The US Constitution left to the House of Representatives the power to impeach "Presidents" for " high crimes and misdemeanors". There is much at stake -the rule of law in the midst of a perpetual war against the people of Iraq. The US cannot afford not to impeach.There is no real debate about whether or not Bush is impeachable. The issue is whether or not Congress and the people have the will to remove from the White House the most incompetent, the most ideological, the most criminally inclined "President" in US history.
Bush would be impeachable if he did nothing but preside over Iraq's descent into chaos, a descent of his creation and evil design. But that's not the worst of it. One is inclined to believe that Bush would have thumbed his nose at the ISG whatever its recommendations. Bush seems morbidly obsessed with the exercise of raw power.
There is, therefore, no light at the end of the tunnel. There is no "winding down". There is not even the "limited goal" of mere stability. There is no chance of peace as long as Bush remains in the Oval Office. There is not even a mirage in Bush's desert.
It is typical of Bush that he will leave the mess for a Democratic regime to clean up. Surely, the next president must disengage but must do so without triggering a region-wide catastrophe. History will not be on the side of whatever regime gets the thankless task of cleaning up behind Bush. It may help to try Bush for war crimes. Airing it all out in public might be the douche this country needs if it is ever to regain its lost self-respect.
At this point, a Kafkaesque question demands an answer: how did we get here? George W. Bush committed US troops to a war of aggression in Iraq though none of the reasons for war have turned out to have been true. Of the many ex post facto cover stories none have a basis in fact. It was said that Saddam was involved in the events of 911 though it was Bin Laden, not Saddam, who had been blamed. Saddam's alleged WMD were never found but not before the Bush administration, in the person of Colin Powell, presented to the United Nations a case for war that consisted of deliberate fabrications, hoaxes, bogus evidence, old photos, and an infamously plagiarized student paper. Powell has since apologized but too late to save a life in Iraq.
The war in Iraq is characterized by ever escalating violence and threatens to spread to the surrounding nations as Syria, in particular, bears the brunt of an influx of Iraqi refugees. Other nations threatened by Bush aggression include Iran, Somalia, and the Sudan.
Bush's so-called “surge” is a fraud. Not because it hasn't worked. Indeed, Bush's numerous lies had the desired effect: they led this nation into aggressive war. Against rational and moral standards, of course, the war is an utter failure. Violent deaths have increased, the parliament building itself has been "hit", bomb incidents are more deadly than ever. On this issue, Bush ignores his new General in charge of surge, General David Petraeus. Petraeus, in his first news conference upon returning to Iraq in February, stated the futility of the US mission in Iraq:
Any student of history recognizes there is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq, to the insurgency in Iraq."I don't like the misleading term "insurgent". It implies an illegitimate, criminal resistance to a legitimate authority. It is, rather, the American occupation of Iraq that is not merely illegitimate, it is criminal. The Iraqi people have a right to resist a foreign invaders with arms, if necessary.
"Military action is necessary to help improve security. . .but it is not sufficient. A political resolution of various differences … of various senses that people do not have a stake in the successes of Iraq and so forth that is crucial. That is what will determine, in the long run, the success of this effort.- ABC News
I know that the conquest of English America is an impossibility. You can not, I venture to say it, you can not conquer America. Your armies last war effected every thing that could be effected; and what was it? It cost a numerous army, under the command of a most able general [Lord Amherst], now a noble Lord in this House, a long and laborious campaign, to expel five thousand Frenchmen from French America. My Lords, you can not conquer America.Who cannot make that analogy? Britain, exhausted by wars of empire, found itself in an American quagmire. Pitt was correct. Washington, of whom it is said that he lost every battle but Trenton, had only not to lose, in order to win. At last, the French surrounded the British at Yorktown. One wonders, where the last American "insurgent" will be when Baghdad is forever lost because of Bush's arrogance and incompetence. We must hold the Bush Administration accountable now for its crimes, or endure the consequences for years....
If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country I never would lay down my arms,—never! never! never!- William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. (1708–1778), Speech to Parliament, Nov. 18, 1777.
