http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0531-23.htm
Published on Tuesday, May 31, 2005 by the Boston Globe
The 'I' Word: Impeachment
by Ralph Nader and Kevin Zeese
The impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, under
Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution, should be part of
mainstream political discourse.
Minutes from a summer 2002 meeting involving British Prime Minister
Tony Blair reveal that the Bush administration was ''fixing" the
intelligence to justify invading Iraq. US intelligence used to justify
the war demonstrates repeatedly the truth of the meeting minutes --
evidence was thin and needed fixing.
President Clinton was impeached for perjury about his sexual
relationships. Comparing Clinton's misbehavior to a destructive and
costly war occupation launched in March 2003 under false pretenses in
violation of domestic and international law certainly merits
introduction of an impeachment resolution.
Eighty-nine members of Congress have asked the president whether
intelligence was manipulated to lead the United States to war. The
letter points to British meeting minutes that raise ''troubling new
questions regarding the legal justifications for the war." Those
minutes describe the case for war as ''thin" and Saddam as
''nonthreatening to his neighbors," and ''Britain and America had to
create conditions to justify a war." Finally, military action was
''seen as inevitable . . . But the intelligence and facts were being
fixed around the policy."
Indeed, there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, nor any
imminent threat to the United States:
The International Atomic Energy Agency Iraq inspection team reported
in 1998, ''there were no indications of Iraq having achieved its
program goals of producing a nuclear weapon; nor were there any
indications that there remained in Iraq any physical capability for
production of amounts of weapon-usable material." A 2003 update by the
IAEA reached the same conclusions.
The CIA told the White House in February 2001: ''We do not have any
direct evidence that Iraq has . . . reconstitute[d] its weapons of
mass destruction programs."
Colin Powell said in February 2001 that Saddam Hussein ''has not
developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass
destruction."
The CIA told the White House in two Fall 2002 memos not to make claims
of Iraq uranium purchases. CIA Director George Tenet personally called
top national security officials imploring them not to use that claim
as proof of an Iraq nuclear threat.
Regarding unmanned bombers highlighted by Bush, the Air Force's
National Air and Space Intelligence Center concluded they could not
carry weapons spray devices. The Defense Intelligence Agency told the
president in June 2002 that the unmanned aerial bombers were unproven.
Further, there was no reliable information showing Iraq was producing
or stockpiling chemical weapons or whether it had established chemical
agent production facilities.
When discussing WMD the CIA used words like ''might" and ''could." The
case was always circumstantial with equivocations, unlike the
president and vice president, e.g., Cheney said on Aug. 26, 2002:
''Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons
of mass destruction."
The State Department in 2003 said: ''The activities we have detected
do not . . . add up to a compelling case that Iraq is currently
pursuing . . . an integrated and comprehensive approach to acquire
nuclear weapons."
The National Intelligence Estimate issued in October 2002 said ''We
have no specific intelligence information that Saddam's regime has
directed attacks against US territory."
The UN, IAEA, the State and Energy departments, the Air Force's
National Air and Space Intelligence Center, US inspectors, and even
the CIA concluded there was no basis for the Bush-Cheney public
assertions. Yet, President Bush told the public in September 2002 that
Iraq ''could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45
minutes after the order is given." And, just before the invasion,
President Bush said: ''Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait
for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form
of a mushroom cloud."
The president and vice president have artfully dodged the central
question: ''Did the administration mislead us into war by manipulating
and misstating intelligence concerning weapons of mass destruction and
alleged ties to Al Qaeda, suppressing contrary intelligence, and
deliberately exaggerating the danger a contained, weakened Iraq posed
to the United States and its neighbors?"
If this is answered affirmatively Bush and Cheney have committed
''high crimes and misdemeanors." It is time for Congress to
investigate the illegal Iraq war as we move toward the third year of
the endless quagmire that many security experts believe jeopardizes US
safety by recruiting and training more terrorists. A Resolution of
Impeachment would be a first step. Based on the mountains of
fabrications, deceptions, and lies, it is time to debate the ''I" word.
Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate. Kevin Zeese is director of
DemocracyRising.US.
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"Brutal and sadistic? By what girly-man standards? Compared
to how Saddam treated his prisoners, a bit of humiliation was
a walk in the park. AFAIK, No one died or even lost any blood."
-Albert Nurick, a usenet kook and blatant liar, on the rape,
torture and murder at bu$h's Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0512-10.htm
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that
matter." -- Martin Luther King Jr.
"God told me to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them. And then
he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did."
-- George W. Bush
"Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the
will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the
Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord."
-- Adolf [censored]
"The tsunami was a wonderful opportunity to show not just the
US government, but the heart of the American people, and I think
it has paid great dividends for us." Condoleezza Rice
"One of the things we don't want to do is destroy the
infrastructure in Iraq because in a few days we're going
to own that country," - Tom Brokaw
Cost of probing Bill Clinton's sex life: $65 million.
Cost of probing the Columbia shuttle disaster: $50 million.
Funds assigned to independent Sept. 11 panel: $3 million.
http://www.commondreams.org/
http://www.truthout.org/
http://thirdworldtraveler.com/
http://counterpunch.org/
http://responsiblewealth.org/
"After all, it is the leaders of the country who determine
the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the
people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist
dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.
Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the
bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to
do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the
peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country
to danger. It works the same in any country."
-- Hermann Goering, President of the Reichstag, Nazi Party, and
Luftwaffe Commander in Chief
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President,
or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is
not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable
to the American public."
-- Theodore Roosevelt (1918)
"You know, when bu$h said that he's against nation building,
I didn't realize that he meant only the United States"
-- Al Franken
Don't let bu$h do to the United States what his very close
friend and top campaign contributor, Ken Lay, did to Enron...