Impeachable offenses don't make impeachment likely

Belva Ann Prycel's editorial in the Lincoln County Weekly lays out a case for impeachment based on the deliberate deception of Congress and the American public in the run up to the invasion of Iraq....

       Richard Nixon faced impeachment for misusing the CIA and the FBI, a serious abuse of presidential power. George Bush and his administration apparently manipulated and misrepresented intelligence to get Congress to authorize, and the public to support, a preemptive war to take control of Iraq.

       For those who would give George Bush some largely undeserved latitude, let's be clear that this was not a benign act with no victims and no ongoing consequences. This was not a personal impropriety, a sexual tryst or a stain on a blue dress. This was a stain upon American democracy.

      Thousands of innocent Iraqis died and many continue to suffer in a lawless war-ravaged country. Millions of civilians, including American servicemen and women are exposed to the health hazards of depleted uranium from U.S. missiles. Every day, more young soldiers die as Iraqis make sitting ducks out of American troops. The cost of war and a long occupation rises into the hundreds of billions of dollars, while our country faces a depleted treasury and deficits as far as the eye can see.

       This is demonstrably a misdeed of monstrous proportions. A huge, costly, and deadly lie was foisted on the American public and the Congress. The credibility of the United States was severely damaged and the constitutional powers of the presidency abused.

      George Walker Bush deserves impeachment. He deserves impeachment and removal from the office he was never elected to hold. Those who have paid the ultimate price with their lives demand no less. Our democracy demands no less. As citizens, we must clamor for the justice and accountability which our leaders would like to avoid. We must not forget.

The Bush League deserves to be thrown out for a number of reasons, beginning with the fact that they were never legitimately elected, but let's face it--it ain't gonna happen, not with a highly partisan Republican majority in both houses of Congress. The only way we're going to throw the bums out is at the polls--and the only way to throw them out at the polls is by making sure the votes are cast and counted. More on that in a future post....