Unless he is impeached and removed from office, George W. Bush will escalate US military spending and military force. Already US spending outstrips that of all other nations. US spending in Iraq had reached Viet Nam levels as early as March of 2003. At that time, the Bush administration was spending nearly $5 billion per month in Iraq and Afghanistan. By April, 2006, annual war expenditures in Iraq had doubled since the US invasion. Most certainly, the $61 billion a year that the US is blowing up in Iraq will easily outstrip what has been spent waging aggressive war in Viet Nam. [See: Unforeseen Spending on Materiel Pumps Up Iraq War Bill, Washington Post, ]
Count on George W. Bush to make the world a more dangerous place. He may have already sparked a nuclear arms race inside a new cold war. Russian officials believe the new cold war has already begun and date it to Dick Cheney's speech to the 2006 Vilnius Conference in Lithuania. [See: Cheney attacks Russia's human rights record] About two months later, President Vladimir Putin shot back, calling Cheney's criticisms of Russia "an unsuccessful hunting shot".
When Bush threatens Iran, he plays into Ahmandinejad's hands. Ahmandinejad may want to make of Iran a nuclear power. In Bush, he has all the pretext he will ever need. Such a script reads both ways. Qui bono? As Iran seems on course to join the club, Bush need only point to Iran to ensure the US program stays on its belligerant course. Bush will have a pretext to do what he's always wanted to do. He will abrogate US obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, scapegoat Iran, and install a Star Wars nuclear shield in Poland, the Czech Republic and eastern Turkey. All are close to the Russian border. Welcome to a new cold war in Bush's brave new world. Bush doesn't want you to feel safe.
Bush's War on Terror is now Orwell's perpetual war. It doesn't matter that Bush has failed to bring a single bona fide terrorist to justice. If Al Qaeda had not existed before it was demonized by Bush, it most certainly does now. There is nothing to stop Bush's growing legion of Middle Eastern opponents from appropriating the name whenever it suits them.
Bush has all but won his insistence upon using torture and, until he is impeached and removed, he will maintain US torture facilities at Guantanamo Bay. It will not matter that he is violating international conventions and US laws. By his reckoning, he is above those obligations as surely as he placed himself above the rule of law in America. It does not matter to Bush that he has violated US Codes; Section 2441, a capital crime. Bush dares the world to stop him.
Under the misrule of George W. Bush, the people have been forced to tolerate egregious violations of the US Constitution and US Codes. The "treason" case of I. Louis Libby is illustrative of an administration more concerned with not getting caught committing high treason than with upholding the rule of law and due process. Libby, indicted for perjury, was but a part of a larger cover up. Libby would "take the fall" rather than reveal the name of the Bush administration official who, in fact, leaked the name of CIA undercover operative Valerie Plame. She had been outed, in an act of treason, by the Bush administration. Given Bush's venal record, Bush himself is suspect. The leak was a venal act of revenge by a criminal, outlaw administration because Plame's husband, US Ambassador Joe Wilson, had dared to expose the truth about just one of Bush's multitudinous and treasonous lies to the American people. This one involved allegations that Saddam Hussein had tried to buy yellow cake in Niger, part of his alleged nuclear enrichment program. In another century this kind of conduct would get you hanged! We live in a permissive age in which prohibitions against torture are called "quaint".
In what has been called Attorneygate, Bush has since "caused and condoned" the removal of 8 US Attorneys from office. At least eight US Attorneys have been wrongfully dismissed for political reasons. It is not known how many of the other 84 US Attorneys retained their offices by illegally submitting to political pressure to protect interests of friends of the Bush Administration corrupting the rule of law.
What is most disturbing about this short essay is the simple fact that were it long, it still would be insufficient to merely enumerate Bush's crimes, let alone detail them. I often thought myself a hard-bitten newsman. I have to tell you: there has been nothing comparable in this nation's history. To borrow Condi Rice's favorite dodge: who could have foreseen that an idiot could have effected an unlikely coup d'tat about which GOP types openly boast. Who could have foreseen that he would boast about how much easier it would be had this been a dictatorship? Who could have foreseen that it would all come true for him, that he would dare the world to stop him, that he would wage war on the world and and win?
The Existentialist Cowboy
Imperialism
Bush
War Crimes
Iraq
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