Politics > Politics-USA > Grounds For Impeachment Of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Others: The Federal Crime Of Conspiracy To Commit Torture, As Defined In United States Code 18-2340A(c)
| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"explorerthedog" |
| Date: |
17 Feb 2006 10:03:14 AM |
| Object: |
Grounds For Impeachment Of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Others: The Federal Crime Of Conspiracy To Commit Torture, As Defined In United States Code 18-2340A(c) |
Grounds For Impeachment Of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Others: The
Federal Crime Of Conspiracy To Commit Torture
As Defined In United States Code 18-2340A(c)
HTML version of this document is located at
http://www.loveallpeople.org/groundsforimpeachment.html
Here are the exact words of the Federal Law regarding Torture, as
described in the United States Code, Title 18, Sections 2340, 2340A,
and 2340B.
As you read these words and consider the pictures and other public
evidence from Abu Ghraib and other prisons, you will see: first, that
numerous United States Military personnel did commit the crime of
torture (as defined below), on a systematic and widespread scale, not
confined to the rogue actions of a few individuals; second, that the
very highest levels of the Bush Administration, including the President
himself, must have planned and/or authorized these activities, and thus
are guilty of the crime of "conspiracy to commit torture," an
impeachable offense.
Further, you will see that the entire chain of command - starting from
the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld level, then going down through the military
organizations and the CIA, down to the individual torturers - must have
also been members of this conspiracy to commit torture, to the extent
that they worked in a co-ordinated way to make it happen.
Here are the words of the Law . . .
UNITED STATES CODE - TITLE 18
Section 2340. Definitions
As used in this chapter -
(1) ''torture'' means an act committed by a person acting under the
color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental
pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful
sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control;
(2) ''severe mental pain or suffering'' means the prolonged mental harm
caused by or resulting from -
(A) the intentional infliction or threatened infliction of severe
physical pain or suffering;
(B) the administration or application, or threatened administration or
application, of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated
to disrupt profoundly the senses or the personality;
(C) the threat of imminent death; or
(D) the threat that another person will imminently be subjected to
death, severe physical pain or suffering, or the administration or
application of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated
to disrupt profoundly the senses or personality; and
(3) ''United States'' includes all areas under the jurisdiction of the
United States including any of the places described in sections 5 and 7
of this title and section 46501(2) of title 49.
Section 2340A. Torture
(a) Offense. - Whoever outside the United States commits or attempts to
commit torture shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more
than 20 years, or both, and if death results to any person from conduct
prohibited by this subsection, shall be punished by death or imprisoned
for any term of years or for life.
(b) Jurisdiction. - There is jurisdiction over the activity prohibited
in subsection (a) if -
(1) the alleged offender is a national of the United States; or
(2) the alleged offender is present in the United States, irrespective
of the nationality of the victim or alleged offender.
(c) Conspiracy. - A person who conspires to commit an offense under
this section shall be subject to the same penalties (other than the
penalty of death) as the penalties prescribed for the offense, the
commission of which was the object of the conspiracy.
Section 2340B. Exclusive remedies
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as precluding the
application of State or local laws on the same subject, nor shall
anything in this chapter be construed as creating any substantive or
procedural right enforceable by law by any party in any civil
proceeding.
Source: United States Code, as found at
http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/uscode.html/ and other locations.
As we now can see, we have here clear and provable grounds to impeach
and remove from office the President, the Vice-President, the Secretary
Of Defense, and perhaps dozens of other Federal officials.
There are also other anti-torture laws which the United States is
currently breaking, because of Bush's policies, and some of these
surely could provide other grounds for impeachment of Bush and Cheney.
But the law shown above seems to provide the clearest and most obvious
grounds, because of its precise definition of torture and its specific
prohibition of conspiracy to commit torture. An excellent summary of
all United States and International Laws against torture is located at
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/05/24/usint8614.htm As you read
these laws, you will see for yourself how disgustingly far the Bush
Adminstration has pulled us away from the civilized norms of human
behavior.
And other people are presently working diligently to develop other
solid grounds for impeaching Bush and Cheney, such as committing
Treason, and gross negligence, and committing War Crimes, among others.
With the recent release of these never-before-seen pictures of the Abu
Ghraib torture atrocities, Public awareness of these crimes has reached
a point of "critical mass," where the Republican-controlled Congress
will no longer be able to avoid the issue of impeachment, and the
corporate-controlled, lap-dog media will no longer be able to ignore
it.
But even if the Bush Puppets in the House of Representatives refuse to
begin impeachment proceedings, there are other ways to force the issue,
such as having at least one State Legislature demand impeachment, a
task which should be fairly easy to accomplish.
Therefore, the problem will not go away, but will only get worse as
time goes by and more-and-more damning evidence comes to light.
Bush and Cheney must both be impeached and removed from office,
immediately. If this is done now, Republicans can hold on to the
Presidency, because they still control the House, and their Speaker
will become President. But if the Congressional Republicans fail to
impeach and remove Bush and Cheney now, then a new
Democratically-controlled Congress will do the job next year, after the
2006 mid-term elections. And then we will have a Democratic Speaker of
the House, who will become President after Bush and Cheney are removed.
NOTE: It is not Constitutionally required that the Speaker of the House
be a Member of the House. So the House could elect whomever it chooses
to become Speaker, who would then become President after Bush and
Cheney are removed.
That should be interesting . . .
Blessings to you. May God help us all. And may God bless America!
Rev. Bill McGinnis, Director - LoveAllPeople.org
http://www.LoveAllPeople.org
and http://www.InternetchurchOfChrist.org
HTML version of this document is located at
http://www.loveallpeople.org/groundsforimpeachment.html
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