Beardy Guy Musings

Reflections on the Declaration of Independence and essays by anarchists Voltairine deCleyre and Emma Goldman. An exploration of the spirit and intensity of those that wrote the Declaration as well as those that have followed. What is our responsibility to these ideals? Do we take this Declaration as seriously as we should? Worse, have we fallen into the traps that Thomas Jefferson warned us of? I think the answers are all too clear.

More via the Podcast which is also available as a direct mp3 download runtime: 19'18, 3.6 MB.

Technorati Tags: American History, Anarchism, Democracy, Politics, Radical History, Voltairine deCleyre

by Voltairine deCleyre

American traditions, begotten of religious rebellion, small self-sustaining communities, isolated conditions, and hard pioneer life, grew during the colonization period of one hundred and seventy years from the settling of Jamestown to the outburst of the Revolution. This was in fact the great constitution-making epoch, the period of charters guaranteeing more or less of liberty, the general tendency of which is well described by Wm. Penn in speaking of the charter for Pennsylvania: “I want to put it out of my power, or that of my successors, to do mischief."

The revolution is the sudden and unified consciousness of these traditions, their loud assertion, the blow dealt by their indomitable will against the counter force of tyranny, which has never entirely recovered from the blow, but which from then till now has gone on remolding and regrappling the instruments of governmental power, that the Revolution sought to shape and hold as defenses of liberty.

To the average American of today, the Revolution means the series of battles fought by the patriot army with the armies of England. The millions of school children who attend our public schools are taught to draw maps of the siege of Boston and the siege of Yorktown, to know the general plan of the several campaigns, to quote the number of prisoners of war surrendered with Burgoyne; they are required to remember the date when Washington crossed the Delaware on the ice; they are told to “Remember Paoli,” to repeat “Molly Stark’s a widow,” to call General Wayne “Mad Anthony Wayne,” and to execrate Benedict Arnold; they know that the Declaration of Independence was signed on the Fourth of July, 1776, and the Treaty of Paris in 1783; and then they think they have learned the Revolution–blessed be George Washington! They have no idea why it should have been called a “revolution” instead of the “English War,” or any similar title: it’s the name of it, that’s all. And name-worship, both in child and man, has acquired such mastery of them, that the name “American Revolution” is held sacred, though it means to them nothing more than successful force, while the name “Revolution” applied to a further possibility, is a spectre detested and abhorred. In neither case have they any idea of the content of the word, save that of armed force. That has already happened, and long happened, which Jefferson foresaw when he wrote:

“The spirit of the times may alter, will alter. Our rulers will become corrupt, our people careless. A single zealot may become persecutor, and better men be his victims. It can never be too often repeated that the time for fixing every essential right, on a legal basis, is while our rulers are honest, ourselves united. From the conclusion of this war we shall be going down hill. It will not then be necessary to resort every moment to the people for support. They will be forgotten, therefore, and their rights disregarded. They will forget themselves in the sole faculty of making money, and will never think of uniting to effect a due respect for their rights. The shackles, therefore, which shall not be knocked off at the conclusion of this war, will be heavier and heavier, till our rights shall revive or expire in a convulsion."

To the men of that time, who voiced the spirit of that time, the battles that they fought were the least of the Revolution; they were the incidents of the hour, the things they met and faced as part of the game they were playing; but the stake they had in view, before, during, and after the war, the real Revolution, was a change in political institutions which should make of government not a thing apart, a superior power to stand over the people with a whip, but a serviceable agent, responsible, economical, and trustworthy (but never so much trusted as not to be continually watched), for the transaction of such business as was the common concern and to set the limits of the common concern at the line of where one man’s liberty would encroach upon another’s.

Continue Reading…

Technorati Tags: American History, Anarchism, Radical History, Voltairine deCleyre

by Emma Goldman
[Published in Mother Earth, Vol. IV, no. 5, July 1909.]

When, in the course of human development, existing institutions prove inadequate to the needs of man, when they serve merely to enslave, rob, and oppress mankind, the people have the eternal right to rebel against, and overthrow, these institutions.
The mere fact that these forces–inimical to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness–are legalized by statute laws, sanctified by divine rights, and enforced by political power, in no way justifies their continued existence.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all human beings, irrespective of race, color, or sex, are born with the equal right to share at the table of life; that to secure this right, there must be established among men economic, social, and political freedom; we hold further that government exists but to maintain special privilege and property rights; that it coerces man into submission and therefore robs him of dignity, self-respect, and life.

The history of the American kings of capital and authority is the history of repeated crimes, injustice, oppression, outrage, and abuse, all aiming at the suppression of individual liberties and the exploitation of the people. A vast country, rich enough to supply all her children with all possible comforts, and insure well-being to all, is in the hands of a few, while the nameless millions are at the mercy of ruthless wealth gatherers, unscrupulous lawmakers, and corrupt politicians. Sturdy sons of America are forced to tramp the country in a fruitless search for bread, and many of her daughters are driven into the street, while thousands of tender children are daily sacrificed on the altar of Mammon. The reign of these kings is holding mankind in slavery, perpetuating poverty and disease, maintaining crime and corruption; it is fettering the spirit of liberty, throttling the voice of justice, and degrading and oppressing humanity. It is engaged in continual war and slaughter, devastating the country and destroying the best and finest qualities of man; it nurtures superstition and ignorance, sows prejudice and strife, and turns the human family into a camp of Ishmaelites.

