"Are Peace and Impeachment Possible? Strategies for Saving our Constitution, Economy, and Environment" By David Swanson Remarks delivered in Ojai, California, on April 22, 2008
I'm going to talk for a while and then take some questions, and maybe even some corrections, since unlike the Pope and George W. Bush I do make mistakes. Our president, as far as I know, has never admitted a mistake. And of this I am sure, I have never publicly done anything as brave as what members of IVAW do in admitting their mistaken roles in Bush's crusade. Some of them have said that that has been harder than anything they did in Iraq, and I believe it. They deserve our gratitude and our support.
Now, the phrase "support the troops" has a bad name, since it has come to mean "insist on funding war crimes that the troops wish they could be done with." But I want to propose a new initiative to support the troops. Let's take the next little dollop of war funding in the pipeline, the $178 billion that Congress intends to vote on within the next month, and let's give it to the troops now stationed in Iraq. Very roughly that will come out to $1 million per troop. Those troops that want to use some of that money to fund contractors, mercenaries, and war profiteers can give some or all of it back. Those troops that want to contribute to the general fund to extend the occupation can do so. And those troops that want to buy a plane ticket home can make that choice. This may sound crazy to some people, but what sounds crazy to me is sending young men and women to kill and die for greed and power and claiming that you're doing it because you "support the troops."
Happy Earth Day! Global Warming, according to the World Health Organization, already contributes to 150,000 deaths each year. Some of those deaths have been in New Orleans over the past two and a half years, and global warming has had a little bit of help. In fact there's a nice video of George W. Bush being warned beforehand about Hurricane Katrina, and another nice video of Bush swearing he was not and couldn't possibly have been expected to imagine what was coming. Today, half the people of New Orleans have not seen any real progress toward restoring their homes or compensating them for their loss. Even if you believed Bush's lie that he had no warning, how can you defend the past two and a half years of failure, of intentional and racist failure? And how can we look at this one act alone and not impeach the president?
Bush is spending Earth Day in New Orleans, working with Canada and Mexico to use NAFTA as a tool to eliminate such troublesome laws as those that protect the environment. Can you imagine anything more arrogant? I don't know... maybe if he... openly admitted to approving of torture or something like that? Next Saturday is the White House correspondents dinner. Maybe Bush will joke about hunting for Weapons of Mass Destruction in his office again.
Bush attended a church service last week, and his staff talked with the minister beforehand to make sure, not only that he wouldn't touch on unpleasant topics, but that he would praise the president. In fact, I kid you not, maybe it was the Pope being in the country or something, but they asked the preacher to compare Bush to a saint. To his credit, the good minister agreed, but when he got up and gave his sermon, at the end he said, "We are honored to have been joined this week by our president. He is a dishonest, duplicitous, murderous criminal, responsible for the deaths of over a million Iraqis, not to mention the millions around the world who could have been saved with the trillions of dollars he has wasted on killing, torturing, and turning the world against us, but compared to Dick Cheney, he's a saint."
OK, that's not really true, but how can we not start with the guy in charge, with the convener of the secret energy task force that established our energy and war policies behind closed doors? How can we not start with the man who told jokes about global warming at last week's Radio and Television Correspondents Association dinner? How can we not begin with the Vice President for torture, Dick Cheney? How can we not impeach Cheney first?
The words "global warming" should call to mind a different vice president than the one they usually do, because Dick Cheney more than any other individual can take credit for worsening the impact of global warming. And he jokes about it. And the members of the broadcast media laugh with him. Well, not WITH him. He doesn't laugh. He just sort of breathes heavily.
But why does the media laugh? Maybe the impact of global warming is not felt in Disney Land. The Disney Corporation's presidential primary debate last week was unable to squeeze a single question on global warming into a debate focused on fascistic questions about religion and flags. Yes, I said the F word. It's hard to see fascism in a flag when it's our flag. It's hard to see fascism in religion when it's our religion. Here we are in a town that used to have a German name and changed it as I understand around the time of World War I, but changed it to a name originating with the native people of our own country against whom we had committed genocide. We have stationed 1,000 U.S. military bases in other people's countries around the globe in the name of spreading democracy. We are not a people much given to irony.
