[NYTr] Bush Impeachment: The Case in Favor
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The Nation - Feb 12, 2007 issue (posted 1/26/07)
http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20070212&s=holtzman
The Nation
Impeachment: The Case in Favor
by ELIZABETH HOLTZMAN
Approximately a year ago, I wrote in this magazine that President
George W. Bush had committed high crimes and misdemeanors and should be
impeached and removed from office. His impeachable offenses include
using lies and deceptions to drive the country into war in Iraq,
deliberately and repeatedly violating the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act (FISA) on wiretapping in the United States, and
facilitating the mistreatment of US detainees in violation of the
Geneva Conventions and the War Crimes Act of 1996.
Since then, the case against President Bush has, if anything, been
strengthened by reports that he personally authorized CIA abuse of
detainees. In addition, courts have rejected some of his extreme
assertions of executive power. The Supreme Court ruled that the Geneva
Conventions apply to the treatment of detainees, and a federal judge
ruled that the President could not legally ignore FISA. Even Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales's recent announcement that the wiretapping
program would from now on operate under FISA court supervision strongly
suggests that Bush's prior claims that it could not were untrue.
Despite scant attention from the mainstream media, since last year
impeachment has won a wide audience. Amid a flurry of blogs, books and
articles, a national grassroots movement has sprung up. In early
December seventy-five pro-impeachment rallies were held around the
country and pro-impeachment efforts are planned for Congressional
districts across America. A Newsweek poll, conducted just before
election day, showed 51 percent of Americans believed that impeachment
of President Bush should be either a high or lower priority; 44 percent
opposed it entirely. (Compare these results with the 63 percent of the
public who in the fall of 1998 opposed President Clinton's
impeachment.) Most Americans understand the gravity of President Bush's
constitutional misconduct.
Public anger at Bush has been mounting. On November 7 voters swept away
Republican control of the House and Senate. The President's poll
numbers continue to drop.
These facts should signal a propitious moment for impeachment
proceedings to start. Yet House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has taken
impeachment "off the table." (Impeachment proceedings must commence in
the House of Representatives.) Her position doesn't mean impeachment is
dead; it simply means a different route to it has to be pursued.
Congressional investigations must start, and public pressure must build
to make the House act.
This is no different from what took place during Watergate. In 1973
impeachment was not "on the table" for many months while President
Nixon's cover-up unraveled, even though Democrats controlled the House
and Senate. But when Nixon fired the special prosecutor to avoid making
his White House tapes public, the American people were outraged and put
impeachment on the table, demanding that Congress act. That can happen
again.
Congressional and other investigations that previously found serious
misconduct in the Nixon White House made the public's angry reaction to
the firing of the special prosecutor--and the House response with
impeachment proceedings--virtually inevitable. Early in 1973, once it
appeared that the cover-up might involve the White House, the Senate
created a select committee to investigate. The committee held hearings
and uncovered critical evidence, including the existence of a White
House taping system that could resolve the issue of presidential
complicity. The Senate also forced the Attorney General to appoint a
special prosecutor to investigate Watergate. Other committees looked
into related matters. None of the investigations were prompted by the
idea of impeachment. Still, they laid the groundwork for it--and the
evidence they turned up was used by the House impeachment panel to
prepare articles of impeachment against Nixon.
The same approach can govern now. Senate and House committees must
commence serious investigations that could uncover more evidence to
support impeachment. The investigations should ascertain the full
extent of the President's deceptions, exaggerations and lies that drove
us into the Iraq War. (They can simply in effect resurrect Republican
Senator Howard Baker's famous questions about Richard Nixon: "What did
the President know and when did he know it?") Congress should also
explore the wiretapping that has violated the FISA law, the President's
role in mistreatment of detainees and his gross indifference to the
catastrophe facing the residents of New Orleans from Katrina.
Investigations should also be conducted into Vice President Cheney's
meetings with oil company executives at the outset of the
Administration. If divvying up oil contracts in Iraq were discussed, as
some suggest, this would help prove that the Iraq War had been
contemplated well before 9/11, and that a key motivation was oil.
Inquiries into Halliburton's multibillion-dollar no-bid contracts
should also be conducted, particularly given Cheney's ties to the
company.
White House documents about Katrina that have not already been turned
over to Congress should be sought to document further the President's
failure to discharge his constitutional duty to help the people of New
Orleans.
Our country's Founders provided the power of impeachment to prevent the
subversion of the Constitution. President Bush has subverted and defied
the Constitution in many ways. His defiance and his subversion continue.
Failure to impeach Bush would condone his actions. It would allow him
to assume he can simply continue to violate the laws on wiretapping and
torture and violate other laws as well without fear of punishment. He
could keep the Iraq War going or expand it even further than he just
has on the basis of more lies, deceptions and exaggerations. Remember,
as recently as October 26, Bush said, "Absolutely, we are winning" the
war in Iraq--a blatant falsehood. Worse still, if Congress fails to
act, Bush might be emboldened to believe he may start another war,
perhaps against Iran, again on the basis of lies, deceptions and
exaggerations.
There is no remedy short of impeachment to protect us from this
President, whose ability to cause damage in the next two years is
enormous. If we do not act against Bush, we send a terrible message of
impunity to him and to future Presidents and mark a clear path to
despotism and tyranny. Succeeding generations of Americans will never
forgive us for lacking the nerve to protect our democracy.
*
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