Harper's Magazine Panel on Case Bush Impeachment

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Harper's Magazine Panel on Case Bush Impeachment

Tue Mar 7, 2006 18:22

Harper's Magazine Panel on Case Bush Impeachment
Harper's Magazine hosts a panel “Is There a Case for Impeachment?”, discussing President Bush and his policies. Forum speakers include Lewis H. Lapham, Editor of Harper’s Magazine; Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Ranking Member of U.S. House Judiciary Committee; and Michael Ratner, President of

Center for Constitutional Rights.
3/2/2006: WASHINGTON, DC: 2 hr.

Please John Conyers: Impeach Bush NOW
by Bob Fertik
http://www.democrats.com/please-john-conyers

On Thursday, Harper's Magazine held a truly outstanding forum on
impeaching George Bush with Sam Seder, Rep. John Conyers, John Dean,
Liz Holtzman, Lewis Lapham, and Michael Ratner (photo by Kate Anne).

Everyone agreed Bush should be impeached, the important question was
when.

During Q&A, I asked John Conyers if he would introduce Articles of
Impeachment now. He replied, "My goodness, please look at H.Res.
635, which calls for an investigation that could lead to
impeachment. But I cannot call for impeachment now, before we have
investigated all the facts."

My time was up, so I could not continue the debate. But if I could,
these are the arguments I would make for the immediate introduction
of Articles of Impeachment.

First, the Articles of Impeachment have been written. You can find
them in Michael Ratner's brand new book. We don't need a committee
to struggle for months over the wording; Conyers and his allies can
simply "throw the book" at Bush.

Second, when House Republicans impeached President Clinton in 1998,
they emphasized ad nauseum that "impeachment" is merely the
equivalent of an indictment, the determination that there is
sufficient evidence to charge a suspect with a crime. Impeachment,
like an indictment, leads to a trial, in which a jury (in this case
the Senate) determines whether the evidence is sufficient for
conviction. The evidence we have in hand (as presented in Michael
Ratner's book, as well as John Conyers' thorough report on the Iraq
War lies, The Constitution in Crisis) is far more than is needed for
an indictment. There is absolutely no reason for Conyers' proposed
Select Committee to do the work of the Senate in weighing the
evidence.

Third, Bush's criminal activity is ongoing and must be stopped. Our
occupation of Iraq has already cost 2,300 American lives and at
least 28,636 Iraqi lives, if not well over 100,000. We are
committing war crimes by torturing and murdering prisoners, using
chemical weapons and depleted uranium, and pushing Iraq to the brink
of civil war. Bush is still wiretapping countless Americans without
a warrant, in direct violation of the FISA law. And even though
Bush's crimes are flagrant and obscene, the Republican Congress
refuses to either investigate them or stop them.

Finally, as the panelists made clear, the American people are truly
in a state of despair that George Bush is able to commit these
unspeakable crimes without any effort to hold him accountable. By
introducing real Articles of Impeachment - even if only a few
Members do so - those Members will make a powerful statement that
they are determined to challenge that despair and demand
accountability. That act of leadership, in and of itself, would
galvanize the 52% of Americans (when last measured in January, long
before Dubai and the Katrina tapes) who support impeachment. And it
would most likely persuade even more Americans that Bush's
impeachment was both necessary and urgent. So if 55% or 60% or even
65% of Americans supported impeachment, Republicans in Congress
would have a very difficult time standing in the way - especially as
they faced a disastrous election in November.

After four distinguished decades in Congress, John Conyers is not a
man who acts rashly. But all of us who have watched Bush shred the
Constitution know that Conyers has tried to stop him every step of
the way by sending urgent letters, filing Freedom of Information
requests, and proposing Resolutions of Inquiry. Through those
diligent efforts, Conyers has laid the most solid groundwork
possible for impeachment.

So please John Conyers, I honestly beg you to introduce Articles of
Impeachment now.

Action items:

1. Send this article with a few words of your own to
campaign@johnconyers.com

2. Urge your Representative and Senators to support Impeachment:
http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/issues/alert/?alertid=8329176

3. C-Span taped this outstanding forum but it does not appear on C-
Span's schedule for Saturday, Sunday or Monday. Email viewer@c-
span.org and urge them to broadcast it.

4. The New York Times is one block from Town Hall, yet it did not
even mention this historic event. Email Executive Editor Bill Keller
executive-editor@nytimes.com and Public Editor Byron Calame
public@nytimes.com and demand to know why.

5. Link to this article from your favorite blogs and ask the blog
owner to join ImpeachPAC's Citizens Impeachment Commission.

6. Register to join in local protests:
http://www.democrats.com/user/register

7. Read the whole protest plan:
http://www.democrats.com/cd

8. Organize your congressional district:
http://pdamerica.org/orgs/cdpp-form.php

9. Support our efforts by contributing to ImpeachPAC.

Thank you for your tireless efforts to save American Democracy!

_______________

UPCOMING EVENTS TO END THE WAR AND HOLD WARMAKERS ACCOUNTABLE

Sign up for these, find others, and create your own at
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/event

See Also: UFPJ's 3rd Anniversary of the War Calendar of Events
http://unitedforpeace.org/calendar.php?
caltype=39&lcountry=&state=&search=Search

See Also: PDA Events
http://pdamerica.org/events/main-list.php

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Impeach Bush - H.Res.635 —Phil Burk, Tue Mar 7 21:11

Grassroots Activists Under Attack —Richard A. Viguerie, Tue Mar 7 21:24