We, therefore, the liberty-loving men and women, realizing the great injustice and brutality of this state of affairs, earnestly and boldly do hereby declare, That each and every individual is and ought to be free to own himself and to enjoy the full fruit of his labor; that man is absolved from all allegiance to the kings of authority and capital; that he has, by the very fact of his being, free access to the land and all means of production, and entire liberty of disposing of the fruits of his efforts; that each and every individual has the unquestionable and unabridgeable right of free and voluntary association with other equally sovereign individuals for economic, political, social, and all other purposes, and that to achieve this end man must emancipate himself from the sacredness of property, the respect for man-made law, the fear of the Church, the cowardice of public opinion, the stupid arrogance of national, racial, religious, and sex superiority, and from the narrow puritanical conception of human life. And for the support of this Declaration, and with a firm reliance on the harmonious blending of man’s social and individual tendencies, the lovers of liberty joyfully consecrate their uncompromising devotion, their energy and intelligence, their solidarity and their lives.

This `Declaration' was written at the request of a certain newspaper, which subsequently refused to publish it, though the article was already in composition.

Link

Technorati Tags: American History, Anarchism, Radical History

Why are we in a serious energy predicament? Yet another example of why U.S. lawmakers are a part of the problem: Senate OKs study of fuel economy increase:

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – After crude oil prices spiked above $60 a barrel for the second time in a week, the U.S. Senate on Thursday approved a proposal requiring the Transportation Department to raise fuel economy standards for passenger vehicles in two-and-a-half years in an effort to reduce domestic oil consumption.

It is unclear how big a boost in fuel economy standards auto manufacturers are likely to face, since the measure would require officials to take into account the impact any proposed increase might have on vehicle safety, the economy, U.S. unemployment, and cost to the auto industry.

In a separate move on Thursday, the Senate shot down, 67-28, a more proscriptive proposal that would have dramatically raised the fuel economy standards of vehicles sold in the U.S. to 40 miles per gallon by 2016, an increase of 45% over current standards.

Both measures were offered as amendments to a broad energy bill pending before the Senate. The Senate is slated vote on the energy bill Tuesday.

Funny thing about this is that by 2016 we will be well into a very real, very obvious energy crisis. 40 miles to the gallon should be now. The U.S. congress, along with the White House, are making very serious, fundamental errors in energy policy. Unfortunately the vast majority of Americans don’t have a clue. You can bet your ass that in the year 2016 they’ll have a clue.

Technorati Tags: Ecology, Energy, Natural Resources, Oil, Peak Oil, Fuel Economy

My good friend Jonathan over at Irregular Times offers an excellent answer to the question:Has Iraq become a quagmire for the US?:

Quagmire: area of land with soft, sticky, muddy surface.

So you see, the United States is not in a quagmire in Iraq. Most areas of the nation are quite dry.

You can always count on Jonathan for a good laugh.

Technorati Tags: Iraq, Quagmire, War

Christopher over at Back to Iraq has recently returned to Iraq and writes about the Bumps in the Road:

Since returning, it feels like I’m listening to the same record I’ve been listening to for a year, only with the volume turned up. Donald Rumsfeld, the American Secretary of Defense, says U.S. is winning the war and that the media are focusing too much on bad news.

…

“We have to recognize that it’s a tough, tough, tough world, and there are going to be bumps in the road between now and then." - Donald Rumsfeld

…

I can’t even begin to tell you how many Iraqis have been killed in the weeks I was away. And how many more Iraqis, journalists or otherwise, will die because the Americans can’t tell who’s friend or foe? Those aren’t “bumps in the road.” Those are signs that you went off the road without a map a long time ago.

Where do you even begin combatting the head-in-the-sandism, brazen propaganda and revisionism of the above release. (By the way, it’s about the fourth or fifth one I’ve received in the last few days touting the same theme, apparently in concert with President Bush’s push to let Americans know that everything is going hunky-dory.)

News flash: Iraq is a disaster. I’ve been back one day, and the airport road was the worst I’ve ever seen it.

The administration is a broken record. Their only Iraq plan is to endlessly repeat their message of the moment in the hopes that they can convince the world.

I think I’ll try that method and see how it goes…

There’s a unicorn in my garden, there’s a unicorn in my garden, a unicorn in my garden, a unicorn in my garden…

Technorati Tags: Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush, Iraq, Politics, War

Neat! The new iTunes was released today and for those that have not heard it includes new podcasting support. I’m not sure how they choose who is included but my podcast is in there. Sweet. Of course, this means I’ll need to get off my lazy ass and put together some current shows.

Technorati Tags: Activism, Apple, iLife, iTunes, Mac Software, Online Activism, Podcasting

A bit of discussion on my usual topics of interest: Apple’s release of iTunes 4.9, natural landscaping with native plants, activism (or lack thereof), war, Iraq, and an oil-based economy. In many ways this is podcast summary of my recent posts here which makes sense because these are the things that I think about.

