| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Arther Miller" |
| Date: |
27 Jul 2003 11:46:10 AM |
| Object: |
Impeaching George W. Bush - - http://www.impeach-bush-now.org/ |
It's About the Rule of Law
Impeaching George W. Bush
By FRANCIS A. BOYLE
Professor of Law, University of Illinois School of Law
With another Bush Family war of aggression against Iraq staring the
American People, Congress and Republic in their face, on Tuesday 11
March 2003, Congressman John Conyers of Michigan, the Ranking Member
of the House Judiciary Committee, which would have jurisdiction over
any Bill of Impeachment, convened an emergency meeting of forty or
more of his top advisors, most of whom were lawyers, to discuss and
debate immediately putting into the House of Representatives Bills of
Impeachment against President Bush Jr., Vice President Cheney,
Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, and Attorney General Ashcroft in order
to head off the impending war.[i] Congressman Conyers kindly requested
me and Ramsey Clark to come in to the meeting and argue the case for
impeachment. Ramsey had launched his own campaign to impeach Bush Jr.
et al. in mid-January 2003 at a peace rally held in Washington D.C.
This impeachment debate lasted for two hours. It was presided over by
Congressman Conyers, who quite correctly did not tip his hand one way
or the other on the merits of impeachment. He simply moderated the
debate between Clark and me, on the one side, favoring immediately
filing Bills of Impeachment against Bush Jr. et al. to stop the
threatened war, and almost everyone else there who were against
impeachment. Obviously no point would be served here by attempting to
digest a two-hour-long vigorous debate among a group of well-trained
lawyers on such a controversial matter at this critical moment in
American history. But at the time I was struck by the fact that this
momentous debate was conducted at a private office right down the
street from the White House.
Suffice it to say that most of the "experts" there opposed impeachment
on the grounds that it might hurt the Democratic Party get their
presidential candidate elected in the year 2004. As a political
independent, I did not argue that point--it was not for me to tell
Democrats how to get their candidates elected. Rather, I argued the
merits of impeaching Bush Jr., Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Ashcroft under
the United States Constitution, U.S. Federal Laws, U.S. Treaties and
other International Agreements to which the United States was a
contracting party. Article VI of the U.S. Constitution provides that
Treaties "shall be the supreme Law of the Land." This so-called
Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution also applies to
International Executive Agreements concluded under the auspices of the
U.S. President such as the 1945 Nuremberg Charter.
Congressman Conyers was so kind as to allow me the closing argument in
the debate. Briefly put, the concluding point I chose to make was
historical: The Athenians lost their Democracy. The Romans lost their
Republic. And if we Americans did not act now we could lose our
Republic! The United States of America is not immune to the laws of
history!
After two hours of most vigorous debate, the meeting adjourned with a
second revised draft Bill of Impeachment sitting on the table. Despite
these efforts, President Bush Jr. started his war of aggression
against Iraq on the evening of Wednesday 19 March 2003 with an attempt
to assassinate Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by means of a so-called
"decapitation" strike, which was clearly illegal and criminal. Since
then, Clark and I have accelerated our respective grassroots campaigns
to impeach President Bush Jr. et al. Don Quixotes tilting at
windmills?[ii] Not at all!
In the run-up to his 1991 Gulf War, President Bush Sr. feared
impeachment. Writing in his diary on 20 December 1990 about the
impending war against Iraq, President Bush Sr recorded his fears of
impeachment as follows: "But if it drags out, not only will I take the
blame, but I will probably have impeachment proceedings filed against
me."[iii] There are thus good grounds to believe that fear of
impeachment compelled Bush Sr. to terminate the war early on 28
February 1991 with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein still in power, thus
avoiding innumerable and horrendous casualties for Americans and even
more so for Iraqis.
Thirteen years later, after President Bush Jr.'s invasion of Iraq,
flush with "victory" and the arrogance of power, members of the Bush
Jr. administration publicly threatened to attack Iran, Syria, and
North Korea. In direct reaction to these threats, on 13 April 2003
former U.S. Secretary of State (under President Bush Sr., no less!)
Lawrence Engleburger told the BBC:[iv]
"If George Bush [Jnr] decided he was going to turn the troops loose on
Syria and Iran after that he would last in office for about 15
minutes. In fact if President Bush were to try that now even I would
think that he ought to be impeached. You can't get away with that sort
of thing in this democracy."
