwing away the key; powers to listen in on any private conversation; powers to order Pentagon spying on antiwar protesters and the clergy; powers to enter any home and search and seize without a warrant; powers to read without a court order any citizen's mail and Internet communications; powers to invade our library records and our medical records and our financial papers; powers to nullify the Acts of Congress; powers to reach around the globe and kidnap any foreigner off any street in any country and to remove him without trial to some remote dungeon for torture; powers to scrap binding treaties; powers to invade other countries with great armies on lies and pretexts, to make war upon them, and to dragnet arrest their citizens; powers to tear people away from their native lands and their families and to remove them to distant, secret prisons without recourse to the most primary principles of law, without lawyers, without trials, without habeas corpus, without Red Cross visits, and to detain them forever and there to torture them until bodily disintegration, suicide, or death.
George W. Bush must also be impeached for the mass roundup and arrest of foreigners living in the United States; for the military incarceration of U.S. citizens; for violating the First Amendment rights of Americans; for violating the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions; for reinstitution of the notrious "Cointelpro" program; for violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; for violating Article II of the UN Charter by crimes against peace; for violating what the UN Committe on Torture last May declared was the "ill-treatment" of detainees in violation of the international Convention Against Torture; for violating the Hague Regulations on Land Warfare; for violating the Nuremberg Charter banning the wanton devastation of a city or area; for violating the Genocide Convention by turning Iraq into a charnel house; for violation as Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Army Field Manual Regulation 27-10 against conspiracy to commit war crimes; for usurping the power to imprison people arbitrarily for indefinite periods by making himself judge and jury; for creating illegal secret prisons by executive order; for lowering a shroud of secrecy over the operations of the U.S. government; for willful noncompliance with the Freedom of Information Act; for failure to faithfully execute the laws including Article VI of the Constitution that holds U.S. treaties "shall be the supreme law of the land"; for resuming work on nuclear devices and reinitiating a nuclear arms race in defiance of the nuclear arms treaty; for terrorizing Iran with the threat of nuclear war; for using illegal weapons against Iraq such as white phosphorus, depleted uranium ammunition and a new type of napalm; for launching an aggressive campaign to militarize space in order to dominate the earth; for violating the Bacteriological Warfare Covenant by engaging in germ warfare research including the restoration of long dead pathogens that imperil the planet, and for the creation of delivery systems for such sinister pathogens.
It is for all these reasons, and likely for treacheries and treasons yet undiscovered, the American people must stand up to their sacred obligation to impeach George W. Bush now. If the American people will not do it for themselves, in the name of their sons and daughters being slain in this holocaust, we are morally obliged to do so in the name of the people of Iraq, upon whom this sadist in the White House has hurled down a hellish rain of brimstone. For if we do not impeach this tyrant, we will deserve the low esteem that is now the veritable universal opinion of America. If we do not impeach, we will go on living as oppressed subjects, unworthy of the name "citizens," people whose Federal government has turned us into a nation of patsies, stooges, victims, sheep, and dupes, people who make no outcry when our blood, our treasure, our time, our precious liberties, and even our dreams for a world of peace are stolen from us by this menace to humanity, this George W. Bush, this most dangerous and despicable human being ever to occupy public office in America. # (Sherwood Ross is an American journalist. Reach him at sherwoodr1@yahoo.com).
Sherwood Ross has worked as a publicist for the City of Chicago and Nassau County, N.Y., governments; as a news director for the National Urban League; as a reporter for the Chicago Daily News; as a workplace columnist for Reuters; as a media consultant to colleges, universities, law schools and more than 100 national magazines including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Business Week, and Foreign Policy; as a speechwriter for mayors, governors and presidential candidates, and as a radio news reporter and talk show host at WOL, Washington, D.C. He holds an award for "best spot news coverage" for Chicago radio stations in 1963. His degree from the University of Miami was in race relations and he has written a book, "Gruening of Alaska," a number of national magazine articles and several plays, including "Baron Jiro," produced at Live Arts Theatre, Charlottesville, Va., and "Yamamoto's Decision," read at the National Press Club, where he is a member. His favorite quotations are from the Sermon on The Mount.