But occasionally we see through the fog of war. Someone recently told me that he was certain we would eventually have peace on earth, he just hoped humans would be around to enjoy it. There are two major threats to that possibility. One is nuclear war and the other is global warming. Remember when our nukes were supposedly intended purely for the purpose of destroying the Soviet Union several thousand times if it nuked us first? The Soviet Union has been gone for nearly two decades, and we have more nukes than ever, and we now threaten to use them first and to use them anywhere. U.S. Strategic Command in Omaha, Nebraska, claims the ability to destroy any spot on the planet within 60 minutes, and does not strictly separate conventional from nuclear weapons in its planning. Happy Earth Day!
Mikhail Gorbachev tried to negotiate nuclear disarmament with Ronald Reagan, but Reagan wouldn't do it without Star Wars, without his so-called "missile defense" system. That boondoggle is still around, although its ability to defend against an attack has never been demonstrated. Its usefulness in aggressive war is not in doubt, however. We're now trying to impose new bases on a number of nations around the world as part of a so-called missile defense system, including the Czech Republic and Poland, the main result of which has been to enrage the people of the Czech Republic, Poland, and Russia.
At a House Oversight subcommittee hearing last week, Lisbeth Gronlund, a senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists said of missile defense: "The program offers no prospect of defending the United States from a real-world missile attack and undermines efforts to eliminate the real nuclear threats to the United States."
Gorbachev last week made some perceptive comments as well, including these:
"[J]udging from the USA’s military budget, your nation seems to be at war with the world, and I sense that the American people don’t like this at all. The size of your weapons budget is larger than it was at the peak of the Cold War, and larger than all of the rest of the nuclear nations put together. Why do you continue to build these weapons? This is amazing to me!"
Our approach to nukes over the past several years has encouraged other nations (like Korea) to acquire them and assisted other nations (like India) in acquiring them. Nuclear weapons are proliferating when they should be reduced and eliminated, because we are violating the nonproliferation treaty and encouraging others to do so. But the fact remains that up until the moment some nut pushes the first button (why does a certain Senator from Arizona come to mind?) nuclear weapons can all be rounded up and destroyed and security restored to the earth.
That's not necessarily true with global warming. There is such a thing as arriving too late. At some point it will no longer be possible to avoid spiraling destruction that builds on itself. Already we are losing ice that cannot be refrozen, species that cannot be re-evolved (or re-created or whatever it is Bush supporters believe happened when God made everything in the 1950s or whenever it was). Ecosystems are already gone forever. At some point soon it will be too late. Throwing away the past seven years strikes me as a more suicidal act than anything we did during the Cold War. Pretending the next nine months do not exist is part of that same suicidal behavior. The time to begin reversing our energy policies is now. The time to make that shift a focus of our national government is now. The time to admit that the next nine months exist and matter is now! The time to impeach Cheney and Bush is now!
DAVID SWANSON is a co-founder of After Downing Street, a writer and activist, and the Washington Director of Democrats.com. He is a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, and serves on the Executive Council of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, Media Coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as Communications Coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Swanson obtained a Master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia in 1997.
Yes, David they are, but you must change YOUR tactics
Build up a yellow red white black global movement DEMANDING impeachment. Get out the Americocentric thinking and pay attention to the WORLD demand for justice.
Get out the word on what is really happening and make a movement to get economic sanctions against anyone supporting this bloodless coup that took over in 2000 - with the blessing of HiLAIRy Clinton who could not run herself. That great manager who is supposed to put America on track - in fact that one she PUT off track, using a voter base of dependent personalities to get her to be the RULER OF THE ENTIRE WORLD.
the way to HURT them who supportr her is sto cripple their pocketbooks. People are STILL capitulating all over themselves. (look at Ralph Nadar, folks@ GEt over your resentments, that way lies hope, real hope.)
