The New London Smoking Gun! Isn't it Time to Impeach Bush? Vote Now!
Thu Feb 02, 2006 at 05:20:44 PM PDT
The Thursday, February 2 story by Richard Norton-Taylor in London's Guardian reveals information from a memo of a White House meeting on January 31, 2003 between George W. Bush and Tony Blair in which Bush revealed that the U.S. intended to invade Iraq whether or not there was a second UN resolution and even if UN inspectors found no evidence of a banned Iraqi weapons program.
Phillipe Sands, a professor of international law at University College in London, revealed the memo in a new edition of his book, Lawless World. Professor Sands last year exposed doubts shared by British Foreign Office lawyers about the legality of the invasion in disclosures which eventually forced Prime Minister Blair to publish the full legal advice given to him by Attorney General Lord Goldsmith.
The new smoking gun reveals a flagrant violation of international law. Waging war under such circumstances constitutes a breach of the Nuremberg and Geneva codes and the UN Charter, which legitimize such action only in clear and present danger situations involving self-defense.
Bush's deceit and lawlessness were further exemplified when he told Blair that the U.S. was so worried about the failure to find hard evidence against Saddam Hussein that it considered "flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft planes with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colors." According to the Guardian article, Bush's rationale was that "If Saddam fired on them (the planes), he would be in breach (of UN resolutions)".
Sir Menzies Campbell, acting leader of Britain's Liberal Democrats, put the breaches of international law into perspective: "The fact that consideration was apparently given to using American military aircraft in UN colours in the hope of provoking Saddam Hussein is a graphic illustration of the rush to war. It would also appear to be the case that the diplomatic efforts in New York after the meeting of January 31 were simply going through the motions, with decision for military action already taken."
The White House meeting between Bush and Blair occurred a few days before Secretary of State Colin Powell's dramatic presentation concerning Iraq's weapons program, which Bush's White House Propaganda Ministry, also known as Fox News, lauded as a "virtuoso performance", and the bases for which were thoroughly discredited.
This latest smoking gun, taken in concert with recent disclosures concerning Bush illegalities in the wire tapping field, in which he engaged in spying without seeking court orders under a 1978 law pertaining to the collection of intelligence information, as well as egregious breaches of civil liberties exemplified in the Padilla Case involving preventive detention and widespread violations of the Geneva Code in treatment of designated "enemy combatants" at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib detention centers, reveals a consistent pattern of law breaking both foreign and domestic.
How long will this spoiled man-child and the Administration over which he is said to preside be allowed to flaunt the law? Considering the feebleness of Congress and the so-called Democratic Party "loyal opposition" the arrogance of Bush, Cheney and Rove is completely understandable.
Meanwhile the same congressional Republicans who intensely pursued Bill Clinton and voted almost unanimously to remove him from office for lying on an affidavit about an extra-marital sex act, insisting that the criterion to be used was whether or not Clinton had told the truth, blindly supports a leader who has repeatedly flaunted both the truth and the law.
These Republicans loudly applaud with straight faces when Bush declares his objective of firmly planting the seeds of American democracy in the Middle East when he has been its violent opponent and vigorous transgressor to democratic tradition at home.
Isn't it time to finally reject the bogus warnings of the Bush Lite adherents such as Joes such as Lieberman and Klein to "play it safe" and focus on the U.S. Constitution. There is a mandated responsibility for members of the House and Senate to see that the laws implemented in Congress' statutes be faithfully executed.
Founding Father Alexander Hamilton in Number 65 of the Federalist Papers outlined the constitutional grounds for impeachment:
"The subject of its jurisdiction are those offences which proceed from the misconduct of public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust."
In manufacturing a war Bush has engaged in a serious breach of the public trust. Isn't it time for him to be finally held accountable?
Register your vote here as to whether you believe that it is time for action in regard to the impeachment of George W. Bush and other complicit members of his Administration.