As you correctly imply, Bush is destroying America. He is destroying the place economically, morally, politically, and perhaps, before he's finished, physically as well. And why won't Congress stop him before his next horrific, irrevocable act?
We know that the U.S. Congress is corrupt beyond words, but are they also deaf, dumb and blind, stupid, ignorant and, frankly, suicidal? I mean, even corrupt people would be expected to have some sense of self-preservation, wouldn't they? IOW, you can be corrupt and enjoy the fruits of your corruption without completely destroying your country (and ultimately yourself), can't you?
I'm not a superstitious person or a religious freak, but with so many people behaving in such an inexplicably irrational manner, so purely *evil* (that's the only word I can think of), this whole thing seems to be taking on supernatural dimensions...like Bush is America's divine judgment, or something like that.
Also, in retrospect, I'm beginning to think that the uncanny Space Shuttle Columbia disaster was much more than a mere coincidence.
by
jpsmith123 (3 articles, 1 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 287 comments)
on Monday, February 12, 2007 at 6:41:57 PM
Some of us do what we can, step by step, day by day. There just needs to be more of us to hold our representative's feet to the fire. I think there's plenty of angry and frustrated people but either they're paralyzed from taking action or don't know what they can do. On the other hand, even if 70% of the people started harassing Congress to do the right thing, would they actually follow through? Corruption isn't limited to the presidency which begs the question of what to do if the whole crazy train jumps the track at full-throttle.
by
Grazing Gazelle (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 4 comments)
on Monday, February 12, 2007 at 7:49:40 PM
we really do anything honestly... I mean, what has happened or even close to it if at all, with the exception of democrats speaking out? He leaves office very soon and for 6 years, almost 7, it's the same man, same office, same thoughts (or worse), same laws (or worse).
by
Nazir Khaki (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 6 comments)
on Monday, February 12, 2007 at 8:53:29 PM
But Bush is not the leader of your country, he's just the minister of denial. That's what his job is, to scare you into submission and to deny anything is wrong on the US side. He is merely a public figure, but not a leader at all. There are on the other hands people who are really in charge and who instruct Bush what to tell. Impeaching Bush won't help a bit, it won't even happen because the people in _real_ power also control the people who can start an impeachment procedure against Bush.
The real question is: If your president is that bad and still not impeached, are you really living in a democracy?
No your not. The democratic framework is merely upheld as an instrument to devide the masses by keeping them confused. If they would call out the police-state the people might riot, so this phoney democracy does have a function for them.
Now google for the keywords "fema" and "concentrationcamp". They are prepared for eventual uprisings, are you?
by
Han (0 articles, 2 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 193 comments)
on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 1:26:22 AM
Day by day more truth is exposed to more people, and pressure grows. No, of course Bush is not the originator of all this, and thee is a huge amount of work ahead, but the only way to do is to keep chipping away, never give up, never go to sleep, and keep going until all the poison is rooted out.
What? There's a sane alternative? We have something better to do?
by
Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 998 comments)
on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 1:46:01 AM
Tragically, Congressional leaders and Democratic candidates are trapped in the created "reality" of their insular world -- a "reality" in which impeachment is outside the realm of possibility. They are hostages to their bizzaro world fears, assumptions, and beliefs.
They are like kidnapped children living in a "reality" created by their abuser -- a "reality" in which escape carries with it such horrible, catastrophic, consequences they are too frightened to even contemplate the possibility. There is little chance of escape without outside help. Only when the victim re-enters the reality of the outside world can they see the lunacy of the threatened consequences.
For the sake of the nation, and for the sake of the Democratic Party, we need to rescue our so-called "leadership."
