January 31, 2007
Lobbying for Impeachment
by David Swanson
It’s an honor to be part of this obviously growing movement for peace and justice. Our president took us into war before Congress gave its so-called authorization. He did so without telling Congress or the American people and without Congress appropriating any funds for the purpose. In the summer of 2002, Bush took $2.5 billion – according to the Congressional Research Service – away from other projects, including Afghanistan, and used it to build airfields in Qatar and to begin bombing Iraq in preparation for the full-scale invasion.
That is a crime.
In fact, it’s what the founders of this country would have called a high crime and misdemeanor.
And what do we do about high crimes and misdemeanors?
Our Department of so-called Defense has this kind of money lying around. And this is about the same amount of money that would be needed to bring our troops home in a safe and orderly manner. And if we persuade Congress to cut off funding to extend the war, it may be that Bush will bring our troops home without us having to impeach him. But when Congress found the nerve to cut off the funds for the Vietnam War, it was the pressure of impeachment that persuaded Nixon not to veto, and it was the pressure of the peace movement that drove impeachment forward. Impeachment helps end the war even if we never get all the way to impeachment.
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Filed under: Blog, In the News, Impeachment Strategy, Constitutional Crisis, How To Get Involved, Opinion
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Let’s take the war in Iraq. The president clearly lied and tricked both the Congress and the American people into allowing him to invade that country. He and Vice President Dick Cheney carefully cherry-picked half-truths and known falsehoods to lay out as “evidence” that Saddam Hussein was developing nuclear weapons and that he was in league with Osama bin Laden. His White House orchestrated a campaign to damage the reputation of an honest critic, ambassador Joseph Wilson, who had discovered that a key piece of that “evidence” –some alleged documents from the country of Niger–had been forged, and even “outed” Wilson’s CIA-agent wife. 
Bill Maher, Queen Latifah, “Law & Order” creator Dick Wolf and “Deadwood” creator David Milch were the highlights of day four at the Television Critics Association meeting in Pasadena, Calif.
“It has been my privilege to serve my country as a Marine Corps infantry officer, a Marine Corps service-level intelligence plans officer, a clandestine case officer (spy) for the Central Intelligence Agency, and the second-ranking civilian in Marine Corps Intelligence, responsible for creating the Marine Corps Intelligence Command.
Washington, D.C. - On Jan. 4, 2007, at the National Press Club, the World Can’t Wait organization put on a first rate program, entitled, “Voices for Impeachment.” (1) It featured speakers, like: “Peace Mom” Cindy Sheehan, pundit John Nichols of “The Nation,” activist Sunsara Taylor from World Can’t Wait, Michael Ratner, Esq., of the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the man who released the “Pentagon Papers”–Daniel Ellsberg. (2) Author Gore Vidal made an appearance, too, via a video hookup. Journalist David Swanson of Afterdowningstreet.org served as the moderator for the lively affair. (3) It was held before a capacity audience. In fact, another room had to be opened up to handle the overflow crowd.
Peevish, dissatisfied, weary and dismissive: That’s how the conservative base feels about their president. Granted, they think Bush is better than Hillary, whom they believe should be skywriting “Surrender Dorothy” over the Emerald City. But a politician eager to capture the nomination for ‘08 would do well to ask: