Reader Posts

« previous | TPM CAFÉ READER POSTS HOME | next »

The Articles of Impeachement Enumerated

You wouldn't be able to tell from the news, or TPM, but yesterday articles if impeachment were introduced.

As the huffington posts' Joseph Palermo points out

People will scream about how impeachment might backfire on the election
of 2008. But that was never the issue. The president is guilty of grave
crimes against the republic and should be held accountable. He does not
have to be found guilty in a court of law; impeachment has a different
standard. Bush has committed crimes against the nation. There are 4,100
dead Americans and 500,000 to 1 million dead Iraqis as a result of his
lies and deceit. The Scott McClellan book just drives home everything
the Intelligence Committee uncovered. It is time for the truth! If Bush
can keep the prospect of attacking Iran "on the table," then the
Congress should keep impeachment on the table too.
I think this is absolutely correct.  If we are willing to ignore crimes because it is politically expedient, how exactly is this any different than what Bush did himself?

Fortunately, the rest of the world cares more about what is happening in our fair land than do Americans themselves.  As the belfast telegraph notes:
Bob Fertik, President of Democrats.com,
said: "We've waited seven years to find one Member of Congress brave
enough to stand up for our Constitution, for which generations of Americans
have fought and died.


"We are thrilled and honored that Dennis Kucinich has chosen to be
that one genuine patriot.


"We congratulate him on his historic leadership, and pledge to do everything
in our power to persuade Congress to adopt all 35 Articles and put George W
Bush on trial before the Senate of the United States, exactly as the
Founding Fathers wanted."


So if you were curious what the 35 points that made up Kucinich's very solid case for impeachment, they are as Follows:


Article I
Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for War
Against Iraq


Article II

Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks of
September 11, 2001, With Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat as
Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of Aggression


Article III
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq
Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War


Article IV
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Posed
an Imminent Threat to the United States


Article V
Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression


Article VI

Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of HJRes114


Article VII

Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.


Article VIII

Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter


Article IX

Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor


Article X

Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes


Article XI

Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq


Article XII

Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation's Natural Resources


Article XIIII

Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies With
Respect to Iraq and Other Countries


Article XIV

Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And
Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine
Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency


Article XV

Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq


Article XVI

Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in Connection With Iraq
and US Contractors


Article XVII

Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both
U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives


Article XVIII

Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against
Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official
Policy


Article XIX

Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to "
Black Sites" Located in Other Nations, Including Nations Known to
Practice Torture


Article XX

Imprisoning Children


Article XXI

Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and
Supporting Terrorist Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of
Overthrowing the Iranian Government


Article XXII

Creating Secret Laws


Article XXIII

Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act


Article XXIV

Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation
of the Law and the Fourth Amendment


Article XXV

Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and
Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of
American Citizens


Article XXVI

Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements


Article XXVII

Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former
Employees Not to Comply


Article XXVIII

Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration of
Justice


Article XXIX

Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965


Article XXX

Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare


Article XXXI

Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina,
Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency


Article XXXII

Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining
Efforts to Address Global Climate Change


Article XXXIII

Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level Intelligence Warnings
of Planned Terrorist Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.


Article XXXIV

Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001


Article XXXV

Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders



Seems about right to me.  One thing to think about is that if we don't impeach the dastardly duo, George Bush will end his term with the power to pardon EVERYONE who was involved with his crimes.  If that happens, it won't matter what Obama's plans are.  We Americans can't just sit on our asses and say "Don't bother with this or that - Obama's gonna fix it when he's in office".

<i>(please recommend this one)</i>


Comments (23)

Sorry 'bout the formatting - I'll figure it out someday. But hey - I got a LINK TO WORK!! Baby steps ...

BTW: If you are so inclined, democrats.com has a petition in support of these articles.

http://www.democrats.com/35-articles-of-impeachment

I have a question. If GWB is not impeached, but is convicted of war crimes, can he still pardon? I mean he cannot pardon anyone in advance of a conviction, so if he is convicted of war crimes first, then he would not have the ability to pardon anyone after subsequent convictions.

Am I right about this?

He can only pardon crimes against the U.S.; that is federal crimes.

If a state or local jurisdiction wants to prosecute him for violating a state or local law, then he's in trouble.

If an international court wants to prosecute him for violating international law or war crimes, he is also in trouble.

A journalist tried to do a citizen's arrest on John Bolton the other day, when he was in the UK..

Reuters, to their credit, actually has SOMETHING about this, but it is buried in thier politics section.

Please read and recommend this article, so that it does not get completely buried.

I fear it has become too late for impeachment; we're thick in the Silly Season.

