World Can’t Wait — Wednesday, April 25, 2007: At noon today a distinguished group of public elected officials, prominent voices of conscience, actors and artists, and military families gathered in front of the U.S. Capitol to call for the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
With debate sharpening between Congress and administration over including withdrawal dates from Iraq in the Supplemental Spending Bill, today’s press conference continued the growing momentum against the Bush Administration. Dennis Kucinich, having filed an impeachment resolution Tuesday against Vice President Cheney appeared at today’s press conference and said that yesterday the press said he was alone in calling for impeachment. Today standing together with the 100 of us gathered in front of the Capitol, he declared that he is not alone, he is standing with the people for impeachment.
Among today’s speakers were Mayor Rocky Anderson (Salt Lake City); Pultizer Prize winning journalist Chris Hedges; Daniel Ellsberg; Cindy Sheehan; World Can’t Wait Director Debra Sweet; The Nation correspondent John Nichols; co-founder of Afterdowningstreet.org David Swanson; and Washington State legislator Eric Oemig.
Several speakers brought out the full array of crimes of the Bush Administration. Chris Hedges said: “The President is guilty, in short, of what in legal circles is known as the ‘crime of aggression’. And, if we as citizens do not hold him accountable for these crimes, if we do not begin the process of impeachment, we will be complicit in the codification of a new world order, one that will have terrifying consequences.”
We will be showing more statements, press coverage, pictures, and video as it comes in. Today was a very important step in making the matter of impeachment one which is taken seriously.
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Statements in Support of the Impeachment of George Bush 25 April 2007
Michael Berg:
George Bush is responsible for destabilizing a sovereign nation and allowing those in who killed my son, according to the FBI’s report of his death.
George Bush’s arrogance and confidence that the American people would stand for any erosion of our rights is responsible for keeping Nick in Iraq, until it was too late for him to return safely.
I have forgiven George Bush, the other American politicians and the actual murderer of my precious son, Nick. But forgiveness, I have learned, does not mean I must condone the acts, the sins, of these people. And, it does not mean that I let them off the hook. They are responsible for Nick’s murder and chief among them, the Commander in Chief, George Bush is responsible and deserves to be impeached, forced out of office, to pay (personal) reparations, and to spend the rest of his life in restorative justice service.
Noam Chomsky:
The list of George W. Bush’s crimes is long and grim. Impeachment would be at least one small step towards paying the debt we owe to the victims of his years in power, and to those yet to suffer from what he has done. The April 19 call on the steps of the Capitol is an honorable and courageous effort to overcome the shame and disgrace he has brought to our country.
Ramsey Clark:
We have seen that Congress can be moved. The Bush Administration is reeling from its own wrongdoing. The horror its war of aggression has wreaked on the people of Iraq and thousands of U.S. service members must trouble the sleep of every sentient American. The Surge is only adding to the death and destruction.
All over the country supporters of impeachment are intensifying their efforts. Our focus must be on Congress, and the priorities of full troop withdrawal and the impeachment of President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other culpable officials within the Administration”¦
President Bush and Vice President Cheney should be held accountable as it is proscribed in the Constitution, Article II, Section 4: The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office or impeachment for and conviction of.
Ariel Dorfman:
Impeach Bush for the sake of the people of the United States. Because in a true democracy nobody should be above the law, and certainly not the man who violates the Constitution he has sworn to uphold.
Impeach Bush for the sake of the people of the world. Because the sooner he is removed from office and prevented from doing more harm, the sooner we will be able to heal our beleaguered humanity.
And, finally, impeach Bush for his own sake. Because nothing is healthier for an accused criminal than to be caught and allowed to defend himself, nothing could be better for any criminal than to be given the chance to understand the extent of his offenses and misdeeds.
Daniel Ellsberg:
Impeachment is indispensable to restoring a constitutional democracy in America.
To fail to identify actions of President Bush and Vice President Cheney as impeachable offenses, high crimes and misdemeanors, is for Congress to be fully complicit in their assault on the Constitution and the rule of law.
The impeachment clause was written into the Constitution with officials like Bush and Cheney precisely in mind. The process is there to protect us from high officials who believe themselves to be beyond any law: a president who would be king, and officials who aspire to be the power behind a throne.
This obligation to restore the Constitution is not a party matter. Republicans who refuse to address the crimes of this president or vice president would show themselves to be Republicans first and Americans second, a distant second. But likewise Democrats who shy from the political risk of removing these officials and reserving their policies, including preventive war, torture, suspension of habeas corpus and detention camps like Guantanamo. Such partisans are committed neither to a republic nor democracy.
Rev. David Ensign:
Speaking as a Christian, I must ask at what point does opposition to a regime achieve status confessionis? In other words, when is the integrity of the gospel itself at risk if one fails to speak out against a regime? For followers of the Prince of Peace, such a moment arises when the executive arrogates from the Congress the power to make war; when it does so contrary to just war theory, to the will of the international community, and to the UN charter. For those who would walk in the way of the one who proclaimed “the truth shall set you free,” such a moment arises when the president and vice president continuously use false claims to justify going to war. For those who follow the one who said, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” such a moment arises when the administration creates secret prisons, authorizes kidnapping and torture, and disregards the Geneva Conventions as “quaint.”