Links mentioned in the podcast:
Peak Oil.com
Peak Oil.org

On a technical note I’ve added podcasts to my Feedburner RSS so you can subscribe there as well. I think you’ll get a more accurate reading of the mp3 tags of the podcast that way.

Update: Again, on a technical note, I’ve updated my regular podcast feed, link below and on the sidebar. Finally, this is what I’ve needed to do. If you subscribe to that in your RSS reader you’ll get a much better description of the show. The old version, based on dircaster.php, does not play well with ID3 v2.2 tags with the result being no real description of my podcast on sites such as audio.weblogs.com. So, it’s improved now. Sweet.

More via the Podcast which is also available as a direct mp3 download runtime: 19'18, 3.6 MB.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Birds, Democracy, Energy, Flowers, Garden, Gardening, Iraq, Natural, Natural Resources, Peak Oil, Podcast, Podcasting, Politics, War

Jonathan over at Irregular Times asks What Else Is There To Say?

You know, I find myself here, sifting through the news, through government data releases, through the latest polls, through legislative records, and I cannot bring myself to write a thing about them.

What’s the point? It’s not as though the failings of Republican politicians, corporate America and fundamentalist conservative Christians have not been extensively documented, over and over again. The reaction to such documentation is outrage on the part of those who are already outraged, and dismissal by those who sympathize with the Republican-corporate-fundamentalist axis. Then there’s a little squabble between the sides as neither side can possibly understand how the other side can think the way it does. And then we move on to the next disclosure of Republican/corporate/fundamentalist wrongdoing.

If you aren’t already outraged, then you’re either in denial or you aren’t paying attention. Why do we need one more example of what’s wrong with right-wing America? If you aren’t already outraged by now, what would it take? Why do we need another blog post when it’s all been said?

I’m sure I’ll feel better about this tomorrow. But today, I can’t help feel as though these efforts are futile.

I know I’ve often felt this futility and outrage but look, I’m an anarchist not a liberal. You see, I feel no allegiance to any government or religion and the truth is I consider the U.S. an enemy of liberty and freedom. I think the evidence is clear that for many, many years U.S. policies, domestic and foreign, have served a very small group of people. As much as I’d welcome the impeachment of the current administration and their imprisonment for war crimes the truth is that they are just a part of a larger problem.

The American people have given up responsibility and any real vision of democracy. My own family are a good example. I love them and they are “good” people but they are terrible citizens and excellent consumers. Do they know anything about the oil that they pump into their SUV or full size pick-up trucks? No. What about the oil that forms the base of all the plastic shit they buy at Target, Walmart, and the Dollar General? No. They are fantastically ignorant of the planet’s oil reserves as well as who currently supplies them the fix that they need. Do they connect the dots between their lifestyle and war in Iraq? Sure it’s easy to bitch about Bush but is that an SUV in your driveway?

In my relatively limited experience my fellow citizens have sacrificed citizenship. Instead they identify themselves with the consumer side of the American Dream. Seems to me that there was a major political and cultural shift in this country at the end of World War II. I wasn’t alive when it happened but it seems pretty obvious at this point. The boys came home and the U.S. became a world super power. People got comfortable, they raised families and embraced suburbia. Politics and an engaged, active citizenry became an endangered species. That culture is solidly intact today.

I think this culture and this country are at the beginning of a huge fall that will come in many different forms. The chickens have come home to roost and folks, we have nothing to cry about. We did this to ourselves. As an anarchist, I welcome the mess America has gotten itself into because it seems more evident with each passing day that this empire is about to crumble and with it global capitalism. As George would say, Bring it on.

Technorati Tags: Activism, Democracy, Empire, Energy, Iraq, Natural Resources, Oil, Peak Oil, Politics, Religious Right, War

Dick Cheney is one of two things. A complete moron or a lying, manipulative scumbag. I’m fairly certain it is the latter.

Way to go America. I’ve stayed away from verbalizing comparisons to Vietnam because that is too easy. But the truth is I’ve thought about it many times. This is only going to get worse folks.

Juan Cole offers a round up of the latest violence in Iraq: Mosul Police Station blown Up, many Dead 31 Killed…:

Mosul: A suicide bomber detonated his payload at the central police station in Mosul on Sunday morning, bringing down part of the wall and killing at least 5 persons, 4 of them officers. At least 7 were wounded. The rubble was still being searched Sunday mid-morning Baghdad time.

On Saturday, wire services report, , “a suicide attacker rammed his vehicle into an Iraqi police patrol on a bridge in southwest Mosul, killing at least five and wounding two . . .” This attack aimed at killing the provincial chief of police, but he was not in the convoy.

Tel Afar In the northern, Turkmen city of Tel Afar, Reuters reports, “Residents and officials at Tal Afar . . . where U.S. troops have cracked down this month, said three bomb attacks were followed by a battle involving U.S. tanks and helicopters that lasted about three hours. Hospital officials said at least two civilians were killed."

Samarra: The Associated Press reports that on Saturday, a suicide bomber targeting the home of a special forces police officer instead killed 9 persons on the street.

