Every American who wants to see the return of the rule of law in this
country and justice served, must act and call their Representatives
in Congress tomorrow [immediately as possible] to urge them to
support Congressman Kucinich’s H.R. bill 333, for the impeachment of
Vice President Dick Cheney and President G.W. Bush. The toll free
#’s are 1-800-828-0498, 1-800-862-5530 or 1-800-833-6354
See:www.afterdowningstreet.org
National Lawyers Guild Unanimously Passes Impeachment Resolution;
Launches National Impeachment Committee & Campaign

Submitted by davidswanson on Sat, 2007-11-03 08:49. Impeachment

The Honorable John Conyers, Chairman of the House Judiciary
Committee, is the keynote speaker at the National Lawyers Guild
National Convention held October 31 - November 4 in Washington, D.C.
The National Lawyers Guild on Friday [Nov. 2] unanimously and
enthusiastically passed a resolution supporting the impeachment of
Bush and Cheney.

Resolution on Impeachment of Bush and Cheney
Submitted By James Marc Leas

Resolution on Impeachment of Bush and Cheney

Whereas George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney:

1. deliberately misled the nation and doctored intelligence, as
described in the Downing Street minutes, about the threat from Iraq
in order to justify a war of aggression and an occupation of Iraq, as
further described in House resolution H.Res. 333 and as listed in
House Resolution H. Res. 635.

2. committed crimes against peace by initiating war against Iraq in
violation of the UN Charter;

3. committed crimes against humanity in their conduct of the
occupation of Iraq in which they killed hundreds of thousands of
Iraqi civilians and created millions of refugees;

4. killed over 3700 American soldiers and severely wounded nearly
30,000 more in the pursuit of an illegal, immoral, and unjust
occupation of Iraq. While Bush and Cheney have stated no truthful
noble cause for the war, one of the central purposes appears to be to
take control of Iraq’s immense oil reserves to financially benefit
private corporate interests. See Bush’s benchmark listing fact sheet
released the same day Bush announced the “surge” that expressly
called on the Iraq parliament to “enact hydrocarbons law to promote
investment . . . ” and;

5. committed further crimes against peace by threatening Iran in
violation of the UN Charter, as described in House resolution H. Res.
333;

6. detained thousands of prisoners without charges and without
providing the ability to confront their accusers at a fair trial;

7. condoned the torture of prisoners in violation of the Geneva
Conventions, the US anti-torture statute of 1994, the US War Crimes
Act of 1996, and the oath of office.

Bush’s refusal to faithfully execute the laws prohibiting torture and
his declaration on February 7, 2002 that the Geneva Conventions did
not apply to prisoners in Afghanistan and in Guantanamo set the stage
for torture there.

The Rumsfeld approved Guantanamo torture techniques were then
imported to Iraq in August 2003, where the International Committee of
the Red Cross found “systemic” mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners in
several facilities and where the Schlesinger Report confirmed in
August 2004 that abuses were “widespread” and “serious both in number
and in effect,” and that there is both “institutional and personal
responsibility at higher levels”;

8. approved at least two different illegal electronic surveillance
programs of American citizens without a warrant in violation of the
fourth amendment and in violation of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act of 1978, and repeatedly lied to the American people
by stating that
no surveillance was taking place without a court order. The first
program includes intercepting phone and email conversations without
warrants and was exposed by the NY Times on December 16, 2005. After
that program was exposed Bush said the program was carefully targeted
to just include international calls and suspected members of Al
Qaeda. Then, the second program was exposed by USA Today on May 11,
2006. It provides a wholesale attack on the fourth amendment by
recording call identification information of tens of millions of
purely domestic calls as well as international calls;

9. attacked basic human rights protections in the constitution
including habeas corpus, fifth amendment freedom from loss of life,
liberty and property without due process of law, eighth amendment
freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, and fourth amendment
freedom from
unreasonable search and seizure ;

10. attacked the separation of powers in an effort to consolidate
power in the executive;