Those from each of the world’s great religious and spiritual traditions confront the same challenges when our common core spiritual values ““ compassion, generosity, love ““ are violated by the actions of the present administration, and as the actions of the president and vice president rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors.
Frances Fisher:
The time has come to curtail the rampant misuse and abuse of power perpetrated by President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney upon not only the American people, but every citizen of the World. Those two have disgraced their offices with such reckless abandon that they must be removed, before they start another occupation, and before they torture another soul. They are corrupting the heart of America, and impeachment proceedings will be the first step in reclaiming our dignity.
Chris Hedges:
George Bush has shredded, violated or absented America from its obligations under international law. He has refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol, backed out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, tried to kill the International Criminal Court, walked out on negotiations on chemical and biological weapons and defied the Geneva Convention and human rights law in the treatment of detainees. Most egregiously, he launched an illegal war in Iraq based on fabricated evidence we now know had been discredited even before it was made public.
This president is guilty, in short, of what in legal circles is known as the “crime of aggression.” And if we as citizens do not hold him accountable for these crimes, if we do not begin the process of impeachment, we will be complicit in the codification of a new world order, one that will have terrifying consequences. For a world without treaties, statutes and laws is a world where any nation, from a rogue nuclear state to a great imperial power, will be able to invoke its domestic laws to annul its obligations to others. This new order will undo five decades of international cooperation ““ largely put in place by the United States — and thrust us into a Hobbsian nightmare”¦
A rule-based world matters. The creation of these international bodies and rules, as well as the use of our influence over the last half century to see they were followed, have allowed us to stand preeminent as a nation ““ one that respects and defends the rule of law. If we demolish the fragile and delicate international order, if we permit George Bush to create a world where diplomacy, broad cooperation and the law are worthless, if we allow these international legal systems to unravel, we will see our moral and political authority plummet. We will erode the possibility of cooperation between nation states, including our closest allies and see visited upon us the evils we visit on others.
Mark Kurlansky:
If the United States is to remain a democracy, a leadership that breaks American and International law, ignores our most cherished values of decency, and is indifferent to the expressed will of the American people must be removed from office. It is for this purpose that impeachment was written into the constitution and it is our obligation to see that it is carried out no matter how unpleasant the proceedings may be.
Jonathan Lethem:
A call for impeachment, under the present circumstances, is the least we can do, as citizens in a nation whose founding principles are under blithe and routine assault. Let’s not leave it to history to interrogate the disaster of the present moment; silence is complicity.
David Lindorff:
The Democratic leadership in the House has been making several arguments against impeachment–usually a sign that they don’t have any real argument. But let’s look at those arguments.
First they claim that they have “more important” things to do and that impeachment would be a “diversion.” The truth, however, is that with their razor-thin majorities in both houses, and particularly in the Senate, Democrats cannot hope to pass any significant legislation in this Congress. All they can do is pass symbolic bills, which will then be vetoed, or ignored via illegal and unconstitutional “signing statements.” And the only way to put an end to Bush’s usurpation of legislative authority is impeachment.
Second, they claim that impeachment would “take too long.” In fact, Bush could be impeached tomorrow for breaking the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act law, which a federal court has already declared to be a felony. He could also be impeached for failing to see that the laws are faithfully enacted. No hearing would be required for either of these blatant acts, both of which qualify as “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Then hearings could be initiated for other Bush crimes.
Finally, the Democratic leadership claims impeachment would be “divisive” and that Americans don’t want divisiveness. That is absurd on its face. When Americans rose up last November and threw out the Republican Congress, they were telling Democrats that they wanted a real opposition to the Bush White House”¦So let’s stop this nonsense. It’s time to start impeachment proceedings!
Anne Marie Macari:
Americans can no longer turn away from the horrible truths of the last six years. George Bush and Dick Cheney have systematically lied to us and misled us into a pointless war in which thousands of our young people have been killed and maimed. Countless too are the number of Iraqi people killed, wounded, and living in exile because of this illegitimate war. These are crimes against humanity, and crimes against democracy and the open society. Torture, war profiteering, no-bid contracts, spying on Americans: how much more can a healthy society tolerate without becoming permanently changed by the corruption at its core? Impeachment may be disruptive and ugly, but it is necessary to restore the rule of law and decency to our country. Accountability is what we ask of every citizen; Bush and Cheney must not be above the law.
David MacMichael:
Fellow citizens of the United States of America, we are here to petition the House of Representatives–our representatives–to face up to its constitutional responsibilities by considering a bill of impeachment against President George W. Bush, vice-president Richard Cheney and other civil officers of the government responsible for or complicit in high crimes and misdemeanors.
Chief among these is deliberate lying to Congress by President Bush, Vice-president Cheney and other administration officials prior to the US aggression against Iraq about the alleged threat Iraq posed to the United States, to wit, the non-existent weapons of mass destruction, the equally non-existent alliance between al-Quaida and Iraq, and the fictional involvement of Iraq in the 9-11 bombings.
