Ramsey Clark: Three Reasons to Impeach

From: VoteToImpeach.org

There are three reasons why it is imperative for the American people to demand that their elected representatives impeach President George W. Bush and the officials of his administration responsible for the U.S. war of aggression against Iraq now.

The first reason is that President Bush and his cabal have committed an impeachable offense, indeed, “the Supreme international crime,” the war of aggression, for which they must be held accountable.

The integrity of constitutional government and the rule of law in the United States require We, the People, to assert our power, to assure accountability.

If George Bush were the most popular and honorable public figure in the country and the war in Iraq had been the most successful war in history, both militarily and in achieving peace and justice, impeachment would still be required, because criminal conduct of such deadly magnitude cannot be justified by any ends, however good the intentions and beneficial the results

The fact that President Bush is extremely unpopular and led us into war dishonorably by repeated and shifting proven deceptions reveals how impotent the American people have permitted themselves to become.

The second reason that impeachment is essential is that President Bush is still in office. The war in Iraq still rages. The illegal occupation of Iraq by 140,000 U.S. troops and a few others, remains a major cause and contributor of violence. The Iraq Study Group has found, “The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating.”

But George Bush, despite his crimes, remains, as he insists, the “decider.” And he intends to compound his prior wrongful conduct. At the Pentagon, on December 13, 2006, Bush said “I’ve heard some ideas that would lead to defeat, and I reject those ideas, ideas such as leaving before the job is done... We’re not going to give up.” Speaking about the troops in Iraq he declared his “unshakable commitment” to his goals in Iraq. “We’re going to give you the tools necessary to succeed, and a strategy to help you succeed... At the appropriate time, I will stand up in front of the nation and say, 'Here’s where we’re headed.'"

On December 16, 2006, the New York Times reported administration plans to send 20,000 or more additional soldiers to Iraq, a major “surge” in troop strength. More U.S. troops will cause greater violence, resentment and resistance.

President Bush acts outside the law, unilaterally, in defiance of the will of the American people and the world. He seeks to further dominate and exploit the earth and its people, to enrich the rich with the oil and other resources of the planet, while further impoverishing the poor at home and abroad. He ignores the international laws for peace, for fundamental human rights, the environment, health, to feed the hungry. He trashes basic protections of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, habeas corpus, authorizing secret arrests and detention, torture. At his direction, the U.S. invades individual privacy and restrains free speech. And now, after several years of outrage over torture and illegal detention focusing on Guantanamo, the press reports as Christmas nears, that the U.S. will take an even harsher stand against detainees at Guantanamo and elsewhere. The crimes of the Bush Administration increase in reaction to intense criticism.

America is headed to even greater tragedy, more unbearable death and destruction, increased isolation of our country, more enemies, staggering costs and public debt, if the American people do not act now to remove President Bush and other officials responsible for these crimes.

Meanwhile, the Speaker elect of the new Congress to be in a major policy statement of plans for the “First Hundred Hours” of the Democratic Congress in which she will be backed by a majority of 33 votes from the November 2006 elections, which repudiated Bush’s war in Iraq, never mentioned Iraq! What can be hoped for from such leadership?

Our government behaves toward its President more like a Monarch than an elected leader in a free and democratic society. George III received less deference.

It is up to the People: You and Me. Impeachment, or two years of even greater criminal aggression against human rights and more violent occupation in Iraq with all it bodes for the future. And where and what else?

The third reason for impeachment now is the most important. The tragedy of America’s policies and crimes these past six years cannot be undone. These six years have been deadly enough. We can survive two more years of the misbegotten words and deeds of George W. Bush and his illusions of war and wealth. But our good people must recognize and reject the long term policies of militarism and exploitation of our government that have continued for generations now, and stop it.

George Bush’s policies are basically the same as those of the dominant economic powers that have guided U.S. policy since at least World War II. George W. Bush, as an individual, may be more arrogant, lack caution, be less competent and more deceitful than his predecessors, but in the main all have pursued the same policies if with greater caution and more restraint.

We must impeach George Bush to inform future Presidents of the price they too will pay for provoking war: impeachment. Presidents to be will continue the same policies of militarism and exploitation and war that George W. Bush has celebrated so destructively, unless the American people say, "No More." We must promise future officials that they will be impeached, as required by the Constitution and the conscience of its people, if they violate their oath of office to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

-- Ramsey Clark
December 18, 2006