"Lying About Reason For War An Impeachable Offense"

[protect freedom impeach bush now]

yes, this is THE same John Dean of The Nixon White House,
and WaterGate,
and the one who's testimony before the US Senate brought the final
downfall to the presidency of Richard M Nixon.


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http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20030606.html

Missing Weapons Of Mass Destruction:
Is Lying About The Reason For War An Impeachable Offense?
By JOHN W. DEAN
----
Friday, Jun. 06, 2003

President George W. Bush has got a very serious problem. Before asking Congress for a Joint Resolution authorizing the use of American military forces in Iraq, he made a number of unequivocal statements about the reason the United States needed to pursue the most radical actions any nation can undertake - acts of war against another nation.

Now it is clear that many of his statements appear to be false. In the past, Bush's White House has been very good at sweeping ugly issues like this under the carpet, and out of sight. But it is not clear that they will be able to make the question of what happened to Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) go away - unless, perhaps, they start another war.

That seems unlikely. Until the questions surrounding the Iraqi war are answered, Congress and the public may strongly resist more of President Bush's warmaking.

Presidential statements, particularly on matters of national security, are held to an expectation of the highest standard of truthfulness. A president cannot stretch, twist or distort facts and get away with it. President Lyndon Johnson's distortions of the truth about Vietnam forced him to stand down from reelection. President Richard Nixon's false statements about Watergate forced his resignation.

more...................

[NicoleM]

1. it's too late, for now

The election is just over a year away. Nobody is going to try to impeach him right now. If he wins, however, I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen.

[Pltcl_jnky]

2. Not if Repubs hold both houses

do you really think articles would ever see the light of day in a repub house and senate?

and if say dems retake and try and impeach then the media will spin it as sour grapes/retaliation for clinton etc....

concentrate on beating him in 13 months....thats the best way to remove a president

[NicoleM]

4. it's possible

The majority of politicians are more concerned about their own political future than anything else. If it looks like impeachment is what the people want, I think it could happen.

But I agree, it would be better just to beat that jackass next year.

[bryant69]

7. Sea Change

I hate to say it, but if President Bush wins reelection we will invade Syria or Iran in 2005 (possibly before), and impeachment will be seen as a dangerous play during war time, unless the mood of the nation undergoes an enemous sea change. So our only chance to get him out of the white house before he serves his two terms is in the election.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Old and In the Way]

3. If anyone knows, I'd think John Dean would.

Republicans can't view this as a partisan attack. If a President (and I'm not sure this term applies to Bush) lies to the American people on an issue as grave as this, why should he be trusted on any issue?

Was he blackmailed into going along with this? Seeing his performance on 9/11/01, you have to seriously wonder if he's really in control of the Executive branch...

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Try Bu$h in the court of public opinion

And demand his immediate resignation.

He is too dangerous and out of control to wait for impeachment.

[arcane1]

6. sadly, over 3 months later...

and this article STILL isn't getting the attention it deserves :grr:

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bryant69]

9. Hmmm

So, tell us, Rak, what do you think our attitude should be towards President Bush?

Rak, is that short for Shiprak?

[TreasonousBastard]

10. I'd say it's an impeachable offense.

It was an illegal war under international and US law. Promoting illegal war is about as impeachable offense as it gets. Lying about a war should be at least as impeachable as lying about a blowjob.

Of course, my understanding of the illegality of this war would be disputed by large numbers of those directly involved in impeachment. As would the charge of lying. He hasn't lied under oath yet, and that makes a difference. A legal difference only-- he's still a lying sack of shit.

Impeachment, though, as I keep bringing up, is not a legal process, it is a political process with legal overtones. Impeachments never occur unless there is little support from both sides of the house for the impeachee.

Note that the Constitution makes no provision for special prosecutors, judges, or anyone else from the court system to be involved. Whoever came up with the impeachment clause understood full well that the legal niceties of criminal law were not to be involved. The House has to impeach, and the Senate convict. It was intended as a purely political means of ousting a rogue President.

A Bill of Impeachment has been circulating around the House and is sitting in the bottom drawers of Democratic House members waiting for the appropriate time to strike. That won't be while Republicans control the House committees and Speaker's chair.

Id like to see the House change hands this November, impeach the sumbitch, force him to resign, Cheney takes over for the rest of the year and gets a plain vanilla VP, and they all get dumped in 2004.

Good riddance.

[Old and In the Way]

12. Just try to get this Republican under oath....for anything.

You are correct and I have never been more disgusted with the Republican Party in total. They've lost the spirit and fundemental understanding that a democracy needs competing opinions and ideas to thrive. They've shown an increasing tendency towards creating an authoritarian politcal society. I laugh at the Freepers who accuse liberals of being "communists" when it is them and their "Party" that demands groupthink and the unquestioning authority of their leadership. Replace Mao's little red book with the RNC talking points and you can quite easily see where that corrupt party is headed...

[library_max]

11. Don't forget the Clinton impeachment

It demonstrated that the law doesn't matter. All that matters is, who has the votes? We'd need a Democratic majority in the House to impeach him and a 2/3 majority in the Senate to convict him, and that's assuming that not a single Democrat voted against it.

[maggrwaggr]

13. he needs to go to jail, not just be impeached

what he did was absolutely 100% criminal. It's right up there with Mussolini invading Ethiopia, Hitler invading Poland, and Saddam Hussein invading Kuwait.

There's absolutely no difference between these acts as far as criminality goes.

He needs to be arrested by an international force, tried as a criminal at the Hague, and imprisoned for the rest of his life.

Along with Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle, and whoever else lied along with him.

Oh yeah, that would be the press, wouldn't it.