And putting Cheney in the office of the Prez for a couple of months is going to help how? I can't disagree with the sentiment, but the time for it to be feasible is long past. The best chance to throw the bums out of the executive branch was in 2004. (Some say we Americans deserve the administration a majority re-elected.) The time to send a message to the Dem leaders is in the upcoming Congressional primaries. Doubt there's much chance of denying Pelosi her seat, but that's the only practical way to effect your sense of justice at this point.

...we will wear the mantle of a huge but crumbling, corrupt and venal, clueless and spineless former democracy

I feel ya, Tom. History will judge us harshly for failing to impeach these guys, no doubt. But I don't think we have the political will out there to get this done.

However, what are the chances these guys will be tried as war criminals after Bush is out of office? Anyone want to comment?

I agree, Tom. This is completely Pelosi's fault with Conyers help. I assume Bush has dirt on somebody which would come out if impeachment were put on the table.

With no chance of getting the Senate to vote a conviction, it's an empty exercise in political theater. Much as I'd love to see President Obama point at Bush and Cheney on the stand in January and order their arrest (from my keyboard to God's monitor!), impeachment without conviction accomplishes nothing. Literally nothing.

And spare me "getting the truth out" please. The truth has been out all along. It's what gets done with it. And once again, without that Senate conviction, nothing gets done even with a Bill of Impeachment.

Here's how it will go:

Bush & Cheney will suffer historical lows in job approval and other ratings, through the inauguration of President Obama. For the time until then, and for the next six to eight months afterward, evidence and information will come to light which increasingly turns the public toward actual prosecution of conspirators in this defrauding of the American people. August or September 2009, criminal cases are brought against a list of people including most of those listed below.

These trials may happen in Iraq, The United States, or in the ICC, but rest assured, the cases will be well-built before double jeopardy hangs on any, and it will take an expensive and bitterly unflattering defense to acquit any defendant.

Following criminal conviction, and with larger majorities in both houses of Congress, quick and certain Impeachment and conviction of many conspirators will remove them from any lasting benefits of current office, including federal pension and Secret Service detail. Meanwhile, it won't be minsec, but closer to pound-in-the-ass prison. (I'd like to see Cheney's smirk then.)

Who will be on the List? Here's a start (feel free to add any you think belong on it):
George W. Bush
Dick Cheney
David Addington
Donald Rumsfeld
John Yoo
John Ashcroft
Douglas Feith
Richard Perle
Condoleeza Rice
George Tenet
Alberto Gonzalez
Ari Fleischer
Scott McClellan
Monica Goodling
William Kristol
Stephen Hadley
Scooter Libby
Karl Rove

Some will turn States' Evidence, and this will help to hang those who don't.

Tom, I agree with you on this issue. We can always find a million and one reasons not to push forward now. Surely House Dems will cite a long list. The invectives they will hear from "the other side" will not be a bit pleasant. Was there ever a bunch of sorrier losers than the G.O.P.? Two reasons for hammering away now are, one, the adage "Justice delayed is justice denied." In general, the law seems to favor the innocent party who, when he is convinced he has been done a grievous wrong, seeks a legal remedy. Foot-dragging, on the other hand, can be easily construed as a belief that one may be on shaky legal ground. And second, the simple principle of "You just never know." Consider two such cases. Bill Clinton: who could have foreseen the shocking success of him being impeached for the reason he was: private sexual behavior. Do you think Thomas Jefferson, of all people, could have predicted that scenario? Number two is Richard Nixon's Resignation: the Watergate burglars were caught in June, 1972. That story died down a million and one times before his resignation in August, 1974. Certain people, only a handful at times, just kept pulling a little string here and a little string there and would not just "let it go," even when employers, spouses, friends etc., etc.,accused them of acting delusionsl. I spent part of that time in France, and the sneering comments I endured from certain Parisians ("You absurdly naive, idealistic Americans!") were unsettling, to say the least. But, no mountain is built in a day, a mob can only be assembled one person at a time, and sometimes a little luck plays an unseen hand. And nothing at all happens unless true believers do what they feel they have to do as soon as they are convinced of the necessity of doing it.

We should add the rest of the White House Iraq Group (WHIG) to the list. They organized the con job marketing campaign to sell the American people the Iraq war. I remember Mary Matalin and Frank Card as two members of WHIG who aren't on your list.

GO BULLWINKLE!!

Congress is equally responsible for the mess. They had the opportunity to put this on the table in 2006 but under Pelosi and Reid they dropped the ball. The public is entitled to see what crimes were done under this administration and to demand a level of accountability from these lawbreakers. Instead they will all leave office unscathed and hit the lecture circuits, demanding and receiving enormous fees of how they got away with it. Simply criminal on all counts.

Impeachment won't happen now. They can't even pass any legislation in Washington because even though the American people are finally weary of Bush administration crimes, the Republican lawmakers (not to mention too many Democrats) wouldn't dare try to actually seek justice. After this next election, Democrats should finally have the tools to put Cheney, Bush and the like behind bars. If they were to try now, we could count on more Republican victories in November. I can just picture what the republicans would respond with if an impeachment movement were to begin (it would use familiar terms such as al-Queda, 9/11 and possibly something about victory for islamic extremists). Just what we need.