Dear Honorable Barbara Lee,
I'm writing to ask that you put impeachment of Bush and Cheney on the table for the 110th Congress, by introducing a bill calling for an investigation into impeachable offenses on the part of both men. Please consider the following points:
1) Libby trial- The testimony in that trial makes it clear that Cheney was behind the outing of Plame, and Bush was complicit. If, indeed, we are involved in a war on terror, then destroying a network devoted to preventing WMD's from falling into the hands of terrorists- Plame's network- is giving aid and comfort to the enemy in time of war. This is treason.
It is being said that over 100 agents in Plame's network were killed after she was outed. Bush and Cheney may thus be guilty of treason and murder- certainly reason to hold impeachment hearings.
2) Iraq- The quickest way out of Iraq is to start impeachment proceedings. This would undercut Bush's legitimacy, and make it much harder for him to muster support for his imperial policies. His whole regime depends on his being seen as legitimate, and hearings would call his legitimacy into question.
Just starting the hearings would make it much easier for Congress to limit funding for Iraq, especially if racketeering,- funneling of money to Carlyle and Halliburton via the Iraq invasion and occupation,- is made part of the grounds for impeachment.
3) Iran- Same reasoning- undercut Bush and Cheney's legitimacy. The military has already made it plain that an attack on Iran would be disastrous. One push from Congress would break the spell, and Bush would be unable to proceed with his plan to set the Middle East on fire.
The Iran situation makes impeachment urgent, and mandatory, since Bush may believe, professes to believe, in a nuclear Armageddon, and seems to be taking us there. It's not good to have a suicidal captain at the helm
4) Civil liberties- Bush is doing everything in his power to put the apparatus of fascism in place- through the Military Commissions Act, Project Falcon, the firing of honest Federal prosecuting attorneys, building concentration camps... The opposition is too strong for him to fully implement a police state as yet, but soon it will be too late. The time to stop him and Cheney is NOW, with impeachment hearings.
Barbara Lee, you are the ideal person to introduce articles of impeachment into the 110th Congress. Your Congressional district, at least Berkeley, actually put impeachment on the ballot, and 70% of the votes were in favor. The same would probably be true in the rest of the district. You only have to point to the will of the people you speak for, to justify introducing this bill.
Barbara Lee, you are courageous. You stepped out as the lone vote against invading Afghanistan. You refused to be panicked by 9-11, and took a stand against the "war on terror", knowing that terrorism should be a police matter. Your example still shines for us.
We ask you, Representative Lee, to take a stand again, to put forth a bill calling for an investigation of impeachable offenses. The bill introduced by Cynthia McKinney last December is a good place to start. We in your district will do everything we can to back you up.
Carol Wolman, MD
CoChair- Impeach Bush-Cheney
