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Articles of Impeachment for
President George W. Bush
for High Crimes and Misdemeanors
WHEREAS, United States House of Representatives
rules allow for setting a federal impeachment in motion by charges
transmitted from the legislature of a State or territory; and
WHEREAS, The State of Florida and the former
territory of Mississippi have established precedent by referring such
charges to Congress, which in each case resulted in Congress ordering a
Committee to investigate and report on the charges, and which in one
case resulted in the impeachment hearings of Judge Charles Swayne of
Florida; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush, President of the United
States, has so conducted himself and his office as to cause the people
of the State of Rhode Island to doubt his integrity and to believe that
his official actions as president have constituted High Crimes and
Misdemeanors having repeatedly and intentionally violated and ignored
the United States Constitution and other laws of the United States; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has ordered the
federalization and deployment of our state’s National Guard members
overseas and thus has exceeded the authority granted in the provision of
the United States Constitution that Congress shall have the power to
"provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the laws of the Union,
to suppress insurrections and repel invasions," reserving to our State
Assembly and Governor the authority to direct the training and arming of
members of our state’s National Guard for defense of the state; and
WHEREAS, The federalization and deployment of
National Guard members has rendered the National Guard force unable to
carry out its state activities effectively and thus deprived the state
of its Constitutional power to keep the National Guard for defense of
our state; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has allowed stop-loss
orders that violate the mutual understanding between Rhode Islanders in
the Armed Forces including the National Guard and our state and nation
they agreed to serve; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush in violation of his
constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the
United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and
defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his
constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,
committed a felony under 18 U.S.C. 1001, having conspired to exceed his
constitutional authority to wage war, in that on March 19, 2003, by his
order the United States of America invaded the sovereign country of Iraq
in direct defiance of the United Nations Security Council. This
constitutes a violation of Chapter 1, Article 2 of the United Nations
Charter and a violation of Principal VI of the Nuremberg Charter.
According to Article VI of the United States Constitution "This
Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in
Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under
the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the
Land." George W. Bush has subverted and violated the principles of
democracy by:
1. Providing misinformation to the United Nations Security
Council, Congress, and the American people
overstating the offensive capabilities of Iraq, including weapons of
mass destruction, as justification for military action against Iraq.
2. Repeatedly manipulating the sentiments of the American people
by erroneously linking Iraq with the terrorist attacks of September 11th
by Al-Qaeda.
3. Repeatedly claiming that satellite photos of sites in Iraq
depicted factories for weapons of mass destruction in contradiction with
the results of ground inspections by United Nations teams.
4. Stating that "Saddam Hussein recently sought significant
quantities of uranium from Africa" in his State of the Union Address
after being told by the CIA that this was untrue and that the supporting
documents were forged.
5. Influencing, manipulating and distorting intelligence related
to Iraq with the intention of using that intelligence to support his
goal of invading Iraq.
6. Invading Iraq with United States
military forces.
7. Sacrificing the lives of thousands of
American soldiers.
8. Killing tens of thousands of Iraqi
civilians and conscripts.
9. Rejecting peaceful resolution by acts of
UN compliance by Saddam Hussein.
10. Violating the Geneva Convention
by abducting and transporting human beings to prisons in foreign
countries where they can be subjected to inhumane treatment.
WHEREAS, the administration of the United States’
invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and handling of the aftermath of
Katrina, has resulted in the waste of assets, through incompetence,
insufficient oversight, insufficient planning, and no-bid contracts with
companies associated with White House officials that are serious
conflicts of interest.; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has admitted that he
willingly and repeatedly directed unwarranted surveillance of U. S.
persons, in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States
Constitution and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of the United
States; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush committed felonies under 18
U.S.C. 641 and 643 by transferring funds authorized for use in the war
in Afghanistan and diverting it to an as-yet unauthorized build-up
towards war in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush committed felonies, namely
espionage, fraud, or obstruction of justice, through involvement in the
cover-up of the leak of Valerie (Plame) Wilson’s identity; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has approved of torture
under the name of stress and duress, has denied the applicability of
existing laws and treaties against torture, and has indicated in his
signing statement of H.R. 1815 his future intention to continue to
disregard such laws and treaties; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has appointed unqualified
personnel to critical government positions as political favors where
their incompetence places American citizens at risk or intentionally
blocks information that may require consideration for the public good;
and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has repeatedly acted to
expand the power of a unitary executive in violation of the principle of
balance of power; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush, through the above actions
has denied the citizens of our state of their rights and their safety;
now, therefore, be it
Resolved, by the General Assembly of this state,
that our Senators and Representatives in the United States Congress be,
and they are hereby, requested to cause to be instituted in the Congress
of the United States proper proceedings for the investigation of the
governance of the Executive Branch by George W. Bush as President of the
United States, and of his acts and doings as such, to the end that he
may be impeached and removed from such office; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of State of Rhode
Island be, and is hereby, instructed to certify to each Senator and
Representative in the Congress of the United States, under the great
seal of this state, a copy of this resolution and its adoption by its
legislature. |