Ramadi: On Friday, 20 guerrillas captured 8 policemen at a checkpoint near the city, took them to their offices, and mowed them down with gunfire.

Baghdad: On Sunday morning, guerrillas assassinated Col. Riyad Abdul Karim, the deputy head of one of Baghdad’s main police departments.

Guerillas fired three mortar rounds at a thronging cafe in a mostly Shiite district of western Baghdad Saturday evening. They killed 5 civilians and wounded 7.

Guerrillas killed two police commandos patrolling West Baghdad on Saturday. Another policeman was found assassinated.

Amara: Guerrillas assassinated three policemen 46 miles south of Amara on Saturday.

Kirkuk: On Saturday, three Iraqi policemen were killed in Kirkuk, along with two Kurdish truck drivers delivering cement to the Americans

Technorati Tags: Iraq, Oil, Peak Oil, Politics, War

I’m happy to report that momma deer and 2 fawns are now hanging about every day. Adorable! Also, just out of the nest Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have been enjoying our flowers. In other bird news at least one pair of Gold Finches have been visiting our flowers every day to eat seeds. Earlier in the week I found a very young (2" across) box turtle in the prairie garden. Lastly the Gray Tree Frog tadpoles are getting bigger and will be leaving the pond soon!

What’s in bloom: Bee Balm, Purple Cone Flowers, Purple Poppy Mallow, Black-eyed Susan, Butterfly Weed, Yellow Cone Flowers, Pale Purple Cone Flowers, and Prairie Coreopsis. The image is what we see looking out of our home-office window. We can hardly even see the pond at this point thanks to the beautiful Bee Balm.

Technorati Tags: Birding, Birds, Flowers, Frog, Garden, Gardening, Gray Tree Frog, Native Landscaping, Natural, Wild flowers

I think I’ll be taking a brief break from impeach Bush posts this week. As much as I’d like to see that happen this is not the “Impeach Bush Blog”. Truth is, and this is plain as day at this point, the problem goes far deeper than war criminals such as Bush and Cheney. The problem is an entire society which has given away its responsibilities to, and desire for, democracy and liberty. On a whole it seems we are more concerned with being the obedient consumers and workers that multinational corporations want us to be. As long as we fail to take on the role of assertive, engaged citizens we will continue to play the role of easily manipulated and bribed consumers. George and his fellow war criminals would have us all be war criminals in our ignorance and complacency. This is the structural deficiency of a “democratic” republic that was never meant to be “of the people, by the people, for the people”.

John Bonifaz is the attorney who, in February and March 2003, served as lead counsel for a coalition of US soldiers, parents of US soldiers, and Members of Congress in a federal lawsuit challenging the authority of President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld to launch a war against Iraq absent a congressional declaration of war or equivalent action.

Impeachable Offenses by John Bonifaz

President George W. Bush “whose own election was dubious” has seized monarchical powers in sending this nation into war without any legitimate congressional declaration of war or equivalent congressional action. He has lied to the United States Congress and to the American people about the rationale for the war. He has imprisoned American citizens without charges and denied them access to lawyers and the courts. He has thus trampled on the United States Constitution and he has violated his oath of office.

This nation is at a crossroads. These are not simply issues to be debated in a presidential election. These are “high crimes” in the most profound meaning of the phrase, and they require the most serious of legal responses.

Our Constitution lays out a specific process for addressing high crimes committed by a president: impeachment. The time has come for Congress to investigate these crimes and begin impeachment proceedings. Our loyalty to our Constitution requires nothing less.

Marches, like those held on March 20, 2004, which drew hundreds of thousands of protesters, are important, but they are not enough. Petitions, like those initiated by MoveOn.org and its allies, calling for censure of the president are important, but they are not enough. Voter mobilization campaigns focused on defeating George W. Bush on Election Day are important, but they are not enough.

Impeachment is essential because George W. Bush should be labeled for who he is: A president who has gone beyond the bounds of the Constitution, who has defied the rule of law, and who therefore deserves the ultimate constitutional punishment.

Former President Bill Clinton was impeached on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. But no one died as a result of the Monica Lewinsky affair. President Bush has sent this nation into an illegal war based on lies, resulting in the deaths thus far of more than 1,500 United States soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians. This war has no end in sight, and officials warn that U.S. troops could be there, fighting and dying, for 10 years or more.

Where is the political accountability? Where is the constitutional consistency? Where are the voices of our nation’s leaders calling for the investigation of impeachable offenses?

If we believe in the Constitution and its timeless vision of democracy, we must now stand up and call for impeachment. History will judge us for how we responded when faced with a president who would be king. Did we rely on the badly flawed election process to set us free? Or did we demand, as the Constitution provides, the removal of that president from power? Did we speak the truth and charge that president with the highest of crimes?

We cannot afford to provide immunity for presidential high crimes so long as they are committed (or fully revealed). We must hold the president accountable for high crimes at any point in his or her term.

No president in our history has presented a greater threat to our Constitution and our democracy than George W. Bush. If we fail to place the proper charges of high crimes on this president, we invite him to engage in further lawlessness, further illegal war-making, further lies and further unnecessary bloodshed"now, or even more so in a second term. If we fail to protect the Constitution today, we invite its shredding tomorrow by an administration with even less regard for the Constitution than the present one.