NOT ONE MEMBER OF CONGRESS DESERVES support if they do not support that strike at this late date.
The actions of Ron Paul are absolutley disgusting and yet people KEEP GIVING THIS MAN MONEY!!
I write constantly, resolutely for impeachment - I don't get a single dime and NO support from supposedly antiwar "activists" Yet I get ignored again and again because I live in povery in exile. I know what it took to end the Vietnam war - I was there I was active even then. The biggest thing that worked was showing pictures of babies who were born with agent orange and the massive energy coming from returning troops who said ENOUGH! We never got the General Strike we were after, but we sure tried hard.
Now we have winter soliders whose voices were lost to the MSM but they are available to be heard. We have IAVA.org exposing the homelessness and abuses and releasing the number of those actually harmed in Irak (the du numbers are not fully known yet, btw)
So lets show people the pictures of 9 year old prostitutes working Syria to be breadwinners . victims of Saudi rich guys in bars. Let's show people pictures of orphanages in Baghdad orpaniges, and the du babies in Afghanistan. This is no time to "make nice".
And the general strike day, the url information to appoint a special prosecutor should be given out, just as I posted it, here on OpEd News.
The IMPORTANT information contains the international laws that apply that can help us build a rainbow coaltion. We need environmentalists, those who are losing them homes, people sick of racism, all human rights activists, people who have been living in fear of a war in Iran, or Syria, people who are truly sickened by the genocide in Gaza, children who want a future, those opposing the truly toxic Texas fence ..
Forget Keith Olbermann. write and demand he cover the general strike and demands impeachment himelf!! then support him. Write Jonathan Turley.
red, white, brown, yellow and ALL global citizens involved - it really is a matter of now or never as who knows what it next. To depend on the Democratic part at this late stage of the game would be laughable if it were not so tragic. THERE IS NO LEADERSHIP THERE. The attic of the democratic party where the progressive believe hope can be had is NOT ENOUGH. Too late, Jose.
When someone attacks the US or tortures a US soldier the US cycnic has only themselves to blame .. no more finger pointing at everyone in the BuZh adminstration; it's a culture condoning TORTURE of every living thing on this planet if you just cuddle yourself with PHONEY CNN news. A brief real veiw of what is happening globally that economic stimulus checks can not buy moral responsibility in an insane world.
Put the entire thing on CDROMS, hand it around -- this is important information. Get your neighbors involved, take it to churches what ever you NEED to do, not what you WANT to do - -that way lays DYSFUNCTION.
I have been around long enough on this planet to see that SEXISM, systemic SEXISM is still around and florishing and I get totally ignored here on a supposedly progressive site.
But for the sake of me, my sons, my grandchildren, I am appearling to everyone who reads this thread. Read that information, dispense it, sign my global citizens petition and pass it around!
It is absolutely disappointing to see how few signed my petition, a real heart breaker and IT SHOULD NOT BE SO.
And lastly, write th ICC yourselves, tell them of your complaints. Also call the ACLU and tell them not one more penny and no membership until they release their impeachment brochure. FOR SHAME! they add to people's cyncicism, they are NOT doing the right thing.
Our motto should be DO THE RIGHT THING - and it should go right across the board and bring people together at last. That means THEY do the right thing as WE do the right thing.
As a result of the expected pardons, a special prosecutor should be appointed immediately
Commencement of Impeachment Proceedings
As a result of the expected pardons, on the day after the November elections, the House of Representatives should impeach George W. Bush and Richard “Dick” Cheney for high crimes -- torture -- violating the following statutes, among others:
Please note the strategic importance of simply presenting the impeachment to members of the House with no hearings and an immediate vote on the day after the November elections. There is no reason for hearings or delay, since George W. Bush has admitted the criminal act that is the basis of the impeachment.
