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 Editorials | Opinions | December 2005 
First Step to Impeachment
 Elsy Fors - Prensa Latina
| | "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." --Thomas Jefferson |
Next year might be decisive for US President George W. Bush, accused of lying, showing total disregard for US and international laws, Constitution violations, living in a bubble, promoting abuses, torture, indefinite detention of and spying on US citizens and foreigners.
For similar crimes, former president Richard Nixon - dubbed as Dirty Dick - was impeached almost thirty years ago as a consequence of what is known as the Watergate scandal.
In the impeachment of Nixon, the argument in its Article 2 said that Nixon committed a crime "by directing or authorizing (intelligence) agencies or personnel to conduct or continue electronic surveillance or other investigations for purposes unrelated to national security, the enforcement of laws, or any other lawful function of his office."
Now, US Representative John Conyers, the Michigan Democrat, who was a critical player in the Watergate and Iran-Contra investigations into presidential wrongdoing, has introduced a package of resolutions that would censure Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney.
Conyers is seeking much more, and is proposing that Congress use all the powers available to it to hold Bush and Cheney accountable, including the power to impeach the holders of the nations´ most powerful positions and remove them from office.
Jon Bonifaz, attorney and the author of the book: Warrior King: The case for impeaching George Bush, argues that "Now is the time to return to the rule of law and to hold those who have defied the Constitution accountable for their actions."
Senator Robert C. Byrd, on a speech pronounced December 19 in the Senate, expressed his strong concerns about possible violations of the Constitution in the Bush Administration´s admitted practice of spying on American citizens.
"It has become apparent that this Administration has engaged in a consistent and unrelenting pattern of abuse against our country´s law-abiding citizens, and against our Constitution", said Byrd.
Even Senator Arlen Specter, Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee conceded there ought to be an inquiry into the eavesdropping.
Though a far-fletched possibility, impeachment is being mentioned each day with greater force, based on violations committed by Bush and Cheney on the Constitution.
Barroom discourse
When confronted with the accusation of eavesdropping on businesses and private citizens in Europe and the United States, George Bush defended his decision to authorize spying based on his title of Commander in Chief and "the Constitutional authority to protect our country," contained in Article II of the fundamental law.
That was dabbed by some media as barroom skank, because the title of Commander in Chief refers only to the armed forces of the nation, not the citizens.
Pierre Tristam, editorial writer of the Daytona Beach News-Journal in Florida and editor of Candide´s Notebooks, recalls that Section 2, Article II of the Constitution requires the President to seek advise and consent of Congress on various matters in executive and foreign policy purviews and it addresses presidential impeachment in case of conviction of "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanours".
Another cover poorly defended was the use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, which experts say Bush has also violated. To Bush, even FISA´s rickety requirements weren´t loose enough. He wanted it all, complete authority to spy.
To further dig his grave while seemingly adding a brick or two in his favour, Bush used the tactic of "It´s a new world out there, everything changed with September 11" in the most incoherent and self-defeating response of Monday the 19th news conference. Bush dared affirm that calls targeting al Qaeda ties and affiliates are not intercepted within the country.
Tristam recalled the information published two days before in The Standard Times of Massachusetts that agents of the Homeland Security Department questioned a Darmouth University Student for having requested an inter-library loan for Mao-Tse-Tung´s Little Red Book, on the grounds, said the agents, that the book was on a "watch list" and that the significant time abroad spent by the student triggered them to investigate further.
In his delusion, Bush has a messianic sense of being the law.
Wisconsin Democratic Senator Russ Feingold and Idaho Republican Larry Craig, who led the filibuster that defeated the Patriot Act´s renewal, said "the president does not get to pick and choose which laws he wants to follow."
However, illegal spying began in November 2001 and from the very first briefing for Congressional leaders by Vice President Cheney, Democrats on the Senate and House Intelligence Committees were told about it, while information on these activities were kept from reaching the American public. |
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