Is lying to the United States Congress and the American people about the reasons for sending the nation into war an impeachable offense? Is violating the War Powers Clause of the Constitution by launching a unilateral first-strike invasion of another nation without congressional authorization an impeachable offense? Congress must debate these questions now. Congress may be in Republican hands, but all of its members swore to uphold the Constitution when taking office.

There are two roads in front of us. One takes us toward tyranny behind the mask of wartime necessity. The other returns us to our basic democratic principles where the Constitution is supreme and where no one, not even the president, is above the law.

We call upon Americans of all political persuasions to join the call for impeachment. We ask you to call or write your Member of Congress to urge him or her to introduce articles of impeachment. We also encourage you to sign a petition at www.impeachcentral.com, to send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, and to forward this article to all of your friends. Raise your voice now, at this critical moment.

Let us take the road back to democracy. Let us demand our country back from a lawless and unaccountable administration. Let us honor the oath this president has betrayed: to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

(This article was first printed in Tom Paine, on the 31st of March, 2004. It is still current and actionable… the only new information we have now is the Downing Street Minutes.)

STATEMENT BY JOHN C. BONIFAZ
CONSTITUTIONAL ATTORNEY AND CO-FOUNDER
AFTERDOWNINGSTREET.ORG

BEFORE THE CONGRESSIONAL FORUM

ON THE DOWNING STREET MINUTES

THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2005

Congressman Conyers and Members of the Committee: Thank you for hosting this congressional forum today and thank you for your leadership.

My name is John Bonifaz. I am a Boston-based attorney specializing in constitutional litigation and the co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org. AfterDowningStreet.org is a national coalition of veterans groups, peace groups, public interest organizations and ordinary citizens across this country calling for a formal congressional investigation into whether the President of the United States has committed impeachable offenses in connection with the Iraq war. We launched this campaign on May 26 of this year in response to the revelations which have emerged from the release of the Downing Street Minutes.

The recent release of the Downing Street Minutes provides new and compelling evidence that the President of the United States has been actively engaged in a conspiracy to deceive and mislead the United States Congress and the American people about the basis for going to war against Iraq. If true, such conduct constitutes a High Crime under Article II, Section 4 of the United States Constitution: “The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

The Downing Street MinutesOn May 1, 2005, The Sunday Times of London published the Downing Street Minutes. The document, marked “Secret and strictly personal - UK eyes only,” consists of the official minutes of a briefing by Richard Dearlove, then-director of Britain’s CIA equivalent, MI-6, to British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top national security officials. Dearlove, having just returned from meetings with high U.S. Government officials in Washington, reported to Blair and members of his Cabinet on the Bush administration’s plans to start a preemptive war against Iraq.

The briefing occurred on July 23, 2002, months before President Bush submitted his resolution on Iraq to the United States Congress and months before Bush and Blair asked the United Nations to resume its inspections for alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

The document reveals that, by the summer of 2002, President Bush had decided to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by launching a war which, Dearlove reports, would be “justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD [weapons of mass destruction].” Dearlove continues: “But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.” Dearlove also states that “[t]here was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action."

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw states that “[i]t seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided.” “But,” he continues, “the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea, and Iran."

British officials do not dispute the document’s authenticity, and, on May 6, 2005, Knight Ridder Newspapers reported that “[a] former senior U.S. official called [the document] an absolutely accurate description of what transpired' during the senior British intelligence officer's visit to Washington." "Memo: Bush made intel fit Iraq policy," The State, Knight Ridder Newspapers, May 6, 2005.<br /><br />Why a Resolution of Inquiry is Justified<br /><br />On May 5, 2005, you and 88 other Members of Congress submitted a letter to President Bush, asking the President to answer several questions arising from the Downing Street Minutes. On May 17, 2005, White House press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters that the White House saw "no need" to respond to the letter. "British Memo on U.S. Plans for Iraq War Fuels Critics," The New York Times, May 20, 2005, A8. The letter has since been joined by other Members of Congress and by more than half a million people across the country.<br /><br />The Framers of the United States Constitution drafted Article II, Section 4 to ensure that the people of the United States, through their representatives in the United States Congress, could hold a President accountable for an abuse of power and an abuse of the public trust. James Madison, speaking at Virginia's ratification convention stated: "A President is impeachable if he attempts to subvert the Constitution." Alexander Hamilton, writing in The Federalist, stated that impeachment is for "the misconduct of public men...from the abuse or violation of some public trust." James Iredell, who later became a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, stated at North Carolina's ratification convention:<br /><br />The President must certainly be punishable for giving false information to the Senate. He is to regulate all intercourse with foreign powers, and it is his duty to impart to the Senate every material intelligence he receives. If it should appear that he has not given them full information, but has concealed important intelligence which he ought to have communicated, and by that means induced them to enter into measures injurious to their country, and which they would not have consented to had the true state of things been disclosed to them, - in this case, I ask whether, upon an impeachment for a misdemeanor upon such an account, the Senate would probably favor him.<br /><br />On July 25, 1974, then-Representative Barbara Jordan spoke to her colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee of the constitutional basis for impeachment. "The powers relating to impeachment," Jordan said, "are an essential check in the hands of this body, the legislature, against and upon the encroachment of the Executive."<br /><br />Impeachment, said Barbara Jordan, is chiefly designed for the President and his high ministers to somehow be called into account. It is designed to bridle' the Executive if he engages in excesses. It is designed as a method of national inquest into the conduct of public men. The framers confined in the Congress the power, if need be, to remove the President in order to strike a delicate balance between a President swollen with power and grown tyrannical and preservation of the independence of the Executive.

