The arguments against impeachment of Bush, Cheney and Rice are many. There are many millions, especially among the Republicans, that believe them to be heroes without fault and among the best to ever serve our country.

Most of these people could never accept the possibility that they lied to carry out a prearranged plan for the invasion of Iraq. The rest of this group would argue that their lies were justified for the benefit of our national security and in order to remove an evil dictator.

On the other side are many millions who believe that impeachment hearings would only further divide our country at the very time when it is most imperative for us to be coming together as a nation, working our way out of this problem with Iraq and turning our faces to other foreign situations that are mounting darkly on the horizon.

Many would argue that such impeachment hearings should never be considered during a time of war because it would give aid and comfort to our enemies, hurt our war efforts and show us as weak and divided and ripe for plucking by the barbarians.

Those arguments are not without strength, but only that strength that comes with numbers. In a Democratic society such as ours where the will of the majority usually trumps, the argument backed by the greatest numbers usually wins.

The arguments themselves, however, regardless of how honestly believed, will not start the car and get the old engine running again. What we have here is a maintenance problem that is not going to be solved by adding gas and oil or putting on new tires.

We�re going to have to pull the engine, find the cause of the problem and correct it if we are to have any expectations of ever getting ourselves out of this mess and moving on down the road toward peace and prosperity.

It may be that this engine is so badly shot, along with the transmission and numerous other important running parts that we�ll need to build a whole new car, based on the original blueprint but adapted to fit the changing needs of a new world.

We have, after all, forged new cars in the past, working off the same original blueprint of life, equality, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. At times, such as the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement a hundred years later, these unalienable rights had to go through the fiery furnace before we were able to accept them and actually make them true.

At times we were able to make adaptations to the blueprint without such horrible violence, such as granting women the right to vote. The point is that our blueprint, as outlined in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, has truly proven to be of the stuff that dreams are made of.

My argument is that never in the history of our Republic has this blueprint been stretched to the point of tearing apart as it is today. It is no longer just a matter of maintaining our position as the mightiest leader in the history of the world�s nations, it has become a matter of life and death for the world itself.

We cannot move another inch without, at the same time, looking into these alleged lies. If we don�t do that, we have no moral standing with the rest of the world.

If we don�t hold Bush and his associate�s feet to the fire, they will continue to lead us in the direction of the war that will end all wars and all life on the planet Earth.