By Cheryl Abraham
This Friday, July 25th
2008, could be a day where a small portion of the Bush regime’s long
list of dirty laundry gets an airing – but if Americans hit the snooze
button on this tiny window of opportunity it could be a huge set-back
for the impeachment movement.
What’s the big July 25th
Nancy Pelosi Booby Prize event? The Judiciary Committee is holding a
hearing at 10am in the Rayburn Bldg in DC tentatively named, “The
Imperial Presidency of George W. Bush”. While this hearing is a disappointing
second (hence a “Booby Prize”) to an official impeachment hearing
it is nonetheless a tiny step in the impeachment direction. During his
portion of the hearing, (he’s rumored to be only allowed 7.5 minutes to speak), Congressman Dennis Kucinich will
present a petition bearing the names of thousands of people who have
signed onto his impeachment petition. (And if you are taking the time
to read this article take the 15 extra seconds to sign the petition
yourself here.) There is a 9am rally outside the Rayburn Bldg
to get things off to a good start.
How did this sad second to having meaningful
impeachment hearings start? In a shocking shift in modus operandi Speaker
of the House Nancy Pelosi, in a very limited way, put impeachment back
on the table by her statement that the
impeachment issue is a, “”Judiciary
Committee matter, and I believe we will see some attention being paid
to it by the Judiciary Committee,” she said. “Not necessarily taking
up the articles of impeachment because that would have to be approved
on the floor, but to have some hearings on the subject.” So Pelosi
said there should be “..some hearings on the subject.”
At www.afterdowningstreet.org, David Swanson’s article,
“How They’ll Try to Bury Impeachment and Fail” states, “In response to public demand for
impeachment hearings and pressure from Congressman Dennis Kucinich,
Congressman Robert Wexler, and others, as well as electoral challenges
by pro-impeachment candidates, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi finally caved
and proposed to allow Kucinich to present impeachment in a Judiciary
Committee hearing”.Rather than being about impeachment, the hearing
will be about impeachment and other supposed remedies to a lawless presidency,
with the bulk of the time devoted to those other remedies. Most of those
other remedies will involve, believe it or not, legislative proposals.
Thus, the deterrence to future presidents who follow the Bush-Cheney
tradition of violating all laws and checks on power will be the knowledge
that during the administration following Bush-Cheney some bills were
passed criminalizing what had always been criminal activity.”
Most interesting about Swanson’s take
on these proceedings is his statement, “The hope of those planning
this affair will be to bury impeachment.”
This statement by Swanson points to what
the real intention may be behind the scenes in the Judiciary Committee.
Congressman John Conyers, who, despite writing a lengthy report entitled,
“The Constitution in Crisis” which outlined impeachable offenses of the
Bush regime, has repeatedly ignored the will of the people who have
continually been inundating him with phone calls, faxes, and emails
asking that impeachment hearings begin now, not to mention the sit-ins
and arrests that have taken place inside and outside his office by people
imploring Conyers to start impeachment hearings. Conyers has been one
of the hardest walls impeachment folks have had to bang their head against
time after time. In light of his own report Conyers” reluctance to
push forward impeachment hearings fails to make any sense at all. What
is most disturbing about this booby prize hearing for the impeachment
movement is that it may be a serious attempt by the Judiciary Committee
to temporarily appease and quiet down the impeachment movement
In the not too distant past the Judiciary
Committee was a respected and lawful tool of the U.S. government Now
it has become almost a joke. After many hearings and investigations
into the criminal activities of the Bush administration, very few of
these have lead to anything of substance. The fact that subpoenas have
been blatantly ignored has further sullied the reputation and efficacy
of the judiciary system of the US.
This latest stunt by the Judiciary
Committee, ignoring the mountain of evidence showing that the Bush regime
has not only committed impeachable offenses but actual WAR CRIMES, and
instead going ahead with these “hearings” about the “Imperial
Presidency” shows that the Judiciary Committee has priorities other
than protecting the Constitution of the United States and the rule of
law. From its actions one can only assume that the priorities of the
Judiciary Committee are focused solely on keeping the agenda of the
Bush regime from being seriously challenged on any front.
This “hearing” is an insult to all
those who have worked so hard all these years to push for the impeachment
of Bush and Cheney. However, these hearings can serve as an opportunity
to turn this insult into an empowering event for the movement – but
more is required than signing a petition and just showing up to the
Rayburn Building on July 25th.
If people in this country are to
take full advantage of this tiny window of opportunity then thousands
must be willing to swarm the Judiciary Committee with faxes, phone calls,
emails, and most importantly, those that can go to DC on July 25th
need to show their dissent with their own bodies. For those that can
go, rather than timidly standing around behaving, it might be better
to lay down on the floor, gum up the halls with people’s bodies, lock
arms, cause a ruckus, resist, refuse to leave until impeachment hearings
begin. Demand that real and meaningful investigations into the crimes
of the Bush regime begin now. Refuse to settle for some Nancy Pelosi
Booby Prize.
If you are reading this do what you can
to support this window of opportunity by throwing this stingy attempt
by Pelosi and the Judiciary Committee to appease the impeachment movement
right back in their faces by a strong show of passionate activism!
Don’t sleep through another opportunity
to hold the Bush regime accountable!
The Impeach for Peace people have
a handy list of actions to take leading up to this Friday’s event
so click here and get BUSY!
Cheryl Abraham is a member of World
Can’t Wait from the Seattle area and a regular writer for the World
Can’t Wait web site.