By Cheryl Abraham & Elaine
Brower
Monday, June 9, 2008 was an
astoundingly historic night for the United States of America. In the
evening a mild mannered Congressman named Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) took
to the floor of the House of Representatives and began to read a startling
document, a document laying out 35 articles of impeachment against George
W. Bush.
For five hours Congressman
Kucinich read clearly and concisely each of the 35 counts against President
Bush. Occasionally taking sips from a cup, Kucinich didn’t falter,
didn’t take a break, and didn’t seem to tire with the long reading,
in fact right up to the last article Kucinich, with unwavering passion,
said for the 35th time that evening:
“In all of these actions
and decisions, President George W. Bush has acted in a manner contrary
to his trust as President and Commander in Chief, and subversive of
constitutional government, to the prejudice of the cause of law and
justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.
Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct, is guilty of an
impeachable offense warranting removal from office.”
These 35 astounding, criminal,
impeachable, and in many cases monstrous offenses were spoken out loud
for all to hear and watch on CSPAN. So where was the rest of the
media, the supposed fourth estate? Where’s the in-depth public reporting
on this occasion? Where’s Nancy Pelosi who has said all along that
impeachment was “off the table” because she had seen no evidence
for any criminal wrongdoing by the president and if anyone had such
evidence could they “please let her know”. The evidence was read
for the world to hear last night, it is now a matter of public record,
and it couldn’t be more obvious that George W. Bush has committed
an incredible amount of high crimes and misdemeanors.
Two Articles That Could
be the Undoing of a President
Let’s focus on 2 key articles
presented yesterday.
Article XIV states:
“Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information
And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine
Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency.”
Article
XVIII states: “Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and
Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq,
and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy.”
Above all the other crimes
committed by George Bush, these Articles could hold the key to waking
up the members of the House Judiciary Committee who have been staunchly
following the line of the House Speaker by not pursuing impeachment
investigations.
Interestingly enough, yesterday
just a short time prior to Kucinich making his historic presentation,
the House Judiciary Committee, specifically John Conyers (D-Illionois),
and Jerrold Nadler (D-New York), officially “invited” Scott McClellan
to testify under oath, and be subject to perjury charges should he lie,
to be asked about the following matters:
- What role did
Bush, Cheney and key administration officials take in the effort to
reveal the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson
– thus destroying her network and putting lives in jeopardy? - What role did
Bush, Cheney and key administration officials take regarding the firing
of U.S. Attorneys for political reasons? - What role did
Bush, Cheney and key administration officials take in
conspiring to blatantly break U.S. and International laws prohibiting
the use of torture?
Congressman Robert Wexler (D-Florida),
a co-sponsor of these articles of impeachment, has been demanding that
the Judiciary Committee subpoena McClellan, as well as Rove, Rice and
Powell. McClellan’s testimony in conjunction with what this
resolution is presenting in Articles XIV and XVII (see background information
at http://www.wexlerforcongress
in this administration’s armor that will ultimately result in its
destruction.
Will the media be silent then?
Why aren’t these articles of impeachment making their way right now
to assure that investigations into these articles begin immediately?
Former president Bill Clinton was investigated and impeached for perjury
and obstruction of justice over lying about an illicit sexual affair
in the house, and then later was cleared in the senate of the charges
in only 21 days. There wasn’t a paper, tabloid, or TV station
in this country that didn’t cover every aspect of the investigation
that led up to those “high crimes and misdemeanors” – what
is the explanation for the echoing silence in the face of the astounding
and mountainous amount of evidence of the crimes of George W. Bush?
Why does George W. Bush get
a free ride in the media – a media that has so obviously silenced
this story, for such heinous crimes as torture, falsely leading a nation
to war, rendition, imprisoning children as young as ten years old, spying
on American citizens without a warrant, obliterating the Posse Comitatus
act, etc. What has changed in the media from non-stop coverage of the
impeachment proceedings of a president in 1999, to the resounding silence
we hear in 2008? Why won’t our “leaders” in D.C. take the reading
of these charges seriously and begin impeachment hearings now?
John Conyers and others have
said that impeachment hearings could or would jeopardize Obama’s chances
to win in the November election and therefore an election win is of
far more importance than protecting the rule of law and bringing those
who”ve committed unprecedented and historical harm to our nation and
the world to justice.
It is now up to the people
of conscience to not let the historical significance of June 9, 2008
go unheard and unacknowledged! We must openly and publicly thank Kucinich,
and Wexler, for their courage and for bravely and succinctly putting
forth all the crimes of George W. Bush.
The people must do their utmost
to spread this information as quickly as possible to everyone they know.
Contact the media and hold them accountable for their silence and complicity
in the face of the enormous evidence of the high crimes and misdemeanors
committed on such a massive scale by the Bush regime. We must, in our
millions, demand that the time for impeachment is long overdue.
We must make a firm commitment to Drive Out the Bush Regime, because
the world really can’t wait.