On Friday, ABC News reported Bush knew about, and approved, the approval of torture by Dick Cheney and his top cabinet officers.
"I'm aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved."
One would think this would generate headlines and editorials in the nation's leading papers, and outraged discussions on cable TV and the Sunday talk shows. Instead, we hear... crickets.
Clearly the Corporate Media is not going to do anything about Bush's participation in War Crimes. So we're going to have to do it ourselves.
Below is a petition we're sending to Congress. You can sign it here:
http://www.democrats.com/...
Unlike other blogs, we are not calling for a Special Prosecutor. A Special Prosecutor can't prosecute a President, only send a report to Congress (see the Starr Report if you've forgotten). We don't need a Starr Report when the President has publicly admitted to approving War Crimes; it would only delay the inevitable for many months while Bush and Cheney committed more crimes.
It's no excuse to say, "we can't impeach Bush because President Cheney would be worse." We know that Cheney directly approved torture, so they must be impeached together. If they were convicted by the Senate (or resigned to avoid impeachment), Speaker Pelosi would become President, as prescribed by the Constitution.
Nor is it an excuse to say, "we don't have the votes to impeach Bush and Cheney." Democrats didn't have the votes to impeach Nixon when they started, but when the House Judiciary Committee reluctantly adopted Articles of Impeachment, Nixon resigned rather than face impeachment.
Nor is it an excuse to say, "we don't have time to impeach Bush and Cheney." Bush admitted both his own and Cheney's guilt, and Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and George Tenet are witnesses. There's no need for impeachment hearings - an impeachment resolution based on Bush's confession could go straight to the floor for a vote, just as they did on 11/6/07 when Dennis Kucinich introduced H.Res. 799, Articles of Impeachment for Vice President Cheney.
And finally, it is utterly immoral for bloggers to say, "we shouldn't impeach Bush and Cheney because it would hurt the chances of electing a Democrat in November." Simply stated, politics should never come before torture. (Of course, as John Nichols convincingly argued in The Genius of Impeachment, impeachment has always helped the impeaching party in the next Presidential election - not that matters on such a profound moral issue.)
Dr. Martin Luther King famously said, "A time comes when silence is betrayal. That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam."
Thanks to Bush's admission that he approved torture, that time has come for us in relation to impeachment.
Below is a petition we're sending to Congress. You can sign it here:
http://www.democrats.com/...
On 4/11/08, George Bush told ABC News he personally approved of the approval of torture - including waterboarding - by Dick Cheney, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and George Tenet.
"Yes, I'm aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved."
In the wake of this shocking and appalling confession, we've come to a historic moment where every American - and every Member of Congress - must take a stand.
Either you're for torture or you're against it. And if you're against it, you must support the only Constitutional remedy: impeachment.
We don't need a Special Prosecutor when the President has publicly admitted to approving war crimes!
It's no excuse to say, "we can't impeach Bush because President Cheney would be worse." We know that Cheney directly approved torture, so they must be impeached together. If they were convicted by the Senate (or resigned to avoid impeachment), Speaker Pelosi would become President, as prescribed by the Constitution.
It's no excuse to say, "we don't have the votes to impeach Bush and Cheney." Democrats didn't have the votes to impeach Nixon when they started, but when the House Judiciary Committee reluctantly adopted Articles of Impeachment, Nixon resigned rather than face impeachment.
Nor is it an excuse to say, "we don't have time to impeach Bush and Cheney." Bush admitted both his own and Cheney's guilt, and Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and George Tenet are witnesses. There's no need for impeachment hearings - an impeachment resolution based on Bush's confession could go straight to the floor for a vote, just as they did on 11/6/07 when Dennis Kucinich introduced H.Res. 799, Articles of Impeachment for Vice President Cheney.
And finally, it is utterly immoral for Democrats to say, "we shouldn't impeach Bush and Cheney because it would hurt the chances of electing a Democrat in November." Simply stated, politics should never come before torture.
Dr. Martin Luther King famously said, "A time comes when silence is betrayal. That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam."
Thanks to Bush's admission that he approved torture, that time has come for us in relation to impeachment.