A month before taking the gavel as the next majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi is under close scrutiny. To call her promise that "impeachment (of President George Bush) is off the table" a disappointment to millions of Americans is an understatement, but the old fox may yet have a semantic ace up her sleeve. While it would be a crucial mistake for Pelosi's party to fail in their legal obligation to uphold the Constitution, a greater tragedy would be if We the People sell ourselves, and democracy, short.
The legal grounds and public support for investigations of not only President George W. Bush but also Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, are substantial. Former federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega, in her book, United States versus George W Bush Et Al, estimates at least 100 million Americans believe the president and his cronies have committed crimes in office.
For the Democrats now assuming power in Washington, talk of impeachment is not in fashion. Rather they intend (so they say) to renew a sense of dignity, respect, and trust between the two major parties that impeachment proceedings would destroy. Being effective politicians, they do not say what they really think: that any action they take against the Republican administration would be twisted into charges of "paybacks," "advantage-taking," or even portrayed as a coup, since as House Speaker Pelosi would assume the presidency in the event of departure by the president and vice president. This part they've got right, and this is exactly why democracy-loving (dare I say patriotic?) citizens need to step into the debate with our support for those who dare to live up to their responsibilities.
Pelosi and Co. score points in saying there are "more pressing" issues they want to pursue, like raising the national minimum wage and cutting interest rates on student loans. An inevitably bitter fight over impeachment, they claim, would distract Congress and create an atmosphere in which nothing constructive could be achieved. But this argument misleads rather than informs, and fails to honestly represent the grave state our democracy is in. The specter of 25 more months of presidential abuse of power holds far more potential for catastrophe at home and abroad than does a delay in passing these and other admittedly needed reforms. Sad but true, these Democrats are talking about rearranging those proverbial Titanic deck chairs.
Above all the Democrats fear losing power in 2008 if they come on too strong in the interim, but they underestimate the anger of the American public at their own peril. And this is why Nancy Pelosi slyly may have left some wiggle room. A closer examination of what she said about impeachment last May offers a hint: "I said we'd be having hearings on the war. But I don't see us going to a place of impeachment. Investigation does not equate to impeachment . . . You never know where the facts take you." Underscore that last phrase. Should investigations (which WILL proceed, on several fronts) uncover leads that gain a life of their own and lead to articles of impeachment – well, who could possibly blame Nancy?
No one can be sure what will happen if congressional investigations move us toward impeachment. Nevertheless, many of us seem to be confusing our role in a democracy with that of our elected servants. Our part is to make our preferences known, theirs is to find ways to carry them out. Meanwhile, why in the world should those of us who've consistently opposed Bush's lawlessness expend our energies explaining why impeachment is a nonstarter? Shouldn't we be supporting the institutions of democracy, which must include the threat of removal in order to survive? Remember - Nixon was not impeached; he RESIGNED under that threat.
The Bush administration has used its own brand of fear as a method of controlling the American public for six destructive years. We must not waver in dealing with the true emergency now that the November elections have provided a plausible chance of doing so. Like those who faced down the British some 230 years ago, we cannot have certainty. Therefore, we must have guts.
Dave Wheelock is a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and a professional university rugby coach in Socorro, New Mexico. He holds a history degree from the University of New Mexico. His Pencil Warrior column appears in the Socorro Mountain Mail and his work has also appeared on the Common Dreams and Indianz websites as well as in the Santa Fe, NM, Sun Monthly.
I doubt Ms. Pelosi would appreciate the title, and I doubt we will see anything like what you propose. Democrats are excellent at only one thing, self destruction.
Consortiumnews.com gets it right:
Though the Democrats won the Nov. 7 elections largely because of public anger over the Iraq War, President George W. Bush has prevailed in the first post-election showdown over Iraq.
He got the Senate Armed Services Committee to unanimously approve his new choice of Robert M. Gates as Defense Secretary, with Democrats failing to nail Gates
down on any substantive point about war strategy.
In effect, Bush has bought himself at least several months to continue his "stay-until-victory" plan, even as more American soldiers and Iraqis die.
For the full story of the Democrats' obsession with "bipartisanship" -- no matter what the cost -- go to Consortiumnews.com at
http://www.consortiumnews.com .
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Wednesday, December 6, 2006 at 7:18:25 AM
War Crimes are Ongoing - Will Dems Implicate Themselves?
There is no mystery that both domestic crimes (spying) and war crimes (Geneva violations) are ongoing.
The regime admits them. They "defend" these actions.
When Dems take majority control in Jan. they also take on responsibility for the actions of the US Gov't. Even before their "First 100 Hours" of wish-list-fulfillment, they have a dire choice to make.
They must impeach bush and cheney for these ongoing crimes or become war criminals themselves. It really is just that simple. There is no middle ground to be had.
Their apparent ignorance of this duty to act will not be a defense to either an international tribunal or to history.
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by
Patty Keeshan (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments)
on Wednesday, December 6, 2006 at 8:38:03 AM
I think it is sometimes a mistake to call democratically elected representatives - 'Leaders', because they are followers and supporters of public opinion. Democrats could leverage righteous anger over the ongoing crimes against humanity and the more mundane felonies and horribly, but apparently "legal" abuses perpetrated against the people of both the United States and Iraq, but the masses must get more worked up into a perfect storm, or the political risks would allow a Republican come back after two years of belittling and blocking the Democratic agenda.
The investigations must run their course to pound the horrible truth of their crimes into a case that even a bone-head under Fox control can understand and agree with.
The figurative fires under the President and the former Republican majorities must get hot enough so that literally everyone wants to get rid of the war criminals, the other supporting fraudsters, and the pedophile enablers. Fox watching zombies with pitch forks and torches must awake and realize that they have been lied to repeatedly, robbed, abused, and unconsciously wheedled into supporting a hideous monster stealing hundreds of billions of dollars, killing, lying, and using people without regard to their suffering.
Protracted, lengthy investigations will uncover and formally expose criminal behavior to the unconscious viewers of Fox infotainment. Though criminal behavior and war crimes are ongoing, the extent of Republican corruption and the administration must be exposed beyond critical mass so that the raw emotions evoked by betrayal, thievery, high crimes and felonies may resonate into the next election cycle.
If it is unrealistic to expect trial by the International Criminal Court and imprisonment in the Hague, then at least indulge us in some protracted and embarassing investigations. Let the republicans beg to start the impeachment proceedings as a form of party damage control.
The layers of dirt and crime are so thick on these guys that a little dragging them through the mud of their own making over the period of two years will do enough psychic and reputation damage that future presidents will cringe when they are obligated to attend Dubya's funeral.
by
Tim Riley (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 122 comments)
on Friday, December 8, 2006 at 9:51:43 AM
