Impeachment Proceedings are Long Overdue

Impeachment Proceedings are Long Overdue

The secret “Downing Street Memo” dated July 23, 2002 that summarized Tony Blair’s meeting on Iraq with the U.S. administration makes it abundantly clear that the Bush administration had made up its mind to invade Iraq whether or not it could be justified by international law. This reality has been suggested on numerous occasions by critics of this administration. Revealing quotes from this document (outlined below) verify this conclusion, and, in my mind, justify the beginning of impeachment proceedings against George W. Bush and Richard Cheney for lying to the American people and launching an patently illegal and immoral war at the cost of both American and Iraqi lives as well as the wholesale squandering of the nation’s economic resources. The basis for such an impeachment has its precedent with the attempt to impeach President Clinton for lying to the American people. In this instance, the unnecessary loss of life is far more serious than a purported sexual dalliance on the part of the former president.

The following quotes from this memorandum readily confirm this allegation:

“C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed.” This last comment is a very revealing one indeed.

“It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than Libya, North Korea or Iran. We should work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force.” As we know, Saddam did allow the UN inspectors back in so that particular avenue of manipulation was not afforded to the military planners. We also know that Colin Powell’s elaborate explanation to the UN regarding the degree of threat posed by the Iraq’s alleged WMD was so inept and unconvincing that the Security Council was poised to veto Bush’s UN resolution.

No one has questioned the authenticity of this document, and it is, in my mind, the so-called “smoking gun” that should mobilize the Congress and the American people to initiate the process of removing these political mobsters from public life so that we can hopefully undo the great the harm they have already done to this nation and the world.