Dennis Kucinich's Impeachment Resolution Could Be Helpful in a Future War Crimes Trial

President George W. Bush has embarked on his "Farewell Tour" of European capitals. He will meet with heads of state and other national leaders. He will be received cordially and diplomatically and treated like a powerful foreign dignitary. But this European trip better be Bush's last trip across the Atlantic because if he travels there as a civilian after January 20, 2009 he stands a good chance of being detained and charged with war crimes. (Remember Augusto Pinochet?) All that is needed is one gutsy judge or magistrate from any of the nations that have signed on to the long-standing prohibitions against war crimes.

There exists no statute of limitations on war crimes; if there were then Klaus Barbie ("The Butcher of Lyon") and other aged Nazis would have been left alone to retire in peace. There are no international boundaries or sanctuaries for war criminals; again, if there existed such "war-crime-free-zones" then Klaus Barbie and others like him could have easily sought asylum in any number of nations governed by sympathetic dictatorships. And a war criminal does not have the power to "pardon" himself or others under his command; if he had such power then every tyrant and genocidal monster in the world would simply issue pardons to himself and all his co-conspirators on the way out of power, (the Nuremberg Trials never would have gotten off the ground).

Representative Dennis Kucinich's 35-count impeachment resolution that is currently being read into the Congressional Record is the most thorough chronicling of the many crimes (and war crimes) of the most venal, mendacious, and corrupt president in American history. It is an important document because it establishes for the record the litany of abuses of power and high crimes and misdemeanors of George W. Bush's nearly eight years of misrule. It is an official Congressional statement of fact that will come in handy in the future.

We all know the Democrats who control the Congress do not have the courage to pursue articles of impeachment against Bush. They long ago made a cynical political calculation that to do so would only bring the opprobrium of the Right and its allies and make the pivotal elections in 2008 more difficult for Democrats. That is their judgment call. But it is the wrong call because the republic cannot bear for long a succession of imperial presidents who build on the Bush record to upset the balance of Constitutional powers permanently. We may be looking back at the Congressional acquiescence in Bush's crimes as a step toward fascism in this country.

Dennis Kucinich has done the country an enormous service with this attempt to keep the record straight about this horrible "Decider." I can appreciate the Democrats' political hesitation, but I don't agree with it. The key question is this: If George W. Bush does not deserve to be impeached then what does a president have to do to be impeached?

Let's hope that sometime in the distant future that Bush lets his guard down and decides to take a vacation in England where he can be collared just like Pinochet.

Comments

[Jules1]

http://www.democrats.com/35-articles-of-impeachment

Go sign the petition and help DENNIS then pass it on to all your family and friends.

[billkarwin]

What has become apparent is that impeachment is a tool of politics, not a tool of justice.

[woodchips]

Great article, but I take exception with the following passage:

"We all know the Democrats who control the Congress do not have the courage to pursue articles of impeachment against Bush. They long ago made a cynical political calculation that to do so would only bring the opprobrium of the Right and its allies and make the pivotal elections in 2008 more difficult for Democrats. That is their judgment call."

WRONG! They swore an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic". It is their DUTY to impeach. Nothing in their oath of office states or implies that this duty is optional or should be upheld only when deemed politically expedient.

[letsmakesense]

We the voters must make it perfectly clear to Congresspeople no one is re elected who does not vote for impeachment. Lets get on the phone.

[rcpmac]

I just sent Dennis a modest contribution. He needs a war chest to conduct this battle.

[davidly]

If we don't recognize the current fascism that has continually imposed it will on the world even after the supposed defeat of the Third Reich, history is not likely to judge this era as a movement toward such.

[JustifiablyParanoid]

Dennis Kucinich -- I wish I may, I wish I might, make the rest of congress fight your fight.

[111]

How about arresting Nancy Pelosi and John Conyers for shielding Bush and Cheney from impeachment. Will some European government also arrest those who tried stood by and did nothing to stop these criminals? The world pursued some of the high level Nazis who participated in Hitler's crimes. Why not Pelosi who was in the meetings where torture was approved and then took impeachment off of the table. What about John Conyers who has had Kucinich's articles of impeachment against Cheney and is deliberately letting them languish. Why not arrest ever congress person who has refused to pursue impeachment? Then go after Betray us and others like him.

[DueTruthinesss]

Why are we not seeing more regarding this story from the "legitament" news media (CNN, BBC, ABC, CBS, NBC)? And for that matter why is this the only mention of it by the Huffington Post? Whether it succeeds or fails (and it will fail) it is still news. It is the first real attempt to hold this criminal administration accountable for their lies. Do not allow this story to be buried beneath rumors of Paris Hilton's new sexacpade.

