[Peace-discuss] Censure Bush for misleading us. (fwd)

Fri Feb 6 00:37:46 CST 2004

I have mixed feelings about this, because I feel that censure is too mild
of a response to Bush's misdeeds.  President Clinton was impeached
(though not convicted) because he made misleading statements about his
personal life.  Bush misled the american people and the Congress of the
United States on matters of national security and weapons of mass
destruction.  By failing to seek a constitutionally mandated declaration
of war before attacking Iraq, Bush violated the US constitution.  The
United Nations Charter specifies that a signatory may use military force
only if attacked by another country, if under imminent danger of attack,
or with the authorization of the UN security council.  Bush's attack on
Iraq met none of these conditions and was therefore illegal.  The
constitution specifies that a president must abide by any international
treaty that has been both signed and ratified.  Bush's failure to abide by
the UN Charter also therefore violates the US constitution.  Bush's
invasion of Iraq killed an estimated 10,000 Iraqi civilians and more that
500 american service personnel.  It alienated our allies, enflamed the
Islamic world, and disgraced America in the eyes of the world.  If this
doesn't warrant impeachment, then what does?
-Paul P.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2004 08:33:14 -0800
From: "Peter Schurman, MoveOn.org" <moveon-help at list.moveon.org>
To: Paul Patton <ppatton at uiuc.edu>
Subject: Censure Bush for misleading us.

Dear MoveOn member,

During the buildup to war, President Bush said the United States
"must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear
evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof -- the
smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud....
We have every reason to assume the worst, and we have an urgent
duty to prevent the worst from occurring." [1]
On the eve of sending troops into battle, Bush asserted that
"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no
doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some
of the most lethal weapons ever devised." [2] Now David Kay, the CIA=92s
chief weapons inspector, has testified before Congress that these
weapons do not exist.

In an attempt to evade responsibility for the misleading statements
that pushed the nation into war, Bush has announced plans to form
an independent inquiry to look into what went wrong.  An inquiry
would serve the Bush administration well: it would envelop the
issue in a fog of uncertainty, deflect blame onto the intelligence
services, and delay any political damage until 2005, after the upcoming
election. [3]

But the facts need no clarification.  Despite repeated warnings from the
CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency, President Bush and his administration
hyped and distorted the threat that Iraq posed. [4]  And now that reality i=
s setting in, the President wants to pin the blame on someone else.  We can=
't let him.

Congress has the power to censure the President -- to formally reprimand
him for betraying the nation's trust.  If ever there was a time for this,
it's now.  Join our call on Congress to censure President Bush at:

  http://www.moveon.org/censure/?id=3D2298-483317-2TLgFp0jLd_KDflzs1OHaA

It's clear that we've been mislead:

* David Kay said last week, "I'm personally convinced that there were
not large stockpiles of newly produced weapons of mass destruction," and
"We don't find the people, the documents or the physical plants that
you would expect to find if the production was going on."  Kay said
these things shortly after resigning from his post as Bush's chief
weapons inspector in Iraq. [5]

* Bush, in his 2003 State of the Union address, said, "the British
government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant
quantities of uranium from Africa." [6] Yet Ambassador Joe Wilson, who
was sent to Niger in February 2002 to determine whether Iraq was trying
to purchase uranium materials there, concluded that "intelligence related
to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi
threat." [7]

* A CIA report in February 2003 said: "We do not have any direct evidence
that Iraq has used the period since [1998] to reconstitute its Weapons
of Mass Destruction programs." [8]

It's also clear that the misleading was deliberate:

* The respected Carnegie Endowment for International Peace recently found
that the administration "systematically misrepresented the threat" from
Iraq. [9]

* The basis for President Bush's African uranium claim was known at the tim=
e
to be forged [10] and not credible.  "Top White House officials knew that
the CIA seriously disputed the claim that Saddam Hussein was seeking uraniu=
m
in Africa long before the claim was included in Bush's January address to
the nation," according to the Washington Post. [11]

* Secretary of State Colin Powell became alarmed at the level of
intelligence distortion.  When he read the first draft of his speech to
the UN -- prepared for Powell by Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of
staff -- he was so upset that he lost his temper, throwing several pages
in the air and declaring, "I'm not reading this. This is bullsh--." [12]

Our democracy only works when we know the truth.  We now know President
Bush and his administration deliberately misled Congress and the
American people.  Censure is the least we should expect in response.

The independent inquiry will need a year or more to come to a conclusion,
according to the Bush administration.  It took less time than that for
the country to go to war.  We don't need more investigation, we need
accountability, and we need it now.

Join our call on Congress to censure President Bush at:

  http://www.moveon.org/censure/?id=3D2298-483317-2TLgFp0jLd_KDflzs1OHaA

We'll be holding a press conference in Washington on Thursday, announcing
our campaign for Censure.  If you sign on now, we can count your signature
at the press conference.  Please sign on right away.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

--Adam, Carrie, Eli, James, Joan, Laura, Noah, Peter, Wes, and Zack
  The MoveOn.org Team
  Tuesday, February 3, 2004

[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54353-2004Jan27.html

[2] http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030317-7.html

[3] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3980-2004Feb1.html

[4] An excellent, comprehensive rundown on the Bush administration's delibe=
rate distortion of intelligence is available at:
    http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=3DbiJRJ8OVF&b=3D24889

[5] http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/26/international/middleeast/26KAY.html

[6] http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030128-19.html

[7] http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/06/opinion/06WILS.html
    Note: Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, had her CIA cover blown, possibly b=
y the White House, in apparent retaliation for Wilson's contradicting the W=
hite House's line on WMDs.

[8] http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3340723/

[9] http://www.ceip.org/files/pdf/Iraq3GuideFind_SummRec.pdf

[10] http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/08/international/worldspecial/08PREX.ht=
ml

[11] http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/6362092.htm

[12] http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/archive/030609/20030609040506.php
    Note: The article with the Powell quote is available for purchase from =
the US News & World Report archives for $2.95.
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