Dave Meserve:
This president and vice president have consistently violated both the United States Constitution and the trust of the American people. All elected officials, from city council to president, along with all members of the armed forces, take an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and to protect it from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Today we must enforce the Constitution and fulfill our responsibility as citizens to check the destructive power of an administration gone berserk.
John Nichols:
Impeachment is a whole and living instrument of the American Constitution.
That Constitution contains no reference to God”¦ to corporations or business arrangements”¦ to political parties, primaries, caucuses, conventions or even election dates. The founders assumed that we would figure out how to worship, how to do business, how to elect our leaders. But they worried that we would forget that we have the power to remove leaders who err against the Constitution and the Republic. And, so, they included in our Constitution six references to impeachment.
George Mason, the essential author of our Bill of Rights said, “No point is of more importance than that the right of impeachment should be continued.”
James Madison, the father of the Constitution, said, “… it may, perhaps, on some occasion, be found necessary to impeach the President himself.”
This is the occasion of Madison’s imagining. A presidential administration that wages war without declaration or justification is in conflict with the Constitution. An administration that spies without warrant or proper authority is in conflict with the Constitution. An administration that condones and encourages torture and extraordinary rendition is in conflict with the Constitution. An administration that uses its Department of Justice to conduct political investigations and prosecutions is in conflict with the Constitution and the Republic for which it stands.
Jeremy Pikser:
This is a criminal administration. If we, as a nation, do not officially repudiate these crimes we collaborate in them. If we do not define them as illegal, they become precedents for future crimes.
Mark Ruffalo:
What do you do with an Administration that refuses congressional oversight? What do you do with a White House that in treason outs one of its own undercover agents for Political gain and War Profiteering? What do you do with a President that breaks international law and tortures people in the name of America, allows the devastation of New Orleans, tramples the laws of our privacy, lies to the American people about reasons for going to war, politicizes our courts system and at the end of the day says he is accountable to no one? Impeachment is the only cure for such a Dictatorship. Don’t be fooled. It is a Dictatorship.
OR
Get rid of the BUMS!
Gerald Stern:
It is time for the President and the Vice President to account for themselves for gravely misleading the nation about the fake threat posed by Iraq. It’s called lying. They are responsible for the murder of hundreds of thousands. Their arrogance and deceit have no limits. They have to be impeached and tried.
Debra Sweet:
Today we issue a challenge to the people of this country and to Congress. The whole disastrous direction of the Bush Regime must be repudiated, and Bush and Cheney must be removed from office. The political will of the people to bring the war and the Bush agenda to a stop must not be derailed by prattle about the “political reality” that all that is possible is what is already going on. That is nothing other than capitulation and accommodation to this politics of war, torture and theocracy.
At this moment, the rest of the world is looking at people in this country who are passive and waiting while people are being tortured and detained without due process; while Iraq under occupation is being torn apart, destroyed and over a half million Iraqis lie dead; while the prescription for the military and political Iraq debacle is to feed the war machine more money and more troops; while the Bush administration seems to be moving towards attacking Iran, and every major presidential candidate has insisted that all military options are on the table against Iran; while bigotry becomes “entertainment”; while a woman’s right over her own reproduction is in great peril; and while intolerance determines who can marry and who can not”¦
To those who say it is premature to raise the demand for impeachment now, we ask: how tolerable is the situation in Iraq to you — to allow it to continue for 2 more years? How tolerable is the build-up towards war with Iran? How long will you live with Guantanamo and torture carried out in your name? If now is not the time, then when will it be? If we do not demand impeachment and act to bring the Bush program to a halt, who will?
Gore Vidal:
The impeachment process was an integral part of the constitution from the beginning of the republic to the present day, as congressman Dennis Kucinich now brings articles of impeachment against a rogue vice-president whose open contempt for this republic and its checks and balances cannot be allowed freer range without the intervention of a trial before the Senate to rid us of this malignity, a trial in which the conscript fathers must be allowed to summon other members of our ruling junta in order to throw light upon a unique “coup d’etat” triggered by 9/11.
Kevin Zeese:
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are the most impeachable president and vice president in the history of the nation. Among their impeachable offenses are leading the country into war based on false and misleading information, ordering violations of the Geneva Conventions including the torture of prisoners, and violating the civil liberties of U.S. citizens. These are among the leading areas where Articles of Impeachment should be filed.
Impeachment should never be lightly pursued, but when high crimes and misdemeanors are committed Congress must exercise its constitutional responsibility and safeguard our democracy. When the laws are violated by officials of the government impeachment is the proper remedy. No American is above the law particularly the president and vice president who are sworn to uphold the Constitution and execute the laws.
Accountability is essential in government so people know that laws have meaning. The U.S. is a nation of laws, not a nation where some people are not accountable to the law. Failure to hold people accountable for violations of law undermines the credibility of the laws and the government”¦
How many high crimes and misdemeanors can the Congress ignore?
Howard Zinn:
Impeachment is the appropriate remedy for the high crimes committed by this administration. Bush and Cheney are symbols of violence, war, and violations of international law. They have made our nation the object of anger all over the world. Impeachment would help restore our good name and our self-respect.