"If we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending, if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained - we must fight!" -- Patrick Henry
President George W. Bush is a grave threat to the national security of the United States of America.
Of course, the mere utterance of such a sweeping charge is difficult because it presents an emotional and intellectual challenge. It asks a citizen to cast off the natural desire to be unflinchingly loyal to our nation’s leader. Voicing such a conclusion also raises the blood pressure because we are all aware of the savage words and savage deeds of the wealth and power culture that keeps George Bush in business.
Nonetheless, acknowledging the threat that George W. Bush poses to our national security is one of the highest acts of patriotism because it demonstrates a love for and loyalty to the fundamental principles of freedom, democracy, and justice that comprise the foundation of our democracy. Indeed, it does not follow that an American patriot would support George W. Bush because, as demonstrated below, he has outright rejected the Constitution enshrining these principles, and thus broken his oath to elevate its protection above all other influences.
Citizens in a democracy hold a special responsibility simply by virtue of being citizens to resist threats to the continuity of the democratic system of government. We all said the "Pledge of Allegiance" in childhood, and those of us becoming citizens, serving as government officers, judges, and lawmakers must swear an additional oath to protect the constitution. Honor, therefore, tasks us to be vigilant against threats to our national security.
Two key weaknesses in our overall security flowing directly from the policies of our sitting President are highlighted below: the threat to our freedom from government abuses and the threat to our military defense.
First, George Bush is a threat to essential freedom:
• The president and his advisors subscribe to the "unitary executive" theory under which the executive has the "inherent authority" to claim powers constitutionally-delegated to the legislative branch. This theory is at odds with the very concept of a democratic state.
• George W. Bush has issued hundreds of "presidential signing statements" that claim the right to ignore or change the laws dutifully enacted by Congress. Such actions disrupt the balance of power between the three co-equal branches of government. They have been used by past presidents but never to the extent that they purport to change the substantive law.
• Under the Military Commissions Act passed in November, 2006, the President may capriciously suspend habeas corpus, or the right to seek relief from unlawful detention, for the entirety of the prisoner’s detention. Habeas corpus is a touchstone of the concept of freedom and has been a part of common law for 700 years. In 1969, the Supreme Court stated, "[t]he writ of habeas corpus is the fundamental instrument for safeguarding individual freedom against arbitrary and lawless state action." Harris v. Nelson, 394 U.S. 286, 290-91 (1969). As Keith Olbermann noted, suspension of habeas corpus runs afoul of nine of the ten rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights.
• George W. Bush is responsible for torture, issuing strained legal opinions warping well-established definitions of torture, and can now operate under Congressionally-approved torture that requires nothing more than his whimsical label of "unlawful enemy combatant."
• The president may now hold trials of detainees of his choosing in kangaroo courts that violate multiple basic principles of due process and justice including the ability to see the evidence used against a defendant.
• The president has created a worldwide network of secret and not-so-secret prison camps with no oversight as to their compatibility with the principles of human rights. Prisoners in these camps are held incommunicado, even when many of them were taken under an unreliable pay-for-prisoners program and many have convincing evidence of their innocence.
• The president is spying on Americans without the judicial warrants that assure the motivations for the spying comport with the law. Under the auspices of "war powers," the president claims the right to spy on the private phone calls of American citizens with out a warrant, the right to open private mail, and tap bank records. As each of these acts against privacy are examined and challenged, their legality will likely run the gambit of legally questionable to unequivocally unconstitutional.
• It is evident that George Bush does not believe that the President is constrained by the rule of law.
Second, George Bush is a threat to our military defense:
• Our greatest enemy, Osama bin Laden, has not been brought to justice for perpetrating the 9/11 attacks. Certainly influencing George Bush’s inability to capture or kill Osama bin Laden is his admitted ambivalence and his closing of the intelligence unit dedicated to the task.
• In an act of aggressive war, described in international law parlance as a "crime against the peace," George Bush invaded a sovereign nation that posed no imminent threat to the safety or security of our nation. In doing so, he violated the U.N. Charter requiring the approval of the U.N. Security Counsel and committed the crime for which German leaders were tried and convicted at Nuremberg.
• U.S. intelligence agencies admit that George W. Bush’s war of aggression in Iraq worsens the terrorist threat against U.S. citizens.
• Our military is demonstrably weaker. Incompetence and pernicious military contracting prevent our troops from having the equipment they need. Our forces were described as "stretched thin" as early as 2003, preventing otherwise aggressive foreign policy against threats such as North Korea. Our weary military personnel are forced into multiple tours of duty, the standards for enlisting are becoming increasingly soft, and the military repeatedly falls short of recruiting goals. Finally, the soldiers and officers themselves have come forward and are actively petitioning Congress for respite from George Bush’s unreasonable policies.
• George W. Bush exhibits massive incompetence in conducting war, most notably in his invasion of Iraq without an exit strategy. Indeed, he has ignored and replaced career military experts that disagree with his policies.
• Rejecting the general international law objective of promoting worldwide peace, George Bush has unilaterally removed himself of the obligations of multiple peace treaties, including but not limited to the "unsigning" of the Treaty of Rome establishing the International Criminal Court, the tacit rejection of the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty, and plans to militarize space in violation of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
• By insisting in 2002 it needed no congressional approval to invade Iraq, perverting the intention of the legislation giving Bush the authority to invade Iraq, violating the War Powers Resolution of 1973, and escalating troop levels against the will of Congress, George Bush asserts the power to usurp the war-related duties of Congress as listed in Article I of the Constitution.
• Our involvement in Iraq is presently costing $8,000,000,000 per month, or $11,000,000 per hour, making us economically vulnerable.
• The foreign policy of this administration has engendered worldwide mistrust, resentment and fear of the United Sates of America.
• Bush is posturing for a second war of aggression with Iran. Ominous threats against Iran are found in multiple speeches, warships and strike aircraft have been moved into position to attack, and he raided the Iranian consulate in Iraq and arrested Iranian officers.
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Given that the Constitution is designed to prevent the abuse of power, it is imperative that our lawmakers forcefully oppose George Bush’s intentions with every legal tool available. This includes denying George Bush funding for his newly-announced troop escalation, using the Constitutionally-granted right to fund the military to force the safest redeployment of our troops from Iraq, passing legislation targeted to restore the structure and sanctity of the Constitution, including but not limited to a Congressional refutation of "signing statements," unflinching investigation into the litany of presidential power abuses, diligent oversight and impeachment.
In service of the concept that the U.S. Congress is a voice of the will of the people, we are relying on Congress to exercise its duty-bound commitment to protect the Constitution against domestic threats, and begin the national healing process that the United States of America so desperately needs. To be sure, stopping the anti-constitution and anti-democratic policies of George W. Bush, his advisors and his enablers is vital to protect the continuity of our democratic government.