cross-posted at The Christian Dem Home Journal
For a long time, I was of the mind that much of what we knew happened with the run-up to the Iraq war was serious enough only to warrant censuring Shrub. But after seeing the memo ... that's what convinced me there's enough evidence to impeach this president.
Granted, it's going to take awhile. John Conyers already has the ball rolling with his letter to Shrub. If Shrub's response is unsatisfactory, the smart thing would be for Conyers and friends to read that letter into the Congressional Record. Then ramp up what's already being done now--educating the people on why this president has committed high crimes and misdemeanors. But if the final decision came today, I would support impeaching this president unless the man did the Christian thing and repented before the American people for his outrageous lies. And if he were truly contrite, he'd resign.
To that end, here's what I probably would have said on the House floor in the impeachment debate:
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the resolution to impeach George Walker Bush for high crimes and misdemeanors. This is not something I take lightly. Indeed, impeachment is the second most important duty of a member of this body. Indeed, I have long believed this president has committed actions that merit him being brought to the well of the House for censure. But what finally drove me to this point is that this president conspired with a foreign government to mislead this body into carrying out its most important duty--the decision to send our troops into battle.
I am astounded by the audacity with which this conspiracy was perpetuated. The memo detailing the minutes of that meeting, which my friend and colleague from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) has already read into the record, lays out in threadbare terms the intentions of President Bush and Prime Minister Blair. They were hellbent on going into Iraq, even if it meant lying to their legislatures and to their people. This is behavior that is reminiscent of the days when foreign policy was conducted in secret, without the knowledge of the legislature or the people. It is certainly not conduct which has any place in a democracy. I have searched for any justification based on national security for why this president misled us in this manner, and I have found none.
Mr. Speaker, it is bad enough that the president made the decision to use force against Iraq contrary to the express stipulations of the authorization this body gave him to take action. The authorization required him to determine that all diplomatic avenues had been exhausted, and that Iraq was giving aid and comfort to Osama bin Laden and his minions. Neither of those conditions were met. It is even worse that the president knew about the Secretary of Defense's unlawful diversion of funds from the current conflict in Afghanistan to this current action in Iraq and failed to prevent it. But for the president of the United States to conspire with the prime minister of the United Kingdom to go to war and mislead the people of both countries, and their elected representatives is unforgiveable. A president who engages in such conduct has committed a high misdemeanor, and in circumstances like this he has committed a high crime.
Mr. Speaker, thousands of our brave men and women have died in battle, and many more have been injured. And for what? A conflict that happened because this president sent them into war based on evidence he knew was patently false. What little legitimacy this conflict may have had is now in tatters.
It will undoubtedly be asked why I believe this president has committed impeachable offenses while President Clinton didn't. Yes, it is undeniable that President Clinton failed to tell the truth about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. But there the parallel with President Bush ends. President Clinton's actions related to private affairs separate from his official duties. In contrast, President Bush has lied and lied and lied about his most important function as our leader--to decide when our nation is under threat.
With that in mind, Mr. Speaker, unless I hear something I haven't heard or see something I haven't seen before the vote is called, I will vote to refer all four articles of impeachment to the Senate.