Impeach Bush now
Even a month ago, I was content to let the electoral system
punish President George W. Bush for his incompetence in
prosecuting the war in Iraq. Let him deal with more Democrats
than he bargained for after the 2006 midterm elections, I
thought. That would sufficiently punish him for his failures;
anything more would set a dangerous precedent discouraging
future presidents from launching big endeavors that might not
work.
Oh, what a difference a few weeks have made! Now, I say, impeach
and remove this dangerous man. Bush's profane abuses of his
office cannot stand before history as acceptable behavior in a
president.
Why have I resolved thusly?
First, indications have accumulated Bush indeed condones torture
of detainees, despite his pleas to the contrary. The military
has used doctors to exploit detainees' weaknesses and monitor
their health during harsh interrogations, which participants
have said leave the subjects injured or, sometimes, dead. A
doctor who investigated the abuse reports:
"The range of interrogation techniques, or abuse techniques, is
pretty much the whole array of usual stuff that happens in
countries that torture. It includes beatings,
suspension, near-asphyxia, chemical burns--there were
instances of burns with lighter fluid--kicks, slamming against
the wall. There was at least one
thumbscrew I saw. Electrical shocks
with, in our case, external electrodes. I did not see any
internal electrodes. There were instances of
asphyxiation, food and water deprivation,
deprivation of access to toilets, deprivation of access to
medical care, forcing people to urinate on
themselves, forcing people to masturbate, to renounce
their religion, to put the urine or feces of other people
on themselves, other forms of nudity, forced
fondling, verbal abuse, threats against family, mock
executions, forcing the victims to watch other family
members being abused. They also used what's called
"perceptual monopolization," which included loud noise..."
(Emphasis mine. Source: The American Way of Torture).
Besides which, the Bush administration has confessed to allowing
waterboarding, a technique that entails submerging detainees
underwater so they believe they're drowning. This, as well as
the tactics described above, is torture.
Even under the most Machiavellian considerations, interrogators
shouldn't torture captives in their charge. People will tell
their tormentors anything, true or not, to make the horrors
stop. This floods intelligence services with bad information. (I
wonder if that helped the Bush administration conceive a bogus
vision of Iraq's WMD program.) So, practically speaking,
condoning torture is stupid policy.
In addition, of course, torture violates the most cherished
ideals of the American people. Our country stands to shine
benevolent hope into the world, not darken it with the same
barbaric cruelty our enemies do. For Bush to lower his
administration to the level of thugs and terrorists destroys his
moral authority to lead not only our good nation, but the free
world. In so doing, he damages the Presidency of the United
States.
That alone would warrant Bush's impeachment. As Alexander
Hamilton says in Federalist 65:
"A well-constituted court for the trial of impeachments is an
object not more to be desired than difficult to be obtained in a
government wholly elective. The subjects of its jurisdiction are
those offenses which proceed from the misconduct of public men,
or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public
trust. They are of a nature which may with peculiar propriety be
denominated POLITICAL, as they relate chiefly to injuries done
immediately to the society itself."
A president need not commit a legal crime for impeachment to
commence. "High crimes and misdemeanors," instead, encompasses
violent of trust and harm to society that can fall outside the
strict boundaries of law. (If "high crimes and misdemeanors"
meant literal crimes, a president would be impeachable for
jaywalking. That's absurd.) Under this criterion from the
Federalist Papers, Bush's abuse of power in authorizing systemic
torture qualifies as an impeachable offense.
Still, many people might not see brutal treatment of foreign
alleged terrorists outside American borders as important. It's
not happening in the United States, as far as they know, so it's
a foreign policy problem remote from their concern. But, sadly
for us, that's not the extent of Bush's transgressions.
The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution protects
American citizens from government searching and snooping without
a warrant. When Bush ascended to the Oval Office, he swore to
"preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United
States." And yet he has trampled that very document. Showing his
isolation from reality, Bush has matter-of-factly--as if he
can't understand why anyone would be upset--admitted to ordering
the National Security Agency to spy on American citizens on
multiple occasions. No courts issued warrants for these
invasions of Americans' privacy. They transpired at the sole
behest of the executive.
So not only has Bush adopted the tactics of an authoritarian
regime abroad, but he's also done it at home, trampling the Bill
of Rights with his cowboy boots. Bush loves to pontificate about
freedom, warning us of the danger terrorists pose to it. If
terrorists are the enemies of freedom, as Bush maintains they
are, then he has become their collaborator.
To borrow from the president's father, George H. W. Bush, "This
will not stand."
If Americans value their rights and liberties, then they cannot
allow a man who defies the Constitution to remain in office.
Such would encourage not only Bush, but future
commanders-in-chief, to encroach further on American freedoms.
To the Congress of the United States, I say, impeach Bush now.
And then kick him out of the West Wing.