Almost immediately after Eagleburger's BBC broadside against them, the
Bush Jr. warmongers cooled their public rhetoric and threats against
Iran and Syria--but not North Korea.
So the Bush Jr. administration has already stood down for the
time-being from two further aggressions because of at least one public
threat of impeachment. But as of this writing U.S. military, political
and economic preparations are underway for a Bush Jr. war of
aggression against North Korea. The American People and Congress must
put the fear of impeachment into the highest levels of the Bush Jr.
administration in order to prevent such a catastrophic war that could
readily go nuclear.[v]
Certainly, if the U.S. House of Representatives can impeach President
Clinton for sex and lying about sex, then a fortiori the House can,
should, and must impeach President Bush Jr. for war, lying about war,
and threatening more wars. We need one Member of Congress with the
courage, integrity, and principles of the late and great Congressman
Henry B. Gonzalez of Texas. Otherwise, the alternative will be an
American Empire abroad, a U.S. Police State at home, and continuing
wars of aggression to sustain them--along the lines of George Orwell's
classic novel 1984 (1949). Despite all of the serious flaws of the
United States government that this author has amply documented
elsewhere during the past quarter century as a Professor of Law, the
truth of the matter is that America is still the oldest Republic in
the world today.[vi] We, the People of the United States, must fight
to keep it that way![vii] And for the good of all humanity, we must
terminate America's Imperial Presidency and subject it to the Rule of
Law.[viii]
Impeach Bush: A Draft Resolution
http://www.counterpunch.org/boyle01172003.html
Francis A. Boyle, Professor of Law, University of Illinois, is author
of Foundations of World Order, Duke University Press, The Criminality
of Nuclear Deterrence, and Palestine, Palestinians and International
Law, by Clarity Press. He can be reached at:
Notes
[i]. Ethan Wallison, Time to Impeach?, Roll Call, March 13, 2003, at
1.
[ii]. Liz Halloran, Wartime Snapshots of American Life: Tilting at
Presidents, Hartford Courant, March 30, 2003, at A3.
[iii]. Laura Myers, Bush Describes Gulf War Quandary, Associated
Press, Sept. 10, 1998, quoting from Bush's memoir A World Transformed
(1998), which he co-authored with his National Security Adviser Brent
Scowcroft. See also Bush: Worried about Impeachment for Gulf War, The
Hotline, Sept. 10, 1998; Institute for Public Accuracy, Bush Worried
About Impeachment, Too, 28 Sept.1998 Press Release.
[iv]. Ben Russell, U.S. Warns Syria Not to Provide Haven for Wanted
Iraqis, The Independent (UK), April 14, 2003; Former Sec. Of State
Lawrence Engleburger: Bush Should Be Impeached If He Invades Syria or
Iran, Antiwar.com, April 14, 2003 (link to audio).
[v]. Francis A. Boyle, The Criminality of Nuclear War Deterrence:
Could the U.S. War on Terrorism Go Nuclear? (2002).
[vi]. See Akhil Reed Amar & Alan Hirsch, For the People (1998).
[vii]. Francis A. Boyle, Defending Civil Resistance Under
International Law (1987; Special Paperback ed. 1988).
[viii]. Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., The Imperial Presidency (1989). See
also Michael Parenti, Against Empire (1995); John Pilger, The New
Rulers of the World (2003).
http://www.impeach-bush-now.org/
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| User: "nobody" |
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| Title: Re: Impeaching George W. Bush - - http://www.impeach-bush-now.org/ |
31 Jul 2003 05:30:20 PM |
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In article <436a5d81.0307311415.396c5ccf@posting.google.com>,
(Ron) wrote:
"Terry Pearson" <rtpt_2000@shaw.ca> wrote in message
news:<JHbWa.597096$Vi5.14835579@news1.calgary.shaw.ca>...
Dream on Lefties it'll never happen
Yer likely right on this one Terry.
When the Mrrrknz wake up and realize their gubmint, economy, and
military have been hijacked by the ZIONAZIS, they'll likely dispense
with impeachment and move directly to LYNCHING!!
Sorry Ron, the hijacking by the zionazis is your dream, a figment of
your fevered mind. Seek treatment.
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