[rosina]

Exactly what I was thinking when I opened our daily paper yesterday. Instead of even a brief reporting of the Kucinich impeachment articles, not a word of it in the entire paper. What did the paper feature on its front page? A lead story on the sexy dresses teenagers will be wearing for their graduation parties, a report on the "war on porn", etc. etc. Is it any wonder that much of the populace in the country is oblivious to the political crisis we are mired in now?

[NABNYC]

Letter, Part 2
This international war crime they call the War in Iraq has cost the people of Ventura County alone $1.9 billion, money that we could have used in our own community. Instead, it has been squandered for the oil corporations who controlled the Bush white house, who wanted to send in the U.S. military to help them steal Iraq"s oil. Now the monopoly oil companies are rich with oil projected to be $6/gallon within a month, and the citizens of this country are the big losers. Impeach. Have hearings, televised, and let"s get the truth out. They"ve stolen our money and devastated our country. I think the least we deserve is to have the truth come out.

[NABNYC]

Letter, Part 1: [Even if you don't really support impeachment now, you should consider sending a letter to your local paper to remind the citizens of just how much they are being screwed by the Republicans, particularly with gas headed for $6/gallon just in time for summer vacations. The cost for your city, county, state can be found at the website Cost Of War].

My letter:

This week in Congress, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio has introduced 35 articles of impeachment against George W. Bush. Everyone should support that impeachment, and Rep. Kucinich is to be commended for standing up for the laws of this country and against the law-breaking Bush regime. The articles of impeachment include creating an intentionally fraudulent propaganda campaign to deceive the American public into approving the war against Iraq. It also includes kidnapping, torture, and murder, denial of counsel, denial of trials, "outing" a CIA agent for political advantage, illegally snooping through our personal records and of course massive theft of our money by Bush"s friends.

[larry278]

Representative Kuchinich's impeachment of W resolution is supported by Rep Wexler who has introduced a resolution to impeach RB Cheney. While I'd prefer to have W & his cohorts tried in a US Court for treason incident to invading & occupying Iraq on a false pretext, genocide & many other crimes against humanity since a defendant found guilty of treason in a US Court may be sentenced to death & executed, W, et al may be tried by an International Tribunal before a US prosecutor could get a US grand jury to indict W. et al. Int'l Tribunals don't have access to the death penalty for those convicted of war crimes, etc. W, et al might be sentenced to time in a European or other nation's prison when they are conviced of war crimes. W, et al would get humane treatment in a prison or prisons where prisoners are granted human rights which US prisons are unable &/or unwilling to provide to prisoners. We in the USA may not get the blood revenge we lust for.

[DakotaMinnesota]

This country is too obsessed with its image and its worldwide competitiveness to go let itself be distracted by another civil war, and these warmonger Republicans will go to the mat to stop any threat to their authority, to war if necessary.

I too wish that people would support Bush's impeachment - but I think it's a bigger national commitment than most people realize. If a sizable chunk of Democrats in Congress got behind this bill, the threat it would pose to established power would incite the Right to violence. However, I'm of the opinion that we have to show this hidden demonic face of the right. We need to provoke the beast into revealing itself at last rather than continuing to be cowards and letting it hide in the shadows.

[Heartlander]

The Democratic party has a new leader-- Barak Obama. Obama is said to be, like Kucinich, a progressive. How about some leadership from Obama on this. Has he spoken out in support of Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment?
Also, where is Obama's voice on FISA?
Why is a military friend of McCain on Obama's list for VP?

[ThirdSection]

It's such a pity too, because if played right, a Bush impeachment might galvanize the Democrats even more.

[outnow]

The American people for the most part and even the Democratic party went along with all of the war crimes. With blood on their hands, it is unlikely that justice will prevail. The Germans only paid a price when they lost a war. Certain NAZIs were brought to justice in Nuremberg. There were war criminals in Vietnam. How many were ever brought to justice?

The "good Germans" looked the other way as Jews were taken off to work camps. The Gypsies were slaughtered without a murmur. When Hitler saw that nobody would defend the Gypsies, he went on to slaughter the Jews. The Romans had a saying, "Today to me, tomorrow to you." Translated, that means that while I may be the victim now, if you turn your back on crimes against humanity, you might be next. You may not realize that we are all in the same boat. But when they come to get you, remember you stood by while they came to get the other guy and you did nothing.