The Case for Impeachment

George W Bush is perhaps the worst American president who has ever served. To this day it is a mystery to me how the man was able to gain the Republican nomination, steal the election, start two wars, get re-elected and then drag on a failed war for five years and drive the economy into the ground without getting impeached. Although the light is fading on the Presidency of Bush, it is not too late to impeach the man who lied to us about weapons of mass destruction. As of result of the President's deception, over four thousand American soldiers have died in Iraq and tens of thousands have been wounded, not to mention the one million or so Iraqis who have died directly or indirectly due to Bush's interference in their country.

The case for impeachment is strong, so strong that it has been supported by numerous Congressional representatives, most notably by Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio who introduced articles of impeachment in early June. Kucinich had the courage and the tenacity to say what needs to be said and to do what needs to be done. President Bush has violated the will of the people, but more importantly, he has violated the Constitution of the United States of America, a document that he was sworn to uphold and defend, and for this indiscretion President Bush deserves to be impeached.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made it clear when she was elected Speaker of the House that impeachment was not on the table, and she has been true to her word since that date, betraying the trust of the American people and showing her true colors as well as those of the Democratic party generally, except for a few brave individuals such as Kucinich. The irony is that the Democratic Party and the left would be stronger if they called the President to account for his actions. In any event, there are numerous candidates outside of the two party duopoly who support impeachment because we believe this should be a campaign issue. We feel strongly about our rights as Americans and do not believe that a corrupt administration can compromise those rights. When they try, we believe that it is time to call them to account.

Bush must be called to account for the lies he has made in order to manipulate the general public. Bush claimed that Saddam Hussein was an immediate threat to America but the truth is that we were a real threat to Iraq. His administration lied about the issue of significant quantities of uranium being brought into Iraq from Africa. He lied about the connections between 9/11 and Iraq, continuously misleading the American people into believing there was a relationship. Bush lied about Iraq and Al Qaeda, misleading the American people into believing there was a collaborative relationship between the two. The President lied about weapons of mass destruction, insisting that there was evidence which consisted mostly of forged documents. The United Nations found no evidence of weapons of mass destruction and intelligence services produced no credible information to support Bush's claim. As a result of these lies and misleading statements the United States was led into a war it could not win, spending hundreds of billions of dollars and causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.

By supporting impeachment Kucinich has set in motion a process which calls to public light the terrible misdeeds of this administration. The tide of public opinion has turned against Bush and across the nation people are calling for impeachment. President Bush has condoned the use of torture on men, women and even boys in Iraq and at secret prisons around the world in the name of national security. He violated the constitution by denying habeas corpus and has called for domestic spying on Americans.

We can wait for the elections to remove Bush from office, but why wait until November? Indeed, although it is not a crime to be the worst President in the history of the United States, it is a crime to lie, mislead, deny constitutional rights, torture, spy and violate international law. There has never been a better case to impeach a sitting President than now. The people of Iraq, our soldiers abroad and ordinary Americans everywhere will all be better off once this criminal has been removed from office, and I say the sooner the better.