11. attacked the messenger who revealed that Bush “twisted”
intelligence “to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.” Just as Nixon
retaliated against former Pentagon analyst Daniel Ellsberg, according
to papers filed in court by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in
April 2006, there was “concerted action” by “multiple people in the
White House” to “discredit, punish or seek revenge against” former
Ambassador Joseph Wilson for his July 6, 2003 NY Times op ed piece
that ripped the cover off of Bush’s false assertions in his 2003
state of the union address that Iraq was trying to buy uranium from
Africa for building a nuclear bomb. In retaliation, and to silence
other would-be critics, the White House collected information about
Wilson and disclosed to reporters that his wife, Valerie Plame, was a
covert agent in the CIA counterinsurgency division, putting her life,
and the lives of her contacts, at risk in violation of a US law
protecting intelligence personnel (The Impeachment of George W. Bush,
by Elizabeth Holtzman);

12. as the sole person under the Federal Stafford Act with
responsibility and authority to issue emergency orders to mobilize
the military and any federal resources needed to aid and assist in a
disaster (see Failure of Initiative, February 2006 report of the
House Select Bipartisan Committee to investigate the Preparations for
and the Response to Hurricane Katrina), Bush failed to take care that
the laws be faithfully executed, violated the public trust, and
demonstrated reckless and inexcusable indifference to human life
before, during and after Hurricane Katrina. Bush knew but did not act
until too late, and then he lied about it on national TV. Footage and
transcripts from briefings Aug. 25-31 demonstrate that Bush was
personally told well in advance of the “unprecedented strength” of
the hurricane, the “devastating damage expected,” and that “water
shortages will make human suffering incredible,” according to highly
accurate predictions by the National Weather Service. The Associated
Press reported that “in dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms,
federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland
security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could
breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans’ Superdome and
overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage”. Yet
Bush failed to muster resources to evacuate residents in advance and
failed to assist New Orleans residents after Hurricane Katrina hit.
Then three days later Bush told Good Morning America, “I don’t think
that anybody anticipated a breach of the levees.” In years before the
storm Bush demonstrated inexcusable criminal negligence and violated
the public trust by cutting the budget for hurricane defense, though
the high probability of the breaching of the levees and the enormous
risk to human life from a major hurricane hitting New Orleans were
predicted and well known for years before the hurricane hit;

13. failed to take care that the laws be faithfully executed by
issuing signing statements that claim the authority to disobey laws
based on the president’s own interpretation of their
constitutionality, and then by taking action in violation of these
laws, including the US law making torture a crime, laws regarding
Congressional oversight that require providing information to
Congress, laws regarding domestic spying, laws regarding civil
liberties, and laws strengthening whistle blower protection, thereby
expanding the president’s own power by stepping into the legislative
and judicial functions at the expense of Congress and the courts,
upsetting the balance among the three Branches of government, and
moving us away from the rule of law toward vastly increased executive
power; and

14. converted the Justice Department into an arm of the Republican
Party by firing meritorious federal prosecutors who refused to base
decisions on whom to prosecute on political considerations–to help
Republicans win election, an offense James Madison discussed in a
speech to the Senate on June 17, 1789, in which Madison said, “The
danger then consists merely in this, the president can displace from
office a man whose merits require that he should be continued in it.
What will be the motives which the president can feel for such abuse
of his power, and the restraints that operate to prevent it? In the
first place, he will be impeachable by this house, before the senate,
for such an act of mal-administration; for I contend that the wanton
removal of meritorious officers would subject him to impeachment and
removal from his own high trust.” and

15. condoned criminal conduct and obstructed justice by commuting the
sentence of convicted perjurer Scooter Libby to keep him silent and
to demonstrate that Bush and Cheney will not allow high officials in
the administration to be held accountable for their criminal acts;

16. obstructed congressional investigations of these and other acts
by the administration by defying subpoenas from Senate and House
committees seeking documents and testimony under oath by
administration officials and former administration officials; and

Whereas the constitution requires the president to take the following
oath of office: “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute
the Office of the President of the United States, and will to the
best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of
the United States;”

and

Whereas the constitution provides that the president “shall take Care
that the Laws be faithfully
executed;” and

Whereas the constitution mandates that “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;” and

Whereas impeachment was so important to our founding fathers that it
is mentioned six times in five different sections of the
constitution; and

Whereas George Mason, a primary author of the Constitution, said that
impeachment was the single most important part of the entire
document. “Shall any man be above Justice? Above all shall that man
be above it who can commit the most extensive injustice?” and

Whereas “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” is a term of art that means a
serious abuse of power, whether or not it is also a crime, that
endangers our constitutional system of government, or an abuse of
public trust. (See Constitutional Grounds for Presidential
Impeachment: Report of the House Judiciary Committee, 1974, articles
by Elizabeth Holzman who served on the House Judiciary Committee
during the impeachment hearings of Richard Nixon in 1974; and the
book, The Impeachment of George W. Bush, by Elizabeth Holtzman).