International Crimes Not Subject to Pardon Power
It is worth pointing out that torture violations of the Law of War and international treaties are not subject to the Presidential pardon power. We will see these individuals on trial in the Hague for their publicly confessed war crimes.
“Above the Law: Unlawful Executive Authorizations Regarding Detainee Treatment, Secret Renditions, Domestic Spying and Claims to Unchecked Executive Power,” Jordan J. Paust, Utah Law Review, 2007, Number 2, Pages 345 to 419
Article available free at: click here not let CONgress vote one more penny towards WAR until they appoint a special prosecutor - whey should your hard earned dollars support THEM.
ThinK; They are all riding in Limos, while your relatives are going homeless to fund this INSANE and DELUSIONAL war. They are polluting YOUR skies with chemtrails, feeing you GM foods, asking you to stay IN DENIAL.
I posted the first link to the ILWU strike . the feds are all over them as racketters !! Why is the DoJ paying for THAT instead of going after the gubbermint? Why is John Yoo not charged with crimes? Why was Valerie Plame outted and no justice has been served?
Call up members of the National Lawyers Guild in your town, get them to hand out information with in the malls, SERIOUSLY. Now ist NOT the time for cycnicism and excuses.
Please sign this now to show her WE MEAN BUSINESS!!
There is NO REASON to fear signing this now: The mainstream media has now turned the momentum in our favor!!
And please don't put online petitions DOWN, they are IMPORTANT educational tools -and the Feds hate them, trust me.
Take all this and make appointments with your state's attorney general and tell them .. we will get rid of you if you don't uphold your oath of office.
The NLG should be visiting California's AG very shortly over the John Yoo issue.
STAY TUNED, stay up, stay on their case. STay focussed; my best advice.
The Bilderbergers meet in June, the crazies in government are trying to get sweet trade deals for themselves, the torturers aren't punished, the nation is on it's knees and you say SITUATION HOPELESS. Don't buy it.
Think global, think local act out against the regime as best you can.
All I can do is put out pamphlets . and I do it on a very skinny dime but I do it everyday, so can you. This is the fight of a life time. Rage, rage against the dieing of the light! DO THE RIGHT THING.
I've asked for your support before to no avial.why not try it NOW?
by
ladybroadoak (37 articles, 20 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 390 comments)
on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 3:34:13 AM
I have been very active in the Impeachment Movement. Hell, I was the second candidate in the country to call for Impeachment (John Conyers was first, so I was the first to say it and mean it)
Impeachment is wanted by a majority, yet the Democratic Party have fought it, tooth and nail (including John Conyers). Dennis Kucinich's TWO separate Bill's HR 333 and HR 676 both sit in Committee, going no-where. Kucinich faced multiple well funded campaigns against him, forcing him to drop out when he pushed Impeachment.
Ever wonder why? I propose that it is because the Impeachment investigation would have shown that the Democratic Party leadership were not 'lied" into war. That they KNEW that WMD's were a lie and were a part of pushing that lie on the American people.
Can you convince me otherwise?
by
Michael Cavlan (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 181 comments)
on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 8:10:07 AM
The linch-pin that holds the the public in a state of shock and fear is the events of 9/11. Expose the lies of the 9/11 Commission and the whole fascist clique comes down. 9/11 truth has to get through the mind fog of the MSM. The public has unanswered questions but has to overcome the unfathomable reality that our own government perpetrated these crimes on us.
With corruption and war profiteering rampant, the Constitution in taters, the economy tanking, and the environment disintegrating, the citizenry has the lowest opinion of our plutocracy. The time is ripe to expose the crime of the century they are all implicated in. The awakening is happening: we are emerging from the mind fog to see life as we know it coming to the edge of the abyss. Enough: hold them accountable, we have no greater task if we want our children to inherit a world worth living in.
by
Ramon Puga (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 27 comments)
on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 8:32:54 PM