The question must now be asked, with the release of the Downing Street Minutes, whether the President has committed impeachable offenses. Is it a High Crime to engage in a conspiracy to deceive and mislead the United States Congress and the American people about the basis for taking the nation into war? Is it a High Crime to manipulate intelligence so as to allege falsely a national security threat posed to the United States as a means of trying to justify a war against another nation based on “preemptive” purposes? Is it a High Crime to commit a felony via the submission of an official report to the United States Congress falsifying the reasons for launching military action?

In his book Worse Than Watergate (Little, Brown and Company-NY, 2004), John W. Dean writes that “the evidence is overwhelming, certainly sufficient for a prima facie case, that George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney have engaged in deceit and deception over going to war in Iraq. This is an impeachable offense.” Id. at 155. Dean focuses, in particular, on a formal letter and report which the President submitted to the United States Congress within forty-eight hours after having launched the invasion of Iraq. In the letter, dated March 18, 2003, the President makes a formal determination, as required by the Joint Resolution on Iraq passed by the U.S. Congress in October 2002, that military action against Iraq was necessary to “protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq…” Dean states that the report accompanying the letter “is closer to a blatant fraud than to a fulfillment of the president’s constitutional responsibility to faithfully execute the law.” Worse Than Watergate at 148.

If the evidence revealed by the Downing Street Minutes is true, then the President’s submission of his March 18, 2003 letter and report to the United States Congress would violate federal criminal law, including: the federal anti-conspiracy statute, 18 U.S.C. § 371, which makes it a felony “to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose…"; and The False Statements Accountability Act of 1996, 18 U.S.C. § 1001, which makes it a felony to issue knowingly and willfully false statements to the United States Congress.

The United States House of Representatives has a constitutional duty to investigate fully and comprehensively the evidence revealed by the Downing Street Minutes and other related evidence and to determine whether there are sufficient grounds to impeach George W. Bush, the President of the United States. A Resolution of Inquiry is the appropriate first step in launching this investigation.

Conclusion

The Iraq war has led to the deaths of more than 1,700 United States soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians. Thousands more have been permanently and severely injured on both sides. More than two years after the invasion, Iraq remains unstable and its future unclear. The war has already cost the American people tens of billions of taxpayer dollars at the expense of basic human needs here at home. More than 135,000 U.S. soldiers remain in Iraq without any stated exit plan.

If the President has committed High Crimes in connection with this war, he must be held accountable. The United States Constitution demands no less.

Link

Technorati Tags: Downing Street Memo, George Bush, Impeach Bush, Impeachment, Politics, War, War Crimes

TomDispatch has a posted an excellent introduction to, and reprint of, Mark Danner’s coverage of the Downing Street Memo and the resulting non-coverage and bias of the corporate media. This is a must read for anyone interested in the DSM as well as the corporate media cover-up and obedience to state dictates. Seriously, a must read.

Technorati Tags: Democracy, Downing Street Memo, George Bush, Impeachment, Iraq, Mass Media, Politics, War

Kevin Zeese and Ralph Nader write about The Growing Case for a Resolution of Inquiry:

Article II, Section 4 of the United States Constitution: “The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

It is becoming more evident that an impeachment inquiry is needed to determine whether the United States was plunged into war with Iraq based on manipulated intelligence and false information. Thus far the President and Vice President have artfully dodged the central question: “Did the administration mislead us into war by manipulating and misstating intelligence concerning weapons of mass destruction, Iraq’s involvement with Al Qaeda terrorism and the danger Iraq posed to the United States and its neighbors?"

With the release of the Downing Street Memo, the findings of the Iraq Commission and a review of intelligence findings prior to the invasion of Iraq a strong case can be made for taking the first step toward impeachment - a Resolution of Inquiry - beginning a formal inquiry by the U.S. House of Representatives as to whether the President and Vice President should be impeached.

Quite frankly I think it was fucking evident over two years ago. Impeach them and then try them for war crimes.

Technorati Tags: Downing Street Memo, George Bush, Impeachment, Iraq, Politics, War, War Crimes

Excellent: After Downing Street Dot Org - In Support of a Resolution of Inquiry.

I’m watching John Bonifaz, founder of the above site, on CSpan’s replay of today’s meeting on the DSM. Damn…. damn, damn. I’m glad this guy is on our side. Damn.

