Bush Deserves Impeachment

Officially, more than 2,200 U.S. soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq with 9,000 wounded. However, some state that the real figures are much higher. How can this be? Well, a story is circulating that states that those soldiers who die, during surgery in places like Germany, for war-related injuries are not counted among those dying in combat. The idea here is that they didn’t technically die on the battlefield.

So a new year is upon us. Thank God. I hope. 2005 in many ways was a trying year. One that saw the multiplication of death that came in the form of natural disasters as well as those of the man-made variety.

During this time of year, some say “tis the season to be jollyâ€? but I also wonder about the Christmas platitude which speaks of “peace on earthâ€? and “goodwill to men.â€? Peace surely was scarce on earth last year. From the Iraq quagmire, to the conditions of genocide in Africa and the riots in France and Australia, the world is far from peaceful.  An October 8th earthquake in the PakistanKashmir North West Frontier Province regions has left 73,000 dead and 2.5 million homeless.

Here, we experienced Katrina peeling the ugly scab off of this country’s lies regarding race and class. And in this tragic, ongoing story bureaucratic bungling, incompetence and apathy contributed to a death toll that officially stands at around 1,300 while 6,600 people remain uncounted for. To add insult to injury many evacuees now face eviction in states unfamiliar to them. And “goodwill among men� well, that goes up in smoke with every U.S. missile, insurgent IED (Improvised Explosive Device) and suicide bomb that further bloodies the soil. Officially, more than 2,200 U.S. soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq with 9,000 wounded. However, some state that the real figures are much higher. How can this be? Well, a story is circulating that states that those soldiers who die, during surgery in places like Germany, for war-related injuries are not counted among those dying in combat. The idea here is that they didn’t technically die on the battlefield. And we have seen other instances of how these crooks use semantics to obscure the truth.

Like when the president was asked about the number of Iraqi dead. He responded by claiming that “30,000 more or less have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against the Iraqis.â€? What’s instructive here are two things. First, many agree the true figure is around 100,000.  And the other thing is the mendacity of his hair-splitting. It’s not the war he started that is killing the Iraqis but the “ongoing violence against the Iraqis.â€? Somebody should have asked him “ongoingâ€? by whom. At any rate, let’s be clear, goodwill has taken a back seat to greed, for we should know by now that this war is all about profiteering.

 In 2005, we saw the unraveling of the deceptions created by the Bush Administration. Scandal after scandal emerged. And from Plamegate to Spygate this administration is looking worse than the one we had during Watergate. They leaked the identity of CIA Agent, Valerie Plame because her husband Ambassador Joseph Wilson’s findings contradicted their NigerIraq uranium fables. Scooter Libby has been indicted in this sordid tale of treason, but what was Carl Rove’s role?

They also created fake news at home using the likes of Armstrong Williams and James GannonGuckert in their attempt to pervert the truth. If that weren’t enough, we now know that the Pentagon is involved in planting propaganda in the Iraqi media. And according to the General Accounting Office have set aside a quarter of a billion for “public relations.â€?  And now, with the revelation that the NSA (National Security Agency) has been spying on Americans we know that “Big Brotherâ€? is watching. The president claims that he is doing so to protect Americans which is a dubious claim at best. But equally dubious is his assertion that he is legally within his presidential powers to do so and that the Congress had authorized such actions. The Congress says different.

In a Congressional report released January 7th, the report’s authors state that the administration’s argument that they are legally justified to pursue this course of action “does not seem to be…well-grounded.� They also added that “it appears unlikely that a court would hold that Congress has expressly or impliedly authorized the NSA electronic surveillance operations here.� Senator Frank Lautenberg, (D, NJ) addressing the issue said “it looks like the president’s wiretapping was not only illegal, but also ensnared innocent Americans who did nothing more than place a phone call.� Carl W. Tobias, a constitutional law specialist at the University of Richmond states that “ultimately, the administration’s position is not persuasive.�

Moving forward into this year, I think that this country must ask itself a fundamental question which is: given the persistently illegal actions of this administration how can we avoid drawing up articles of impeachment against them? What else must we see? How many more scandals must there be? Fifty million was spent impeaching Clinton for lies about Monica. So why shouldn’t we impeach and remove these scoundrels for lying about this war?

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