Whereas each of the above listed acts meets or exceeds that standard;
and

Whereas impeachment is the only constitutional method to protect
Americans from a president intent on abusing power, violating the
constitution, violating the laws, and breaching public trust;

and

Whereas Bush and Cheney threaten further crimes, including launching
a war of aggression against Iran, and whereas sufficient time remains
in their term of office for them to commit those crimes so allowing
either or both of them to remain in office for that remaining time
will facilitate these crimes, and whereas pretexts for attacking Iran
have been issued, as described by a former CIA Middle East field
officer and current Time Magazine columnist; and

Whereas failing to hold Bush and Cheney accountable not only condones
their crimes but facilitates a future president committing similar or
greater crimes; and

Whereas members of Congress swear an oath to “support and defend the
constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and
domestic,” and no part of this oath permits exception for partisan
advantage, the next election, political expediency, whether it is
distracting from other issues, or how much time they have left in
office; and

Whereas failure by Congress to initiate the one remedy–impeachment–
provided by our founding fathers to protect the constitution from
such serious abuses has put that constitution, the rule of law, civil
liberties, our democratic form of government, the separation of
powers, the lives of our men and women in uniform, and the lives of
countless civilians at severe risk; and

Whereas citizen pressure led the Vermont State Senate and 87 cities
and towns around the nation to pass impeachment resolutions; and

Whereas a poll conducted by on July 5, 2007 found that 54% of
American adults want the US House of Representatives to begin
impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney while only
40% oppose, and

whereas the poll also found that 45% are in favor of the same thing
for President George W. Bush while 46% oppose; and

Whereas in view Congress’ ongoing complicity with the war, the
torture, the lies, the warrantless wiretapping, and the imprisonment
without trial, and its failure to protect rights and civil liberties,
it is up to the people themselves to defend the constitution and our
civil liberties by building larger grassroots movements, including a
movement for impeachment;

Therefore be it resolved that the National Lawyers Guild calls upon
the U.S. House of Representatives to immediately initiate impeachment
proceedings, to investigate the charges, and if the investigation
supports the charges, to vote to impeach George W. Bush and Richard
B. Cheney as provided in the Constitution of the United States of
America; and

Be it further resolved that the National Lawyers Guild will establish
an NLG Impeachment Committee open to all members to coordinate action
by the NLG in support of impeachment, to work with national and
grassroots impeachment organizations, and to provide legal assistance
for those efforts to strengthen the national campaign for
impeachment; and

Be it further resolved that the NLG Impeachment Committee will help
organize and coordinate events at the local, state, and national
level to build public participation in the campaign to initiate
impeachment investigation, impeachment, and removal of Bush and
Cheney from office without further delay; and

Be it further resolved that the National Lawyers Guild calls on NLG
members to ask their respective member of Congress to support H. Res.
333 to impeach Cheney and to introduce or support other impeachment
resolutions; and

Be it further resolved that the National Lawyers Guild calls on all
other state and national bar associations, state and local government
bodies, community organizations, labor unions, and all other citizen
associations to adopt similar resolutions and to use all their
resources to build the campaign demanding that Congress initiate
impeachment investigation, impeach, and remove Bush and Cheney from
office without further delay; and

Be it further resolved that the National Lawyers Guild will forward a
copy of this resolution to the Speaker and the Clerk of the US House
of Representatives, to Representative John Conyers, Chair of the
House Judiciary Committee, to the various state and federal bar
associations, to other peace and justice organizations, and to the
news media.

Implementation: By the NLG Impeachment Committee established by this
resolution, by interested local chapters, and by national officers.

Submitted by: James Marc Leas, jolly39@juno.com

The resolution cosponsors are:

Audrey Bomse, Marjorie Cohn, Laura Safer Espinoza, John Wheat Gibson,
Eileen Hansen, Larry Hildes, Jim Klimaski, Jordan Kushner, Jim
Lafferty, James Marc Leas, Kerry McLean, Bill Monning, Dorinda
Moreno, Michael Ratner, Susan Scott, Jennifer Van Bergen, Aaron
Varhola, Karen Weill