Update: I wanted to add a link to John Conyers Letter to Bush.
<img src=“http://wherewearebound.typepad.com/where_were_bound/conyers" height=“168” width=“220” style=“float: right; border=“1” hspace=“4” vspace=“4” alt=“Conyers at the gate” title=“Conyers at the gate” />
Update 2: Wanted to add this photo of Rep. John Conyers delivering petitions to an unidentified aide at gate of the White House Thursday. Interesting photo… “the people” at the gate, the President hiding behind it. Perhaps I’m naive, perhaps I’m just being hopeful, but today seems to be a turning point. Of course impeachment should be just the tip of the iceberg. The majority of Congress and the corporate media happily went along for the ride and will continue to ignore and misdirect the public. As far as I’m concerned many of these supporting actors need to be removed of their jobs. CNN and FOX should have their corporate charters revoked.

Technorati Tags: Downing Street Memo, George Bush, Impeachment, Iraq, War, War Crimes

Over at Informed Comment you’ll find excellent commentary by Amy Ross regarding the ICC and Blair/Bush:

“Regarding accountability and the ICC: It does seem that the Blair administration was much more cognizant of the potential conflict with the ICC. Indeed the prominent British human rights lawyer Cherie Booth (aka Mrs. Blair) wrote in an essay on the ICC in 2003 that “…it is of singular importance to note that no one– not even a serving head of state –will be able to claim immunity from the jurisdiction of the Court.” (in “from Nuremberg to The Hague: The Future of International Criminal Justice,” Philippe Sands editor.)

Britain’s House of Lords had previously asserted in the Pinochet case (1998) the lack of immunity for certain crimes under international law: the judges stressed that
accountability was ESPECIALLY important for state figures.

…

I do believe that Bush and other high-level administration officials will face a court someday, but I think it will be after 2009, and probably in a national court such as Brussels or Madrid (exercising universal jurisdiction) rather than the
ICC. . .

Re: the ICC and complementarity. In theory, since the British have a functioning judiciary, capable of handling investigations and prosecutions, the ICC can refrain from issuing an indictment of Blair EVEN IF there is evidence of crimes within its jurisdiction. The same should be true regarding the United States, even though the US is not a party to the treaty. As long as the US, (and Britian and Australia and Italy) demonstrates competency in regard to prosecuting and punishing crimes of international concern, the ICC is supposed to stay out of the way. However: if the US fails to investigate/prosecute (proves to be unable or unwilling') than the ICC, and foreign courts, can assert jurisdiction. That’s why it is so important that we demand an investigation of Bush, now. If such a move is blocked, that opens up possiblities (later) in international arenas.

Technorati Tags: George Bush, International Criminal Court, Iraq, War, War Crimes

For those that want to know more, there is a site dedicated to The Downing Street Memo:

The Downing Street “Memo” is actually a document containing meeting minutes transcribed during the British Prime Minister’s meeting on July 23, 2002—a full eight months PRIOR to the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003. The Times of London printed the text of this document on Sunday, May 1, 2005, but to date US media coverage has been limited. This site is intended to act as a resource for anyone who wants to understand the facts revealed in this document.

The contents of the memo are shocking. The minutes detail how our government did not believe Iraq was a greater threat than other nations; how intelligence was “fixed” to sell the case for war to the American public; and how the Bush Administration’s public assurances of “war as a last resort” were at odds with their privately stated intentions.

Technorati Tags: Downing Street Memo, George Bush, Impeach Bush, Impeachment, Iraq, Politics, War

Slowly the truth claws its way out of the deeply dug grave.

Juan Cole has an interesting post regarding yet another Bush/Blair/Iraq document being reported on by the London Times.

Bush and Blair Committed to War in April, 2002
Leaked Cabinet Briefing Shows British Knew War was Illegal

The London Times has dropped another bombshell document concerning the planning of the Iraq war in Washington and London.

The leaked Cabinet office briefing paper for the July 23, 2002, meeting of principals in London, the minutes of which have become notorious as the Downing Street Memo, contains key context for that memo. The briefing paper warns the British cabinet in essence that they are facing jail time because Blair promised Bush at Crawford in April, 2002, that he would go to war against Iraq with the Americans.

As Michael Smith reports for the London Times, “regime change” is illegal in international law without a United Nations Security Council resolution or other recognized sanction (national self-defense, or rescuing a population from genocide, e.g.). Since the United Kingdom is signatory to the International Criminal Court, British officials could be brought up on charges for crimes like “Aggression."

Smith quotes the briefing and then remarks on how it shows Bush and Blair to be lying when they invoke their approach to the UN as proof that they sought a peaceful resolution of the Iraq crisis…

…

The Cabinet briefing makes crystal clear that Blair had cast his lot in with Bush on an elective war against Iraq already in April, 2002:

“2. When the Prime Minister discussed Iraq with President Bush at Crawford in April he said that the UK would support military action to bring about regime change, provided that certain conditions were met: efforts had been made to construct a coalition/shape public opinion, the Israel-Palestine Crisis was quiescent, and the options for action to eliminate Iraq’s WMD through the UN weapons inspectors had been exhausted."

This passage is unambiguous and refutes the weird suggestion by Michael Kinsley that the Downing Street Memo did not establish that the Bush administration had committed to war by July, 2002.