I am, however, all about expediting Bush, Cheney, Addington, - oh, hell, pretty much the entire administration - to the Hague come next January 21 for purposes of facing international war crimes tribunals.

I think you mean "extradite," not "expedite."

And it would be other countries extraditing these people from the U.S.; we aren't extraditing when we are the ones who send people abroad of our own volition.

That's called "deportation" or "rendition."

Well, not to get the attention of the SS or anything, but there are multiple definitions of "expedite". :D

(But yes, I'm sure extradite was the intended word. I don't want to get coralsea in trouble, after all.)

avatar

Recommended! Thanks for posting!

I wish his Articles had more substance-as they read now it just looks like vague belly-aching (even though I agree with them). Shouldn't each of them be spelled out in detail with relevant dates, facts, quotes, numbers, etc?

Then again, I've never written Articles of Impeachment...

avatar

"I wish his Articles had more substance-as they read now it just looks like vague belly-aching (even though I agree with them). Shouldn't each of them be spelled out in detail with relevant dates, facts, quotes, numbers, etc?

"Then again, I've never written Articles of Impeachment..."

In this instance, Articles of Impeachment are simply stated allegations to be debated and investigated. My representative didn't support the original Kucinich articles on the bogus grounds that they are conclusions, rather than results of investigation.

It's important to have this in the record. Wish they could be taken up and investigated.

avatar

For God's sake, America, go for this! At a minimum it will force McCain to state his wholehearted support for Bush and guarantee Obama's election. At best, the most self-righteous and criminal president in history will be knocked down a peg or two, and be too busy covering his ass to invade Iran.

If we are willing to ignore crimes because it is politically expedient, how exactly is this any different than what Bush did himself?

An amazingly good point. I was all set to disagree with you until you dropped that one.

my first attempt at blockquoting - evidently it worked a little too well.

avatar

They are reporting that Wexler signed on today. I'm liking him more and more!

Thank you very much for posting this! Rep. Robert Wexler of Florida has co-sponsored the articles and they are being re-read in Congress tonight.

The framers of the Constitution went to great lengths to allow for the removal of the president through the impeachment process. George Bush has committed so many truly serious impeachable offenses that if he can't be impeached, I don't know when it would ever be used in the future. Impeachment shouldn't be something that is decided by public opinion polls. It should be about crimes against the Constitution.

Article VII is insane.

Did Congress just notice that we entered Iraq without a declaration of war? Was Congress out in the hall eating a sandwich when this occurred? And we're supposed to cheer this leadership, six years later? Is waiver a defense to impeachment? Jesus Christ, this is pathetic.

Article VII seems right in line with Hillary's explanation for her vote on AUMF Iraq: They didn't know the admin would invade. I'm not saying that I believe it, but isn't the legal question a matter of whether or not the admin broke the law in the decision to invade? Also, you have to imagine that this makes a lot more sense to those in Congress, like Kucinich, who were opposed from the get go. There were a handful who weren't complicit.

There were a handful who weren't complicit.

In the House (where Kucinich is), the majority of Democrats were not complicit. It's only in the Senate (which seems odd to me for some reason) that we see a majority (not an overwhelming one, but still…) of Democrats going along with the administration.

This poll is obviously unscientific, but it's nearly unanimous.

avatar

" There were a handful who weren't complicit."

That is why there will be no impeachment.

avatar

More Left leaning political mastrubation! When are these whinners going act and stop talking. What have the Dems accomplished since receiving their "mandate for change"? To quote Walter Mondale and Clara Peller, "Where's the beef?"

avatar

More idiocy from wingut trolls.

What have the Dems accomplished since receiving their "mandate for change"?

Three questions for you, troll:

1) How many filibusters did the Republicans use to block legislation in the first half of the 110th Congressional session (the current one)?

2) What is the previous record for number of filibusters in an entire session of Congress?

3) What is the current number of filibusters in the 110th Congress?

Answer those, troll, and then ask your question again.

Post a Comment

Inside Cafe



Cafe Features


October 6-10

Book Cover

October 13-17

Book Cover

October 20-24

Book Cover

November 17-21>

Book Cover

December 1-5

Book Cover





Book Club Archive



Masthead

Editor-in-Chief
Josh Marshall

Site Editor
Lila Shapiro

Intern
Claire Wilcox



Subscribe to TPMCafe's feed.
Subscribe to TPMCafe's reader blog feed.

Advertise Liberally
Share
Close Social Web Email

"To" Email Address

Your Name

Your Email Address