United States Constitution, Article 2, Section 2: The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
Emphasis mine.
Impeachment at this juncture and based on the revelations over , regardless of the arguments against it, is a moral imperative. Bush will no doubt pardon anyone that has any connection to any wrongdoings, and even though Obama and Clinton talk about investigating the crimes committed in this administration, I think we all probably know how difficult it will be to get anything meaningful done in that respect, although if either of them do, I will be so very pleasantly surprised.
That being said, the arguments of “not enough time” or “not enough votes” all melt away when compared to the implications and consequences of ignoring and tacitly approving of torture. Torture is the most heinous and sadistic of acts that I can possibly think of. I would be willing to be there are millions, nay, tens of millions of Americans who agree with me. Yet, for us tens of millions, we will be known as “those people who torture”.
And it will not be forgotten, nor will anybody be forgiven (not to mention our troops being at greater risk for being tortured if captured).
Illegal wiretapping, while a violation of the Constitution and most certainly an impeachable offense, is not a crime against humanity. Outing an entire covert network of nuclear proliferation tracking, certainly more impeachable than lying about a blowjob, was never something that most people could understand how directly they were impacted by that. Ignoring subpoenas, destroying evidence of torture, lying to Congress and misleading the American people wasn’t something that apparently caught on in terms of anyone in Congress caring enough to pursue.
But torture is different.
Torture is subhuman. Torture is clearly illegal. Torture is a stain on the entire country. It is never “for noble causes”. It is never “right”, it is never “just” and it is never acceptable on any legal or moral level whatsoever.
Criminals associated with the administration were pardoned and the country “moved ahead” in a number of prior republican administrations. And while some of these criminals did commit some heinous crimes, I don’t believe that top administration officials – including the President – had such a hand in directing, approving and planning the torture of other humans – no matter what those humans were suspected of doing (or merely being associated with).
And this is the difference. Whether we approve of Bush and his administration or not, he does represent this country. As does/did Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Tenet, Powell and Ashcroft. They are the face of “America’s bullying foreign policy”.
And they have associated this country with being torturers.
There is only one remedy that will ensure that the perpetrators will not get away with it. And to make any argument against this remedy ignores the consequence of “America tortures” will have on us for many years to come. It can be used as an excuse for attacks on our troops. It can be used as an excuse to attack US interests around the world. It can be used as an excuse to attack us here in America. It can be used as a reason to not ever take us seriously again.
What happens now is what will define us as a nation.
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Please join the ACLU in demanding a special prosecutor to investigate the role that was played by the highest officials in the Bush administration – including Bush himself in the acts described above.
And please spread the word – even if the corporate media doesn’t think that this is important enough – it is how we act now with respect to accountability that will determine who we are as a country. It has been almost two weeks since this story broke and there is still a near complete blackout on this story.
It’s not the only they don’t get away with torture, there is always The Hague.
I definitely don`t want to seem negative, but I think the only way to get this country back on the right track is have in-house trials first. Then again, if they think they can traipse around the world openly, then que sera, sera.
I also think that they did pass a law that protects them retroactively here, but that, that set off a protocol for international courts to step in, if they, for whatever reason, cannot be tried here. I believe they didn`t think the whole thing all the way through, or if so, then they`re gambling that no other country will dare step in to try them. I hope they`re proven wrong if that`s the case. As much as I can, I`ve been following the steps that should lead them to be tried in any court for a long time. I have a cache of links & articles that I cross reference when something new comes up. It`s gotten to the point that their machinations are hard to follow, & harder yet to conceive that they would not face punishment.
Dare I hope?
And as Clammy says, impeachment is a sure fire way to possibly succeed, but not even trying promises failure. A failure to even try, is what some will have trouble explaining to their children & grandchildren.
…we ever find out what else they did. Per Scalia’s opinion, it’s the only way that we can avoid endless rounds of “run out the clock” and claims of executive privilege in Congressional hearings. It’s the only way the new administration ever gets evidence for next year’s prosecutions.
But of course, if Clinton doesn’t go, it’s a moot point. So we should be calling, walking or donating in Pennsylvania this weekend and then impeaching on Wednesday.
Great points all around.
We have now three possible candidates for the presidency. We HAD as many as twelve. During the past 16 months or so those 12 candidates have quite possibly spoken 12 million words in their quest for office.
How many of them were the word “impeachment”?
Except perhaps to quell the notion.
Not only will there be no impeachment, but if there are any criminal charges brought up against the movers and shakers of BushCo in the future, WHOEVER is in power will do whatever they can to quell them as well.
Including pardons if necessary.
It’s the politic thing to do.
And they ARE politicians.
It’d be bad for business, don’tcha know.
AG
Well, given the popularity of Jack Bauer, I’m not sure what the majority of Americans would be ashamed of about torture. Then again, real torture isn’t like what is depicted in 52 minutes of prime time (and none of these administration thugs is as as good-looking as Kiefer Sutherland).
The purpose of impeachment in the Constitution is to disqualify individuals from any future position of public trust.
The purpose of impeachment in the Constitution is to disqualify individuals from any future position of public trust.
Now, you see that it is not a pardonable criminal proceeding, although those might be parallel actions. And whether an illegitimate president’s pardon means anything is up for grabs.
It is so what happened with Cheney and Rumsfeld and company doesn’t happen with Rice and Gonzales and Yoo and Addington and Rove and…..down to Dana Perino and no doubt a few civil service employees that the politicos slipped in.
Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld need to be impeached for the history books. The rest so that we will not see their sorry asses back in DC.
You know what to do.
There is more to it than that I think. Most of most political positions are being filled by those who have no conscience whatsoever. With the amount of distractions going on (the latest American Idol, Obama with the votes, Clinton and her fake self) impeachment seems to be on the back burner. As long as Bush is playing ball I don’t anything is going to be done. The real issue is that psychopaths are in top positions of government and do not care a single bit about the rest of the population. The effect this has is that it basically turns the masses into unfeeling sociopaths – it is a condition known as PONEROLOGY.
Remember, these are the guys that are Shaping Conventional Wisdom and will say anything to get you to have a little Empathy for them.