…

The cabinet briefing, like Lord Goldsmith, is skeptical that any of the three legal grounds for war existed with regard to Iraq. Iraq was not an imminent threat to the US or the UK. Saddam’s regime was brutal, but its major killing sprees were in the past in 2002. And, the UNSC had not authorized a war against Iraq.

…

I found the passage on the information campaign chilling:

“20. Time will be required to prepare public opinion in the UK that it is necessary to take military action against Saddam Hussein. There would also need to be a substantial effort to secure the support of Parliament. An information campaign will be needed which has to be closely related to an overseas information campaign designed to influence Saddam Hussein, the Islamic World and the wider international community. This will need to give full coverage to the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, including his WMD, and the legal justification for action. “

The polite diplomatic language hides the implications that there would be a global black psy-ops campaign in favor of the war, conducted from London. Since the rest of the briefing already admits that there was no legal justification for action, the proposal of an information campaign that would maintain that such a justification existed must be seen as deeply dishonest.

“Time will be required to prepare public opinion…” You have to love the way “democracy” works in the U.S. and U.K. What is absolutely absurd is the extent to which such psy-ops campaigns work on the public mind. The majority or near majority were very effectively manipulated and even today, as evidence of Bush/Blair web of lies becomes increasingly obvious, we see that their propaganda machine continues to distract, distort, and confuse the public.

Of course CNN and other major media outlets continue to ignore the details that form the infrastructure of lies used to create the war. Instead they devote a majority of their “news” coverage to distractions such as Michael Jackson and religious images seen in potato chips. Hint: something is very, very rotten in media-land.

Of course many of us know this and folks far more intelligent than I have written about the corporate media and its primary role in the state propaganda machine.

Update: The Washington Post has also posted a story on this. Better late than never I suppose. Let’s see if those dip shits at CNN or any of the other mainstream media cover it… and by cover it I mean really cover it. I won’t be holding my breath.

Update 2: As of this moment, here are the headlines on CNN.com… note, the only mention of the memo is that of an AP story that focuses on British doubt of the U.S. postwar plan. The most important content is virtually ignored.

Top headlines:
• 20 bodies found buried near Baghdad
• Report: British doubted U.S. postwar plan
• French journalist freed
• Philadelphia house fire kills 5 children | Video
• Syria rejects hit-list accusations
• Aruba judge keeps 3 young suspects in jail | Video | Map
• Dean renews attacks on Republicans | Video
• Bombs blasts ahead of Iranian election
• Mother feared family dog would attack son | Video
• SI.com: Tyson’s career likely over after loss
• Pink Floyd reuniting for Live 8

U.S. headlines:
• Arlene makes landfall
• Rice performs to help ailing singer
• Men take to trees for competition

World headlines:
• French journalist freed in Iraq
• Blair seeks support for G8 plans
• Four executed by Palestinian Authority

Politics headlines:
• Bush argues for Patriot Act
• Bush to promote domestic policies

Technorati Tags: Downing Street Memo, George Bush, Iraq, Mass Media, War

U.S. Military Deaths
First 14 months: 740
Second 14 months: 958
Source

U.S. Military Wounded
Official: 12,762
Est: 15,000 - 38,000
Source

Iraqi Civilian Deaths

22,191 - 25,178

“We are not a news organization ourselves and like everyone else can only base our information on what has been reported so far. What we are attempting to provide is a credible compilation of civilian deaths that have been reported by recognized sources. Our maximum therefore refers to reported deaths - which can only be a sample of true deaths unless one assumes that every civilian death has been reported. It is likely that many if not most civilian casualties will go unreported by the media. That is the sad nature of war.” –Iraq Body Count

Source
More…

According to last year’s Lancet study Iraqi civilian deaths may be near or beyond 100,000.

Technorati Tags: Empire, Iraq, War

Okay, well, it seems this is the most attention we’ve seen yet on the issue of George Bush and the lies told by the White House to wage war against Iraq. The information is not really new though the current spotlight being shown upon the memo seems to be. Let’s hope it intensifies.

Juan Cole has several posts on the topic recently: The Downing Street Memo and “Fixing Around”

At least one commentator has been quoted in the press as questioning what British Intelligence chief Richard Dearlove meant in the Downing Street Memo by the phrase “the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.” The full passage reads, “Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

He also credits his readers for drawing attention to the Piles of Smoking Guns :

Kind readers have drawn my attention to other leaked documents on the British side that lend support to the implications of the Downing Street memo, which alleges that Bush had decided on a war against Iraq by summer, 2004 and would fix the intelligence around the policy.

…

The document shows that Wolfowitz knew very well that Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction were not a presssing issue. The Defense Department consistently pretended otherwise in 2002 and 2003.

…

A good overview of the record of Iraq decision-making as revealed in leaked British memos is at the BBC Panorama site.

Sure would be nice to see an impeachment come out of this. I’m not holding my breath but hey while I’m engaged in a bit of wishful thinking, hows about a nice long prison term for this sick bunch of lying war criminals… and war profiteers too are they not? Yeah, we need a spotlight alright.

Memo in html via Scoop and as a an index page of pdf files.

Technorati Tags: Downing Street Memo, Empire, George Bush, Impeach Bush, Impeachment, Iraq, Politics, War