- The Origins and Scope of Presidential Impeachment(Hinkley Journal ofPolitics)
- Impeachment Documents (Ralph Brown DraughonLibrary)
- Vote toImpeach President George Bush website
- Impeach Bush Editorials andInformation (Phil Burk)
- Is lying about the reason for a war an impeachable offense? (CNN/FindLaw)
WASHINGTON
(FinalCall.com)–The U.S. invasion of Iraq was the most serious act of aggression
in the country’s history and it was in clear violation of the most important
provisions of international law, according to former Attorney General Ramsey
Clark.
The “crimes” committed
by President George W. Bush and others in his administration warrant the
severest response from an alarmed citizenry: impeachment, Mr. Clark told a
luncheon audience at the National Press Club May 12.
“I urge everyone who
cares about the integrity of our Constitution to take back the Constitution by
insisting that the House of Representatives, which has the sole power of
impeachment, process impeachment proceedings now against President Bush for
launching this war of aggression,” Mr. Clark said.
›“It’s time that we
recognize that the Constitution of the United States, at length and more than
with any other single issue, dealt with the problem of the imperial presidency,
or crimes by officers of the United States executive,” he continued.
The authors of the
Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution provided the means, he
continued, “by which ‘We the People’ could protect ourselves from an imperial
presidency. There are six separate provisions in the Constitution for
impeachment.”
The first grounds for
impeachment–or formal legal charges being brought against the President and
others–is treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors. In order to be
removed from office, federal officers must first be charged with certain
violations by the U.S. House of Representatives–the impeachment–and then must be
convicted after a trial before the U.S. Senate, with the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court presiding.
“It’s imperative that we
face our duty to process impeachment,” Mr. Clark said, citing his Internet
website address–www.votetoimpeach.org–which has registered nearly 200,000 people
who have signed on to impeach Mr. Bush since March 19 when the invasion of Iraq
was formally launched.
His
organization–International ANSWER–has also collected more than 50,000 paper
ballots from citizens “voting” to impeach the popular president.
“The numbers of crimes
that we have committed beyond the worst crime of all, the war of aggression, are
too lengthy to count, but they include an absolute disregard for all the
international law that sought to protect the right of prisoners,” said Mr.
Clark.
“Do we really think the
rest of the world believes that our assault on Iraq complied with international
law? Then where are the scholars that say so? Because they don’t say so,” he
continued.
Popular or not, however,
Mr. Clark insisted that the drafters of the U.S. Constitution and its
impeachment clause would be “nauseated” by the “shock and awe” strategy used by
the U.S. military in the opening stages of the invasion of Iraq.
“What was all that shock
and awe? Was it just fireworks like the 4th of July, or was it killing
people–the heavy bombardments?” he asked. “Tell me the difference,
psychologically, between what is intended by shock and awe, and 9/11? It’s
sudden, devastating violence against a defenseless people by surprise, seeking
awe that will make them tremble and surrender.”
Mr. Clark, who was
attorney general from 1967-1969 during the last two years of Lyndon Johnson’s
presidency, has traveled often to Iraq, frequently defying U.S. government
regulations, taking humanitarian supplies; and he has met often with former
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
“This country of ours
has committed the most serious act of aggression in its history by engaging in a
war of aggression without a declaration of war by Congress,” he said. “We
attacked a country that was defenseless, was known to be defenseless before we
attacked. We sent missiles that they never saw until they hit.”
The U.S. news and
information media have done a poor job, Mr. Clark said, of presenting a balanced
view of the war. “How many times have you seen concern about how many Iraqis
were killed? The media needs to find out how many Iraqis died. Don’t they
matter? Are their lives worth less than ours?”
