By RJ Schinner, 2/8/07
Several members of Congress sharply criticized Bush at a press conference Wednesday, and one even threatened impeachment.
Last year, two US border patrol agents shot an alleged drug smuggler in
the back as he ran towards the US-Mexico border. The alleged drug
smuggler was unarmed. After shooting him, the two border patrol agents
cleaned up their shell casings and left the man for dead, never
reporting the shooting to their supervisor.
In an atmosphere in which the Bush regime has stepped up attacks on
immigrants with a stepped up militarization of the border – adding more
border patrol agents; beginning construction on a 700 mile long fence,
complete with electric shock wiring, guard towers, and search lights,
costing $2-7 billion; giving tacit approval to right-wing vigilantes
like the Minutemen who hunt Mexicans at the border; and overall feeding
into the racist bigotry directed at immigrants – it’s no surprise these
two border patrol agents felt that shooting a Mexican in the back and
leaving him for dead was part of their job.
But in this case, the man they shot lived to tell his story. And the
two border patrol agents were subsequently convicted by a jury of 11 of
12 charges, including assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with
serious bodily injury, discharge of a firearm during the commission of
a crime of violence, willfully violating the illegal immigrant’s
constitutional rights, lying about the incident, and failing to report
the truth. They are now in federal prison, and one was recently
assaulted by fellow inmates.
Several members of Congress are outraged at the way Bush has handled the situation.
Rep. Rohrabacher said in a press conference Wednesday, “Now, I tell
you, Mr. President, if these men — especially after this assault —
are murdered in prison, or if one of them lose their lives, there’s
going to be some kind of impeachment talk in Capitol Hill.”
Yes, you heard right. Several Republican members of Congress are
outraged that Bush has not pardoned the border patrol agents, and Rep.
Rohrabacher has even threaten Bush’s impeachment. Rohrabacher has been
joined by a growing chorus of Republicans who seem to think “defending
the border” by shooting an unarmed Mexican man in the back and leaving
them to die is what the border patrol deserves reward rather than
prison. Wednesday’s press conference demanded Bush pardon the two
agents, and included Republican lawmakers Walter Jones of North
Carolina and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. Rep. Tom Tancredo
(R-Colo.), who last year advocated the most racist and repressive of
immigration legislation, has also publicly called on Bush to pardon the
border patrol agents. And their case has become the cause of the
conservative movement, with vigilante groups furious that anyone would
go to prison for shooting a Mexican.
That anyone would think the actions of these border patrol agents
should be defended is outrageous enough. But the irony here should
make your blood boil.
Bush is guilty of war crimes. He has ordered and presided over an
illegal doctrine of preemptive war, administered the slaughter of
655,000 Iraqi people, and made torture legal. Bush left thousands of
people to die in New Orleans. And his further militarization of the
US-Mexico border is leading to more deaths of immigrants. Bush should
be impeached for these and many more crimes against humanity. But have
you ever heard anyone in Congress say that Bush has committed war
crimes?
The Democratic Party leadership has repeatedly declared that impeachment is off the table.
Now here you have a Republican Congressman threatening Bush with talk
of impeachment because he isn’t fascist enough. What does it say about
the direction of US society that the fiercest “opposition” to Bush is
coming from the far-right, while the Democrats can’t even seem to pass
a non-binding resolution against his escalation of war? And what would
be the implications if Bush were pressured – from the right – to pardon
border patrol agents who wantonly shot a Mexican man in the back and
left him for dead? Worse, what would it mean for the future if Rep.
Rohrabacher made good on his threat of impeaching Bush for not
pardoning the agents?
The assault on immigrants championed by extreme right-wing Republicans
in Congress is a part of the whole fascistic direction that has
steamrolled ahead under the Bush regime. While Bush himself has
differences with some of the more extreme anti-immigrant politicians,
that they have so much initiative in American politics is telling of
the where society is headed.
This fascist direction needs to be stopped. The attacks on immigrants,
the unjust war on Iraq, the repressive police state measures being
codified as law, legalized torture, moves toward Christian
fundamentalist theocracy with attacks on gays and the threat of banning
the right to abortion – all this must be brought to a halt. And Bush
must be impeached for these crimes.
Yet no where in the halls of power is there anyone with the desire or ability to do this.
For Bush to be removed from office and his program reversed, it will
take massive resistance from millions of people inside the US. If
nothing else, the outrageous irony of Rep. Rohrabacher hinting at
Bush’s impeachment for not pardoning border patrol agents who shot a
Mexican man in the back should be a wake-up call for anyone waiting it
out until 2008 or thinking somehow Bush’s agenda is now hindered with
the Democratic majority in Congress.
Impeach Bush – for war crimes. It’s up to us to make it happen.