The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
"In what was likely her final legislative act in Congress, [Representative] Cynthia McKinney introduced a bill Friday to Impeach President Bush."
I don't think I've been too cryptic with regards to my general dislike of President Bush and my criticism of his tenure as President. That said, considering what we currently know about the current administration, and the manner in which the president has run the country, the invasion (wait, I mean "liberation") of Iraq and the war on terror, etc., I fail to see where the president has done anything that qualifies as an Impeachable offense.
Primary argument going on right now that I see - the president has performed his job as president incompetently. That may be true - I somewhat see his handling of the various wars he's involved us in as incompetent. But, incompetence is not a High Crime or Misdemeanor.
Let's say he "lied" to get us in Iraq. Well, first off, we have no direct proof. His allegations in 2002 and 2003 suggest that we wanted to invade Iraq because they were not providing access to the weapons inspectors as they were required to, that they continued to maintain WMDs either in fact or in capacity to produce, and that Iraq supports terrorist organizations. Absent any evidence to the contrary, we need to presume that he made those allegations in good faith based on current intelligence as provided by the various intelligence agencies available to him. In other words, at this time it would be impossible to prove that he "lied," even if he's guilty in the OJ sense to many people.
I'm sure there are other theories out there, but frankly, I'm tired and don't want to think about them.
While I disagree with any measures at this time to impeach the President, on grounds that I think impeachment should be a last resort solution to actual crime, not a method of exacting revenge on the opposing party and there is currently nothing indicating president Bush has acted in a manner that qualifies as "high Crimes and Misdemeanors," I do believe that there should be factual inquiries into the past six years of "Advance directly to Go" governance, to determine what was and was not known and/or divulged. But this needs to be by a neutral party, NOT an opposing party and MOST CERTAINLY not by the party being investigated, lest we reach foregone conclusions.
5 comments:
This IS about crimes. It has nothing to do with Clinton.
Crimes:
http://impeachforpeace.org/evidence/
Impeach for peace?
Yeah, that'll do it. Get rid of Bush/Cheney and everything will be just fine. Remember all the peace in the world before Bush? Yeah, that was great. Stupid Bush messing everything up.
1979
Nov. 4, Tehran, Iran: Iranian radical students seized the U.S. embassy, taking 66 hostages. 14 were later released. The remaining 52 were freed after 444 days on the day of President Reagan's inauguration.
1982–1991
Lebanon: Thirty US and other Western hostages kidnapped in Lebanon by Hezbollah. Some were killed, some died in captivity, and some were eventually released. Terry Anderson was held for 2,454 days.
1983
April 18, Beirut, Lebanon: U.S. embassy destroyed in suicide car-bomb attack; 63 dead, including 17 Americans. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
Oct. 23, Beirut, Lebanon: Shiite suicide bombers exploded truck near U.S. military barracks at Beirut airport, killing 241 marines. Minutes later a second bomb killed 58 French paratroopers in their barracks in West Beirut.
Dec. 12, Kuwait City, Kuwait: Shiite truck bombers attacked the U.S. embassy and other targets, killing 5 and injuring 80.
1984
Sept. 20, east Beirut, Lebanon: truck bomb exploded outside the U.S. embassy annex, killing 24, including 2 U.S. military.
Dec. 3, Beirut, Lebanon: Kuwait Airways Flight 221, from Kuwait to Pakistan, hijacked and diverted to Tehran. 2 Americans killed.
1985
April 12, Madrid, Spain: Bombing at restaurant frequented by U.S. soldiers, killed 18 Spaniards and injured 82.
June 14, Beirut, Lebanon: TWA Flight 847 en route from Athens to Rome hijacked to Beirut by Hezbollah terrorists and held for 17 days. A U.S. Navy diver executed.
Oct. 7, Mediterranean Sea: gunmen attack Italian cruise ship, Achille Lauro. One U.S. tourist killed. Hijacking linked to Libya.
Dec. 18, Rome, Italy, and Vienna, Austria: airports in Rome and Vienna were bombed, killing 20 people, 5 of whom were Americans. Bombing linked to Libya.
1986
April 2, Athens, Greece:A bomb exploded aboard TWA flight 840 en route from Rome to Athens, killing 4 Americans and injuring 9.
April 5, West Berlin, Germany: Libyans bombed a disco frequented by U.S. servicemen, killing 2 and injuring hundreds.
1988
Dec. 21, Lockerbie, Scotland: N.Y.-bound Pan-Am Boeing 747 exploded in flight from a terrorist bomb and crashed into Scottish village, killing all 259 aboard and 11 on the ground. Passengers included 35 Syracuse University students and many U.S. military personnel. Libya formally admitted responsibility 15 years later (Aug. 2003) and offered $2.7 billion compensation to victims' families.
1993
Feb. 26, New York City: bomb exploded in basement garage of World Trade Center, killing 6 and injuring at least 1,040 others. In 1995, militant Islamist Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and 9 others were convicted of conspiracy charges, and in 1998, Ramzi Yousef, believed to have been the mastermind, was convicted of the bombing. Al-Qaeda involvement is suspected.
1995
Saudi Arabia: car bomb exploded at U.S. military headquarters, killing 5 U.S. military servicemen.
1996
June 25, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia: truck bomb exploded outside Khobar Towers military complex, killing 19 American servicemen and injuring hundreds of others. 13 Saudis and a Lebanese, all alleged members of Islamic militant group Hezbollah, were indicted on charges relating to the attack in June 2001.
1998
Aug. 7, Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: truck bombs exploded almost simultaneously near 2 U.S. embassies, killing 224 (213 in Kenya and 11 in Tanzania) and injuring about 4,500. 4 men connected with al-Qaeda 2 of whom had received training at al-Qaeda camps inside Afghanistan, were convicted of the killings in May 2001 and later sentenced to life in prison. A federal grand jury had indicted 22 men in connection with the attacks, including Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, who remained at large.
2000
Oct. 12, Aden, Yemen: U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole heavily damaged when a small boat loaded with explosives blew up alongside it. 17 sailors killed. Linked to Osama bin Laden, or members of al-Qaeda terrorist network.
Nuje,
As for the war on Terror, the president had almost fanatical support from the vast majority of the country and much of the world (Even North Korea went as far as denouncing the attacks on the World Trade Center).
But when he had the chance to strike a powerful blow on the war on terror, he turned away from the war and chose instead to attack a nation primarily on grounds that turned out to be untrue, then had to fall back on a position that also turned out to be less than true.
The problems the administration currently face with loss of credibility and support stem not from the war on terror; instead they come from the war against Iraq. These are two different items, despite attempts over the past year or so to tie them together.
I don't think that impeaching the president is right, nor do I think there are grounds for doing so, but I also think that he needs to shoulder a lot of blame for the situation as it exists right now in the middle east.
Steve, I'm not defending Bush. I'm just making an observation about the lame website name Causal linked.
Maybe if I create a website called "PantiesForPorn.org" I can eliminate porn from the web.
Or, "PaperForYourAss.org" to eliminate BMs.
If Bush left office today, there would still be millions of fanatic followers of the "religion of peace" who wish western civilization dead. They were planning before Bush got in office, and they'll be planning when he's gone.
Yeah, Causal's comments didn't make too much sense - I never mentioned Clinton in my original post.
You're right as far as the impeach bush/peace disconnect.
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