I have been thinking for weeks on how to approach our republican rep. Dave Reichert about why he has not had the guts to help bring about articles of impeachment against Shrub and Dick. Here is what I have come up with thus far. Any comments are welcome. Please make the jump and let me know of any changes would be warranted.
Thanks!
RE: House hearings for drawing up articles of impeachment against George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney
Representative Reichert:
I have thought long in deciding how best to reach you regarding the current leadership crisis facing this country. I believe that I have come up with a great way to do so.
You were (and still are) a law officer, a former King County Deputy and Sherriff, the detective that tracked the Green River Killer down over many years and obstacles. You of all people should absolutely know what to do when someone walks into your office and states unequivocally that they have performed acts that are widely held to be illegal, and will continue doing so because they think that they are above the law. You may do one of two things:
- You may take them into custody immediately if the crime is obvious and heinous while you investigate the admission
- You may release them on their own recognizance while you investigate the admission
In any case, you
must investigate the issue because you have both probable cause and a reasonable suspicion to do so before either proceeding to dismiss it or to continue with a prosecution and trial. In this case, your steps are clear:
- The investigation consists of House Hearings to find evidence, via subpoena if necessary, and consider the evidence to see if it is credible and constitutes acts that are considered as "High Crimes and Misdemeanors" by the Constitution
- The prosecutorial step is simple if the investigation provides evidence of impeachable offenses: Articles of Impeachment MUST be drawn up and passed to the Senate for an impeachment trial.
Given the facts in this issue, there is an obvious disconnect going on between what the House does and what the majority of the people in this country believe: It is illegal to perform warrant-less domestic surveillance on USA citizens or residents, regardless of the alleged security benefits. The Authority to Use Military Force (AUMF) does not give authority to do so as it is not a Declaration of War from the Congress and domestic surveillance is not under the military's command structure. The FISA law and the Constitution describe what must be done for performing surveillance on foreign and domestic, respectively, parties. They both include warrants, plain and simple.
This is, at the very least, an obvious grey area here which begs to be investigated. The Bush administration obviously wishes us to believe that their position is the legal one, but they refuse to allow oversight, accountability, and transparency that the Constitution requires via the checks and balances described in it. Their legal statements about this issue (and others) are simply opinions from the executive branch that seek to limit the Congress's power in their oversight role of the executive branch. How can we believe this administration after all of the missteps and lies they have already told us about every single issue since 2001? The answer? We cannot! We must expose each and every action of this administration to the legal and required scrutiny of the House and Senate simply because this administration has forced us to do so. In point of fact, by the Bush administrations own legal standard, we are well within our rights to put them under surveillance ourselves to find out if their acts are in fact legal.
I urge you to put the citizens of this fine country ahead of any party affiliation and allegiance, ahead of any partisan politics, ahead of any thoughts of reelection and to do your duty that you have sworn many times in your professional career as a law enforcement officer and as a representative to the House of the United States of America: To serve and to protect. To uphold the laws and protect the Constitution.
Of course, I have left out a whole litany of various offenses committed by George W. Bush that are also impeachable, including:
- Lying to Congress in the 2003 SOTU with the infamous "16 words" describing Iraq's purchase of uranium yellow-cake
- Lying to Congress in the response to Congress's requirement in the AUMF for justification in invading Iraq about the presence of weapons of mass destruction and non-compliance with United Nations resolutions.
- Failure to uphold the oath of office by appointing incompetent and unqualified people to high cabinet posts, e.g. Michael Brown at FEMA, leading to the loss of over 1000 lives of citizens and residents of New Orleans and the gulf coast of Louisiana and Mississippi.
Thank you for your time