Why are we just talking impeachment? - Wanted for war crimes

[pberq]

War criminals have hijacked our government! Impeachment is a start, but they should be tried for war crimes. The article below was originally written in late 2003.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_john_kel_051221_wanted_for_war_crime.htm

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“The price good people pay for their indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.” Plato

“People can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. All you have to do is tell them they’re being attacked and denounce the pacifists for a lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.” Herman Goering, Nazi leader who created the Gestapo, sentenced to death at Nuremberg for war crimes.

We should not be talking just of impeachment, that is not strong enough action to send a message to tyrants in the world. Given the Downing Street Memo showing that the current administration knowingly constructed intelligence to create justification for going to war it is appropriate for the world to examine whether officials of the United States and Great Britain should be tried for war crimes.

Justification for War

There were three reasons given for the Bush Doctrine of Pre-emptive War; 1) Saddam had weapons of mass destruction with which he threatened his neighbors and the U.S., 2) Saddam supported and was connected to al-Qaeda and 3) he was a ruthless tyrant. It is now clear to any thinking citizen (Bush apologists are not thinking citizens) that the President and other neo conservatives in the United States Government lied to the American public in order to gain support to launch a war of aggression against Iraq for ideological and economic motives.

Of the three justifications there is no doubt about the last. That alone ignores the fact that we do not invade countries because their leaders are tyrants, in fact we have supported many including Saddam in the past. Even conservative George Will was forced to state in a June 23 editorial “But unless one is prepared to postulate a U.S. right, perhaps even a duty, to militarily dismantle any tyranny, it is unacceptable to argue that Saddam’s mass graves and torture chambers suffice as retrospective justifications for pre-emptive war.” Lets look at what the postulation of that U.S. duty would mean.

(more at link . . .)

[Wetzelbill]

1. good luck getting these guys on anything

they deserve anything they get, but are basically unaccountable because Republicans control everything.

[Amonester]

2. First thing's first (Can s*itting Residents be tried?)

Just asking. (I don't know.)

[HereSince1628]

3. Having the US surrender an impeached president would be easier

than trying to get the US to hand over a sitting president.

Having a trial in absentia on the war crimes Bush/Cheney have presided over isn't enough. There is a need to apply whatever penalty may be just.

[pberq]

4. Agreed.

More from the article:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_john_kel_051221_wanted_for_war_crime.htm

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The Remedy

For the United States to put an end to this travesty and rejoin the rest of the world two things must take place:
1) The President and other administration officials who participated in this lie to justify this illegal war of aggression should be impeached and removed from office; 2) The President, his officials and war profiteers who supported these illegal acts should be brought before an international tribunal on war crimes and if found guilty sentenced to punishments up to and including hanging for their actions by the standards of international law.

Impeachment

On July 27, 1974 the first Article of Impeachment passed by the House Judiciary Committed read “Richard Nixon endeavorto be made false or misleading public statements for the purpose of deceiving the people of the United States.”

In the 1998 impeachment proceedings against William Jefferson Clinton it was said he: “has undermined the integrity of his office, has brought disrepute on the Presidency, has betrayed his trust as President, and has acted in a manner subversive of the rule of law and justice, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.”

If any of the allegations above are true then certainly these charges would be applicable and provable to justify the conviction and removal of the president and others in his administration who conspired to carry out this subterfuge on the citizens of the U.S. and the world.