Nancy Pelosi: Put Impeachment Back on the Table
Madam Speaker (it sounds so good to say that),
In a few short weeks, you will be second in the line of succession to the office of president. In my opinion, and in the opinion of many of your constituents, the two who are at the helm of the Executive Branch have spent the better part of 6 years engaged in a systematic attempt to usurp the law and the Constitution while defrauding the American public and the Congress.
Therefore, I respectfully enjoin you to faithfully execute your oath of office and pursue articles of impeachment against GEORGE W. BUSH, RICHARD B. CHENEY, CONDOLEEZZA RICE, DONALD M. RUMSFELD, and COLIN POWELL.
However distasteful it might be to do so, Madam Speaker, however politically dangerous it might seem, our nation, our Constitution, and the ethical mandates to which all of us are accountable require that you do so.
The need to impeach George W. Bush is neither spurious nor unfounded. As former federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega argues in her soon-to-be-released book (an excerpt of which is linked above), the case against the president is substantive, and the harm that has been done to the people of this country, Iraq, and of the world is demonstrable and criminal.
The question is not whether the President subjectively believed there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The legal question that must be answered is far more comprehensive: Did the President and his team defraud the country? After swearing to uphold the law of the land, did our highest government officials employ the universal techniques of fraudsters -- deliberate concealment, misrepresentations, false pretenses, half-truths -- to deceive Congress and the American people?
Madam Speaker, so much is at stake here that you cannot hesitate nor make decisions based upon political exigencies. In a time of lax expedience, you must possess vision and resolve. In a time of moral cowardice, you must be both ethical and courageous.
Ms. Pelosi, put impeachment back on the table.