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Onward,
Alexander, Jeffrey, Becky and Deva
November
16, 2006
Real Change Begins at the Top
Impeachment
Proceedings
By CINDY SHEEHAN
We the People of the United
States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice,
insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,
promote the General Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty
to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America.
Preamble to the Constitution
of the United States of America
There are many important issues facing
our nation and the 110th Congress. Minimum wage increases and
universal health care are long past due.I certainly appreciate
the stirrings about bringing our troops home from Iraq within
3 or 4 months, too! After all, sic more troops were killed yesterday
while our politicoes are playing footsies with each other! We
thought that Nov. 7th was a day to celebrate! When the last of
our brave young people come limping home to their relieved families
that will be a joy-filled and historic day.
I believe, though, that those
same troops and others who have fought so bravely, died so needlessly,
and have been wounded for life deserve justice for what the Bush
regime has put them through. I believe that this country and
the world deserve justice for the raping and pillaging by the
pirates who have stolen our liberties and inflicted torture and
other pains and hardships upon the world. I believe that impeachment
proceedings are the most important issue that the 110th Congress
should put on OUR table.
Since I have written open letters
to George and Reps Pelosi and Conyers, I have had almost overwhelming
support for the ideas, but there are also some legitimate concerns
that need to be addressed.
First of all, many people believe
that impeachment proceedings will be seen as "political"
revenge for what the Republicans have done to the Democrats for
the last 12 years or revenge for the impeachment of Bill Clinton.
Impeachment is not a political tool as used by the Republican
Congress, but it is a Constitutional remedy for elected or appointed
officials who are abusing their powers. If George has not abused
his powers as president and commander in chief, then no president
in history has. I will not detail his high crimes and misdemeanor
and crimes against peace and humanity, because all of his illicit
activities have already been well documented. Justice should
not be a partisan issue and if Congress took their oath to the
Constitution as seriously as they take their allegiance to the
special interests and to partisan politicking, George would have
already been impeached.
Secondly, many people are fearful
that impeachment proceedings will bog down Congress. Elizabeth
Holtzman who was a Representative from New York and sat on the
investigative committee that recommended impeachment articles
be charged against Richard Nixon said, last weekend at our impeachment
forum in Philadelphia's Constitutional Hall, that this kind of
reasoning doesn't give Congress enough credit. Ms. Holtzman said
that Congress is able to "walk and chew gum" at the
same time. I will have to take her word for it, since she is
the reasoned voice of experience.
Lastly, people are concerned
that holding George accountable will further divide a country
already damaged and split by the "Uniter." This is
a legitimate concern, but our country healed completely after
the Nixon debacle, and we will heal again. I would like to also
give us Americans the credit that we deserve. We have proven
over and over again that we are very resilient and strong enough
to withstand a quest for accountability.
Recent polls have shown that
most Americans want proceedings instituted against BushCo. The
newly elected Congressional leadership will not institute these
proceedings unless the will of the people is shown. Many members
of the Congresses, in both parties, that have been seated since
BushCo came to power in an illegal electoral coup in 2000, have
been willing co-conspirators in the Bush crimes against everything
and it is up to the will of the American people to correct the
course that is robbing the Blessings of Liberty from all of us
and from our posterity. As the preamble states, it is our Constitution,
as well as it is theirs, and we need to reclaim our country and
our humanity before it is lost to us forever.
Bringing Articles of Impeachment
against BushCo will not only bring resolution and justice to
our nation and the world, but if this regime is made to be held
accountable for their crimes and abuses of power, then future
administrations may be slower to commit such blatant and belligerent
crimes and the world will be a safer and more peaceful place.
But there is an overriding reason for these proceedings to be
instituted as soon as possible: A president is not above the
law, or the law. A president is an elected official who has a
duty to obey, carry out and protect the laws of our land, not
break them as if he were a dictator of a banana republic, not
leader of a once great nation. We need to restore our greatness
and our credibility to a world that despises us for allowing
BushCo free rein to commit their aggressions against the world.
By attaining this justice that
our world so desperately needs, we people of compassion and courage
cannot bring back the hundreds of thousands of people who have
been killed already. We cannot put the buildings back together
that the war machine's bombs have destroyed. We cannot make whole
the people who have been emotionally and physically wounded by
these high crimes and misdemeanors. We cannot put back together
the families who have been torn apart by illegal wars. No matter
how hard we try, we cannot prevent the pain that has already
been caused by BushCo, but by bringing them to justice, we can,
and will prevent more needless suffering here at home and abroad
for the present and for our posterity.
Our dead, our soldiers, and
the people of Iraq are voiceless in the debate on accountability
and we must be their voices. The Constitution cannot break out
of its glass at the National Archives and sit-in in front of
the White House or walk the Halls of Congress to demand that
BushCo quit desecrating it and what the US used to stand for.
It is up to us, the citizens, to protect humanity and the law
of our land. As historian Howard Zinn states in the introduction
to Impeach the President, the Case against Bush and Cheney, edited
by Dennis Loo and Peter Phillips:
We cannot expect either Republicans
or Democrats in Congress to initiate any challenge to the existing
order of things. In the history of the nation, serious injustices---slavery,
racial segregation, the rights of working people, the condition
of women, the war in Vietnam---have only been remedied by powerful
social movements that have forced the government to change its
policies.
Now we have another such time.
Our very existence as a nation
of laws and justice depends on it.
Please visit Impeach
for Change to learn about the new and powerful people's movement
for accountability. Sign up for an impeachment forum in your
area on Human Rights day, December 10th, or organize one locally
if there is not one near you. I will be speaking with, among
other notable Americans, Elizabeth Holtzman, at the forum in
NYC that day.
Please visit Gold
Star Families for Peace to learn about our Walk for Change
campaign in the Halls of Congress on January 3rd and 4th, 2007.
You can join Gold Star Family members in our demand for peace
and accountability.
2006 was the year of the Awakening
and 2007 will be the year of the Change!
Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spec. Casey Sheehan
who was KIA in the Bush regime's war of terror on 04/04/04. She
is the co-founder and president of Gold
Star Families for Peace and founder and director of the Camp
Casey Peace Institute. Cindy has published three books and the
latest is Peace
Mom: A Mother's Journey Through Heartache to Activism.
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