Making the Case for Impeachment (Ratner / The Nation)

[struggle4progress]

<snip> While Rumsfeld has consistently failed in his duty to uphold the law, defend the Constitution, advance national security and respect human rights (including the torture ban), his greatest offenses have never involved "mismanaging" policy. The problem is the policy itself--an immoral foreign policy pursued through fraudulent and unconstitutional tactics--created by President George W. Bush. Bush ordered it through the chain of command of the US government, a fact that his military critics surely understand.

When asked about the challenge to Rumsfeld, the President recently declared, "I'm the decider, and I decide what's best." This is one time we can take him at his word. From building a fraudulent case for the Iraq War to overseeing torture and indefinite detainment to authorizing illegal domestic spying, Bush makes the decisions and others suffer the consequences. Firing Rumsfeld now is like benching a quarterback for running plays ordered by the coach. It is a start, and Rumsfeld should definitely go, but it is only the beginning.

Bush has committed high crimes and misdemeanors by fraudulently taking us to war with Iraq, authorizing domestic spying, condoning torture and undermining the constitutional principle of separation of powers by repeatedly defying Congress and the courts. Even when his illegal domestic spying program was exposed, he brazenly declared he would continue to break the law, betraying his oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." That is why it is time for Americans to consider the grave action of removing the President from office. It is a radical remedy for a radical reality, but the long-term health of our democracy depends on turning the national conversation from Rumsfeld and midterm politics to Bush and impeachment <snip>

This leads to one of the most disturbing questions about President Bush's spying program. The entire FISA court was designed to defer to presidential authority in emergencies and most areas of national security. Warrants are provided retroactively up to three days after a wiretap is employed. The secret FISA court is leak-proof--far more than the Bush Administration, it turns out--and virtually always grants requests from every Administration. (The court approved every wiretap request in its first twenty-three years of existence; then from 1995 to 2004, it approved 99.9 percent of wiretap requests--allowing 10,613 out of 10,617, it turned down four.) <snip>



http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060522/ratner