You're right about the Congress! What they need to do is, in a show of solidarity with the people of Iraq, surge themselves on over there and conduct their deliberations from the Green Zone. That would show the people of Iraq they are in ernest; after all, they're the ones who are funding the war. It might convey to them some idea of what they have inflicted on humankind by following the path of war chosen by President Bush. For those who are really serious about the surge, well, Baghdad is full of weapons.
--- Sherwood
by
Sherwood Ross (139 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 75 comments)
on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 7:28:10 AM
Assuming that you are going to play "within the system" and attempt to cause an orderly progression from this illegal government to a more rational and sane one...
1. Do not sign online petitions. Firstly, they are invariably ignored. Second, it makes it too easy to think you have done something.
2. If you care, then have the telephone numbers of the offices (local and Washington, D.C.) of your congressional representative and your two Senators on speedial. Call them every few days to voice our opinion and ask theirs. NO, you won't get to speak to your elected representatives (or non-elected in the case of some of the Rethuglicans who have stolen their seats), but you WILL get to speak to a receptionist, and intern, or possibly even an aide. BE POLITE, and attempt to establish a rapport as you give them your opinion. Have a new angle each time you call.
3. Do not write letters, VISIT! These elected officials actually "weigh" their mail to gauage public interest -- they do NOT read it or care. A personal visit shows you are concerned. A visit of a FEW constituents at once, shows even more.
4. IF they are doing ANYTHING right at all, and you can afford it, SEND THEM A CHECK. Nothing big, but enough so they know you are serious. Anything over $10 is REAL MONEY.
If you really want to play within the system, you have to do it in ways that ACTUALLY TAKE TIME and ACTUALLY ENGAGE YOU AND THEM.
Charlie L
Portland, OR
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Charlie L (2 articles, 2 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 591 comments)
on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 10:25:47 AM
...half of what you have said were true, then the 'Congress', the people therein, who have taken an 'Oath of Office' to uphold and maintain 'the Law' also become guilty as they too, clearly have become derelict/negligent in their required upholding of that Oath, the Law.
It begats little more then a Criminal Governence.
by
Mr. Robin Parsons (1 articles, 1 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 64 comments)
on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 5:28:57 AM
Very few of our leaders in either party represent the people. Even calling them leaders is delusional because they are actually velvet glove oppressors hiding the iron fist of plutocracy.
The United States is not a democracy and many are beginning to doubt it ever was. That's the bad news. The good news is, many Americans are becoming aware of who really rules our country. Driven insane by greed into a feeding frenzy of war profiteering, our plutocrats are finally losing their cloak of invisibility.
Time will tell whether the American people have the courage and resolve to end this travesty and delusional democracy.
Since neither political party represents the people, there can be no political solution. Short of revolution, our only recourse is civil disobedience and massive demonstrations. But the likelihood of that happening soon is doubtful, so prepare yourself and protect your family as best you can. Things are going to get a lot worse before they can get better.
by
rabblerowzer (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 227 comments)
on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 6:07:19 AM
Thanks for your thoughtful words; I agree with you completely. You might want to read my archived article, "The United States of England", which also expounds your viewpoint. Sherwood Ross
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Sherwood Ross (139 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 75 comments)
on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 7:21:33 AM
Thanks Sherwood, I enjoyed your article "The United States of England."
Thanks to you, and other writers like you on the internet, I'm beginning to learn more about history. I don't have time to read all the books I'd like to read and you provided a tight synopsis of events I knew little about. Another one of my favorite sources for history and analysis of current events is the Counterpunch website.
mike
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rabblerowzer (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 227 comments)
on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 10:32:27 AM
Impeachment at this point in time is like putting a band-aid on a dead man.
This country is way beyond functioning as a republic/democracy and things aren't going to get any better anytime soon without a massive uprising from the people. And that's not going to happen unless a miracle occurs and suddenly a large portion of the public suddenly become educated overnight. And on only has to listen to the people calling into C-SPAN and know that we're in trouble.
