Dec 21, 2005

We said it back when MoveOn.org arrived on the scene calling for the censure of Bill Clinton and we'll say it again: There is no provision in the Constitution of the United States that allows for the censure of a president or vice president.

The Constitution is clear: Article II, Section 4 states, "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."

Ours is not a parliamentary system in which the prime minister can be called to account by the members or receive a vote of no confidence that causes his or her government to fall.

So we have to ask whether Congressman John Conyers, who quietly introduced a motion Sunday to censure George W. Bush and Dick Cheney for their crimes, has gone soft in the head?

Censure is a tool Congress uses to reprimand one of its own, usually for an ethical violation not a prosecutable crime. The member being censured is expected to stand in the well as he or she is shamed and reprimanded by his or her colleagues. Can you picture Bush and Cheney standing in the House well to be publicly humiliated, especially when there is no constitutional provision for such an action?

And if somehow Conyers' censure resolution comes to fruition, merely censuring Bush and Cheney for failing to abide by their oaths of office and their mountain of crimes would be another slap in the American people's faces.

Bill Clinton was impeached, not for the crimes he actually committed, but for alleged perjurious testimony to a federal grand jury, impeding the administration of justice, engaging in a scheme to conceal evidence, making misleading statements to a federal judge about an affidavit and efforts to influence the testimony of witnesses -- all of which stemmed from his relationships with Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones. The Senate acquitted him.

If Clinton's sexual peccadilloes, which caused no harm to the nation, rose to the level of impeachment, then how do the crimes of Bush and Cheney, which have done great harm to America and the world, only rise to the unconstitutional level of censure?

Since Bush and Cheney twice gained control of the executive branch on stolen elections -- the first time with the blessing of five Supreme Court justices (Rehnquist, Scalia, Thomas, O'Connor and Kennedy) -- they have violated their oaths of office to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States," which Bush recently called "just a goddamned piece of paper." They have lied about the perpetrators of 9-11 to cook up the bogus "war on terrorism" to con Congress into passing the horrendous USAPATRIOT Act (as a reader pointed out it should be referred to, because the acronym has nothing to do with the USA or patriotism, but stands for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism"), which has stripped the people of many of their rights and freedoms; they have engaged in illegal domestic spying; they used 9-11 to wage an illegal war in Afghanistan; they lied about the reasons for waging an illegal preemptive war on Iraq.

And the above is just for openers. Under the Geneva Conventions, international law and US law, they are war criminals for engaging in wars of aggression, killing civilians, allowing (and perhaps encouraging) the torture of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo; for condoning the renditioning of detainees to countries that use torture in their interrogations; for concocting the term "enemy combatant" to get around the Geneva Conventions, in order to indefinitely detain anyone Bush declares to be one, without charge, access to lawyers, courts or family.

Add to that their failure to provide for Iraq's security after smashing and seizing the country, allowing its treasures to be stolen, failing to restore potable water, sewage treatment, electricity and adequate medical care. Then, as an occupying power, despite neither Saddam Hussein nor anyone in his government surrendering, letting their proconsul, L. Paul Bremer III, hand down "irrevocable" decrees on how Iraqis must conduct themselves. Despite the illegality of an occupying power having a hand in drawing a constitution or holding elections, Bush and Cheney engaged in, encouraged and championed both.

Censure, Mr. Conyers? Nay. They must be impeached now, before they turn the US military's guns on Syria, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia -- or whichever country is deemed the enemy du jour -- before completely destroy what is left of the US and declaring themselves dictators. Our lives, our children's lives and the lives of innocent people throughout the world depend on their impeachment, conviction, removal from office and handing them over to civil authorities to be tried for their crimes. And all Bush's cabinet officers must be impeached, convicted and removed from office as well.

Bush and Cheney's crimes warrant Bush's favorite remedy: execution, as much as we are opposed to the death penalty.

We're big kids, Mr. Conyers. Not only can we handle what you and your colleagues may see as traumatic process, but it will give us hope that we can rebuild our country into one we can be proud of and regain some respect in the world -- but we want no further part in being dupes for the corporations and bankers or acting as the world's policemen. Nor do we subscribe to George W. Bush's paranoia that terrorists are lurking everywhere, just waiting for an auspicious moment to strike us.

To say that we are hated for our freedoms (which Bush is fast taking away) or what have is the epitome of arrogance. We are hated for our behavior toward others. We can change that, but we need your help, Mr. Conyers, and the help of the Congress in ridding us of the scourge of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and the entire cabinet.
Let's get on with it, so we can bring the troops home, stop killing and interfering with other peoples, and rebuild America into what it should be. As John Lennon's song says, let's "Give Peace a Chance."