Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /home/customer/www/ufppc.org/public_html/libraries/fof30/Input/Input.php on line 99 United for Peace of Pierce County - Call for the impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
"We
nonviolently oppose the reliance on unilateral military actions rather than
cooperative diplomacy."
Call for the
Impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
April 21,
2005
On April 15, 2005, Senator Carl
Levin released newly declassified documents establishing a prima facie case that
President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are guilty of the crime
of waging a war of aggression against the nation of Iraq. We therefore call for
their impeachment, their trial, and, upon conviction, their removal from
office.
The legality of the Iraq war depended upon the presidentÂ’s compliance with Public Law 107-243, the Authorization for Use of Military Force against Iraq Resolution of 2002, passed by Congress on October 16, 2002. This law stipulates that before attacking Iraq, the president must "prior to such exercise or as soon thereafter as may be feasible, but no later than 48 hours after exercising such authority, make available to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate his determination that (1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic or other peaceful means alone either (A) will not adequately protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq or (B) is not likely to lead to enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq; and (2) acting pursuant to this joint resolution is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorist and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001."
Accordingly, on March 18, 2003, the president sent to the speaker of the United States House of Representatives and the president pro tempore of the United States Senate the following statement: "Consistent with section 3(b) of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public Law 107-243), and based on information available to me, including that in the enclosed document, I determine that: (1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic and other peaceful means alone will neither (A) adequately protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq nor (B) likely lead to enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq; and (2) acting pursuant to the Constitution and Public Law 107-243 is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001." He signed it "Sincerely, George W. Bush."
But three documents declassified at the request of Senator Carl Levin of Michigan show that "claims of a cooperative relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda made by top administration officials in support of the Iraq war were contrary to what U.S. intelligence officials believed to be true," to quote from the statement released by Senator Levin on April 15. In particular:
1) On October 7, 2002, President Bush said that "Iraq has trained al Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases."
2) On December 9, 2001, Vice President Cheney said that a Prague meeting of Mohammed Atta with an Iraqi intelligence officer in April 2001 had been "pretty well confirmed," and on September 8, 2002, he said, "Mohammed Atta, who was the lead hijacker, did apparently travel to Prague on a number of occasions. And on at least one occasion, we have reporting that places him in Prague with a senior Iraqi intelligence official a few months before the attack on the World Trade Center." When he was asked if the CIA thought the report of the meeting was credible, the vice president said, "it's credible." As recently as January 9, 2004, the vice president said, "We did have reporting that was public, that came out shortly after the 9/11 attack, provided by the Czech government, suggesting there had been a meeting in Prague between Mohammed Atta, the lead hijacker, and a man named al-Ani, who was an Iraqi intelligence official in Prague, at the embassy there, in April of '01, prior to the 9/11 attacks. That was the one that possibly tied the two together to 9/11."
In fact, these statements were not supported by U.S. intelligence reports from the CIA on the relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda (June 21, 2002) and on Iraqi support for terrorism (January 29, 2003) or by the October 2, 2002, National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq and Weapons of Mass Destruction.
These documents contradicted the statements of the president and the vice president at the time they were made. As the highest officials in the land, President Bush and Vice President Cheney either knew of these intelligence reports, or should have known of them.
It is therefore reasonable to reach the following conclusion: On March 18, 2003, the president signed a letter to leaders of both houses of Congress affirming what he did not, in fact, know to be true. His decision to launch Operation Iraqi Freedom was therefore without legal justification. It was not, in fact, a legal act; it was a crime. Not only does it constitute a "high crime" under Article II, Section 4, of the Constitution, it is the crime that the Nuremberg tribunal affirmed in 1946 to be "not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole" — namely, the crime of waging aggressive war.
The documents released by Senator Levin on April 15, 2005, establish a prima facie case that the president and vice president of the United States of America, and other high officials as well, are guilty of "crimes against the peace," as defined by Article 6 of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg: "planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing."
UNITED FOR PEACE OF PIERCE COUNTY, therefore, calls for the impeachment of the president and the vice president of the United States by the House of Representatives, which is entrusted with "the sole Power of Impeachment" under the Constitution, and for their trial by the Senate, to be removed, if convicted, from their offices, as provided for by Article I, Sections 2 and 3, Article II, Section 4, and Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States.
UNITED FOR PEACE OF PIERCE COUNTY
"We nonviolently oppose the reliance on unilateral military actions rather than cooperative diplomacy."