I don't have much hope. The problems are way beyond political. I pray I'm wrong. but unless we have something akin to the Velvet Revolution or the Orange Revolution or even our original revolution we'll continue at an accelerated rate toward the completion of a police state.
Here's my spin.
bush will attack Iran. The repercussions of this suicidal act will be sweeping and swift. Gas will be $8 or more. Basic supplies will be scarce. Mass riots will be quelled by the declaration of Marshall Law and the 800 detention camps that have been built across this country will be filled by the likes of people that post on these blogs.
Rather than bush being held accountable, the elections will be suspended in the interest of "national security" and bush and the gang of thugs will have their wishes come true.
If you think it's bad now - you haven't seen anything.
by
Mr M (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 879 comments)
on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 9:07:34 AM
Thanks for your thoughtful letter. The nightmare scenario you have painted could be very close to reality; imagine there are millions of Americans like us having to take our time up with such thoughts because of the infamous office holder in the White House and his gang. The best energies of our society, as during the Nixon Administration and LBJ's Vietnam War, are being turned in this direction. As for your remedy, I must disagree: the first step is to effect impeachment; it's nonviolent, democratic, and could bring the relief the American people and the world need. It is, indeed, the only humane response. The moment you go beyond democratic procedures you not only betray them but you will find yourself up against the most powerful, forceful warfare state ever in power in the history of this planet, and you don't want to oppose it on their terms. You don't want to fight fire with fire, but with water. Have a good day, Sherwood Ross
by
Sherwood Ross (139 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 75 comments)
on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 9:55:15 AM
Indeed, I favor peaceful civil disobedience to initiate impeachment. That would be the sane thing to do. But we're not talking about dealing with sane people here. The very people you are counting on to impeach are themselves so corrupted that you're asking them to basically impeach themselves. This I do not believe will happen. It's like asking Jeffrey Dahmer to cook you dinner.
I believe that there are just too many people deluded by the propaganda machine to make impeachment happen before things get out of hand.(If they're not already)
You're right that fighting them on their terms is basically committing suicide. But even the founding fathers said that it would be incumbent to overthrow this government if it no longer represented the people.
As I've said, I pray I'm wrong. I hope that enough people wake-up and act in time to stop what I see to be the turning of the key to the gates of Hell. But once we attack Iran, and I see nothing close stopping it (non-binding resolution? give us a break) impeachment and all else will be but a dream we once had.
by
Mr M (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 879 comments)
on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 10:55:54 AM
I admit to being pretty pessimistic about our chances of impeaching or overthrowing our un-elected dictator because so many of our civilian "leaders" are complicit in his crimes, but I hope there's a chance our military leaders might mutiny against this madman. I'm not suggesting a coup or violence, but that there could well come a time when they simply refuse to obey his orders.
That's their duty. They owe allegiance to us, not the power mad punk in the White House.
by
rabblerowzer (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 227 comments)
on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 11:33:38 AM
Like everything else if it gets air-time it's gets attention. The Watada Trial could be significant.
The judge was to scared to have Watada present his case. The fact there is enough evidence to prove that this war is an illegal act to any reasonable person, and the government KNOWS this scares the living shit out of them. It's the old John Lennon, "What if they gave a war and nobody came?"
What if word gets around, and you're looking at your 3rd or 4th tour and 10, 20, a 1,000, a few captains, maybe general or two. It would be a military coup in the courts. Not a shot fired.
It's proven that the wars illegal, bush&co. are dragged to the Hague for war crimes and we live happily ever after ...could happen?
It would be like all of us refusing to pay taxes because it can be proved that the Federal Reserve isn't "federal" at all. That they're a group of private bankers who in 1913 illegally took the right to print money from our hands to theirs and now loans us back our money with outrageous interest - ever for loan-sharks the vig is 30%, not +50% - never getting to the principle.
Yeah, all this could happen.
As long as we can stop dumbass from attacking Iran first.
Yeah, I think I'll go to some military sites and see if there's anything brewing.
