Dear Gov. Dean -- “Finally, it has started.”

understandinglife

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Wed Jan-11-06 08:50 PM
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Dear Gov. Dean -- “Finally, it has started.”

12 January 2005 (# 38)

With those words, former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman commences a cogent assessment of why George W. Bush must be impeached. Her article will appear in the January 30, 2006, edition of The Nation and was published online Wed. evening, 11 January, 2006. It is entitled “The Impeachment of George W. Bush.”

As you know, Ms. Holtzman was a member of the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment of Richard M. Nixon. Her perspective on the nature of the situation is stated clearly in her last two paragraphs:

If a Republican Congress is unwilling to investigate and take appropriate action against a Republican President, then a Democratic Congress should replace it.

As awful as Watergate was, after the vote on impeachment and the resignation of President Nixon, the nation felt a huge sense of relief. Impeachment is a tortuous process, but now that President Bush has thrown down the gauntlet and virtually dared Congress to stop him from violating the law, nothing less is necessary to protect our constitutional system and preserve our democracy.

Link: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060130/holtzman/6

Yes, in as brazen a stunt as telling Iraqi’s to “bring it on” (and they have), Mr. Bush, on December 18, 2005, declared that he indeed had been breaking the law of the land and he intended to continue spying on American citizens without FISA oversight and approval.

Repeatedly, Mr. Bush has lied about Iraqi WMD and has persistently linked 9/11 to Saddam Hussein.

Ms. Holtzman summarizes the situation as follows:

Like many others, I have been deeply troubled by Bush's breathtaking scorn for our international treaty obligations under the United Nations Charter and the Geneva Conventions. I have also been disturbed by the torture scandals and the violations of US criminal laws at the highest levels of our government they may entail, something I have written about in these pages (see Holtzman, "Torture and Accountability," July 18/25, 2005, http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050718/holtzman). These concerns have been compounded by growing evidence that the President deliberately misled the country into the war in Iraq. But it wasn't until the most recent revelations that President Bush directed the wiretapping of hundreds, possibly thousands, of Americans, in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) -- and argued that, as Commander in Chief, he had the right in the interests of national security to override our country's laws -- that I felt the same sinking feeling in my stomach as I did during Watergate.

As a matter of constitutional law, these and other misdeeds constitute grounds for the impeachment of President Bush. A President, any President, who maintains that he is above the law -- and repeatedly violates the law -- thereby commits high crimes and misdemeanors, the constitutional standard for impeachment and removal from office. A high crime or misdemeanor is an archaic term that means a serious abuse of power, whether or not it is also a crime that endangers our constitutional system of government.

Link: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060130/holtzman

For the sake of America, I think it important that every Democratic candidate for Congress should state unambiguously that they will hold Mr. Bush and members of his administration accountable in the 110th US Congress, if the Republican controlled 109th US Congress does not do its job.

Simply, Gov. Dean, impeachment is no longer a partisan issue, it is the only way both Democrats and Republicans in the 109th US Congress can honor their oath of office, and avoid being collaborators in Bush's ongoing high crimes against Americans and others.

No more important issue confronts America than holding Bush and his administration accountable for their lawlessness and their avowed intention to continue being outlaws.

Thank you for your considerable leadership,

Peace.