Call for the impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
UNITED FOR PEACE OF PIERCE COUNTY
"We nonviolently oppose the reliance on unilateral military actions rather than cooperative diplomacy."
Call for the Impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
April 21, 2005
On April 15, 2005, Senator Carl Levin released newly declassified documents establishing a prima facie case that President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are guilty of the crime of waging a war of aggression against the nation of Iraq. We therefore call for their impeachment, their trial, and, upon conviction, their removal from office.
The legality of the Iraq war depended upon the presidentÂ’s compliance with Public Law 107-243, the Authorization for Use of Military Force against Iraq Resolution of 2002, passed by Congress on October 16, 2002. This law stipulates that before attacking Iraq, the president must "prior to such exercise or as soon thereafter as may be feasible, but no later than 48 hours after exercising such authority, make available to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate his determination that (1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic or other peaceful means alone either (A) will not adequately protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq or (B) is not likely to lead to enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq; and (2) acting pursuant to this joint resolution is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorist and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001."
Accordingly, on March 18, 2003, the president sent to the speaker of the United States House of Representatives and the president pro tempore of the United States Senate the following statement: "Consistent with section 3(b) of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public Law 107-243), and based on information available to me, including that in the enclosed document, I determine that: (1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic and other peaceful means alone will neither (A) adequately protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq nor (B) likely lead to enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq; and (2) acting pursuant to the Constitution and Public Law 107-243 is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001." He signed it "Sincerely, George W. Bush."
But three documents declassified at the request of Senator Carl Levin of Michigan show that "claims of a cooperative relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda made by top administration officials in support of the Iraq war were contrary to what U.S. intelligence officials believed to be true," to quote from the statement released by Senator Levin on April 15. In particular:
1) On October 7, 2002, President Bush said that "Iraq has trained al Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases."
2) On December 9, 2001, Vice President Cheney said that a Prague meeting of Mohammed Atta with an Iraqi intelligence officer in April 2001 had been "pretty well confirmed," and on September 8, 2002, he said, "Mohammed Atta, who was the lead hijacker, did apparently travel to Prague on a number of occasions. And on at least one occasion, we have reporting that places him in Prague with a senior Iraqi intelligence official a few months before the attack on the World Trade Center." When he was asked if the CIA thought the report of the meeting was credible, the vice president said, "it's credible." As recently as January 9, 2004, the vice president said, "We did have reporting that was public, that came out shortly after the 9/11 attack, provided by the Czech government, suggesting there had been a meeting in Prague between Mohammed Atta, the lead hijacker, and a man named al-Ani, who was an Iraqi intelligence official in Prague, at the embassy there, in April of '01, prior to the 9/11 attacks. That was the one that possibly tied the two together to 9/11."
In fact, these statements were not supported by U.S. intelligence reports from the CIA on the relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda (June 21, 2002) and on Iraqi support for terrorism (January 29, 2003) or by the October 2, 2002, National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq and Weapons of Mass Destruction.
These documents contradicted the statements of the president and the vice president at the time they were made. As the highest officials in the land, President Bush and Vice President Cheney either knew of these intelligence reports, or should have known of them.
It is therefore reasonable to reach the following conclusion: On March 18, 2003, the president signed a letter to leaders of both houses of Congress affirming what he did not, in fact, know to be true. His decision to launch Operation Iraqi Freedom was therefore without legal justification. It was not, in fact, a legal act; it was a crime. Not only does it constitute a "high crime" under Article II, Section 4, of the Constitution, it is the crime that the Nuremberg tribunal affirmed in 1946 to be "not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole" — namely, the crime of waging aggressive war.
As James Carroll wrote on December 7, 2004, in the Boston Globe : "The war itself is the American war crime."
The documents released by Senator Levin on April 15, 2005, establish a prima facie case that the president and vice president of the United States of America, and other high officials as well, are guilty of "crimes against the peace," as defined by Article 6 of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg: "planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing."
UNITED FOR PEACE OF PIERCE COUNTY, therefore, calls for the impeachment of the president and the vice president of the United States by the House of Representatives, which is entrusted with "the sole Power of Impeachment" under the Constitution, and for their trial by the Senate, to be removed, if convicted, from their offices, as provided for by Article I, Sections 2 and 3, Article II, Section 4, and Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States.
UNITED FOR PEACE OF PIERCE COUNTY
"We nonviolently oppose the reliance on unilateral military actions rather than cooperative diplomacy."