Boy, it would be nice ... our courts and our military being able to stop this madness.
by
Mr M (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 879 comments)
on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 4:45:19 PM
The fly caught in the vinegar jar, thinks its the sweetest place on earth, mentality..while we sit around waiting for our "hero" to come save us...the Bush Administration assaults us daily..our hero is not gonna come and he is not gonna save us...(he/she is being paid to well by corporations, defense contractors, lobbyists, bankers..GET IT??) Impeach Bush and Cheney sure, but they are only the symptoms of Capitalism run amok (by the plutocractic, theocractic, Ogilarchy).....the unchecked power of money, by Corporate fascists. I am all for free enterprise, of course...but it should have checks and balances just like the government should, what ever happened to Shermans Antitrust Act?. Was it Reagen who took the first steps to tear that Act down..? Its how we got from a Democratic Republic to a Corporate-owned government..(there is a revolving door in WA. D.C. and it goes like this, lobbyist to Senate, House, W.H., Judicial appointment or the other direction, Senate, House, W.H., Judicial appointment to lobbyist)..and if you don't know the name of a "corporate owned government" google it..look it up.. WE HAVE TO RISE UP..its not as simple as Democratics vs Republicans policy...
by
Susan Nelsen (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 175 comments)
on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 1:48:27 PM
And if you like what you see on the issues page...
type "free kucinich bumper stickers" into Google.
On Sherwood's article and the comments: Excellent thoughts on a pathetic topic. And to think I got a heart transplant a year and a half ago to see this shit...
by
Daniel Geery (26 articles, 55 quicklinks, 121 diaries, 651 comments)
on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 3:42:07 PM
First of all, I count eah morning as one day closer the end of the term on January 20th, 2009. The Administration in my view, to say mildly, are 'bad apples to the core". In New Mexico when a proposed resolution in the Legislature was introduced to be sent to Congress regarding "impeachment', I stood in support.
But I knew full well, dispite my view and the views of the majority of Americans, impeachment was improbable at best-- there just were't the votes in the Senate. ( The recent stall of the debate of the "non binding resolution"
is just an example of how defieint are the numbers.
That is not to say the President and Vice President are not subject to legal action. The immunity which they perceive is a high wall and supported by a military system is mighty in its force. But that is not to say it is absolute.
Just as Milosovec was "immune' as he was committing genocide a decade earlier, when he left office, an international tribunal took up charges. Other despots have met such fate. I can only imagine that when George Bush and Dick Cheney become "citizens" rather than "constitutional officers", they will meet a similiar fate.
In the meantime, I shall pray the days grow closer to our natural character--not as belligerents in war but our national peace and progress. And I shall endeavor to the what ends may be taken to allieviate the war powers and belligerence which the Administration has repeatedly displayed.
by
Eliot Gould (7 articles, 0 quicklinks, 19 diaries, 72 comments)
on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 3:14:08 PM
One feels completely helpless and completely dismayed that the American people have not screamed and yelled for impeachment of these idiots. They are WAR CRIMINALS in the truest sense and the whole world agrees!!! Are you Americans ready to see your country despised and written off as one who did nothing to stop these terrorists??? You need a leader - one with integrity, to get things rolling. NOW is the key word for ACTION to impeach these criminals and they should be locked up forever!!!
by
Patrinka (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 13 comments)
on Wednesday, February 14, 2007 at 3:01:41 PM
Please take this as a constant initiation for reaction with any American you meet:
"If you still believe in the imperialistic approaches of USA because of the good freedom originating in its constitution, then you must also believe that this freedom must be equal among all states of which sovereignties are equal too and that this freedom can not be originate in one state, otherwise, if you still believe in the imperialistic approaches of USA, then it is not because of the freedom originating in its constitution and I do not trust your reasoning, but if you are against the imperialistic approaches, then think about this: a constitution of its citizens, which does not originate in one state, but in all its citizens."
For more just Google it: constitution of its citizens.
by
namzezam (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments)
on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 at 3:21:03 AM
