In the March 2006 issue of Harper's magazine (soon online at www.harpers.org ), editor Lewis Lapham makes the case for the impeachment of George W. Bush. "The Case for Impeachment" is based in part on a 182-page report by Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, titled The Constitution in Crisis: The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution, and Coverups in the Iraq War  (http://www.conyersblog.us). [See Rep. Conyers's letter below.]

 

A few excerpts from Lapham's essay (which should be read in its entirety):

 

The Case for Impeachment

Why We Can No Longer Afford George W. Bush

by Lewis H. Lapham

Harper's, March 2006

 

 

"Before reading the [Conyers] report, I wouldn't have expected to find myself thinking that [impeachment] was either likely or possible; after reading the report, I don't know why we would run the risk of not impeaching the man. We have before us in the White House a thief who steals the country's good name and reputation for his private interest and personal use; a liar who seeks to instill in the American people a state of fear; a televangelist who engages the United States in a never-ending crusade against all the world's evil, a wastrel who squanders a vast sum of the nation's wealth on what turns out to be a recruiting drive certain to multiply the host of our enemies. In a word, a criminal -- known to be armed and shown to be dangerous. . . .

 

"The Bush Administration doesn't believe in the theory of parliamentary government, much less in the notion of paying political prices. Its agents prefer the more frugal and efficient practice of stealing elections, gagging the voice of the Democratic minority in Congress, slandering people who presume to doubt either its wisdom or its virtue, conducting the business of government behind closed doors, alone with its Bibles and its pet Bismarcks in soundproof rooms. . . .

 

" 'We're at war,' the President said on December 19 [when acknowledging NSA wiretapping], 'we must protect America's secrets."

 

"No, the country isn't at war, and it's not America's secrets that the President seeks to protect. The country is threatened by free-booting terrorists unaligned with a foreign government or an enemy army; the secrets are those of the Bush Administration, chief among them its determination to replace a democratic republic with something more safely totalitarian. The fiction of permanent war allows it to seize, in the name of the national security, the instruments of tyranny.

 

"The heavy volume of angry protest on the Internet, reflected in the polls indicating the President's steady decline in the popular esteem, suggests that at least half of the American electorate, in the red states and the blue, knows that the Bush Administration operates without reference to the rule of law, also that the President believes himself somehow divinely ordained, accountable only to Jesus and the oil companies. . . .

 

"It isn't the business of the Congress to punish President Bush. . . . It is the business of the Congress to prevent the President from doing more damage than he's already done to the people, interests, health, well-being, safety, good name, and reputation of the United States -- to cauterize the wound and stem the flows of money, stupidity, and blood."

 

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Impeachment Forum in NYC

Thursday, March 2, 2006; 8-10 PM ET, Live on Air America Radio


I wanted to let you all know that Harper's Magazine is preparing a special issue that will focus on the case for impeachment in general, and my "Constitution in Crisis" Report in particular. This will be accompanied by a special forum in New York on Thursday, March 2 at 8 PM ET. For those unable to attend in person, it will be aired live on Air America's Sam Seder Show. Harpers has the information on the forum, but the text of the issue is not yet up. This issue of Harpers and the forum will be an important benchmark in our drive for accountability.    --John Conyers, Jr.

 

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The Constitution in Crisis:

Censure and Investigate Possible Impeachment

by the Honorable John Conyers, Jr., 19-term congressman from Michigan

December 20, 2005

Today, I am releasing a staff report entitled, "The Constitution in Crisis: The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution and Coverups in the Iraq War."

Before talking about the report, I must express my profound gratitude to the readers of this site, who kept this story alive when no one would cover it, and continued to talk about it after some in the media moved on.

Much of the research in this report is a product of the input and hard work of DailyKos, Huffington Post and Conyersblog readers over the last six months (the help with my "timeline project" was particularly useful). I also am so grateful to progressive talk radio hosts and listeners, who have refused to allow the American people to forget the nation was deceived into war.

Now on to the Report and what I plan to do about it. In sum, the report examines the Bush Administration's actions in taking us to war from A to Z. The report finds there is substantial evidence the President, the Vice-President and other high ranking members of the Bush Administration misled Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war in Iraq; misstated and manipulated intelligence information regarding the justification for such war; countenanced torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in Iraq; and permitted inappropriate retaliation against critics of their Administration.

The Report concludes that a number of these actions amount to prima facie evidence (evidence sufficiently strong to presume the allegations are true) that federal criminal laws have been violated. Legal violations span from false statements to Congress to whistleblower laws.

The Report also concludes that these charges clearly rise to the level of impeachable conduct. However, because the Administration has failed to respond to requests for information about these charges, it is not yet possible to conclude that an impeachment inquiry or articles of impeachment are warranted.

In response to the Report, I have already taken a number of actions. First, I have introduced a resolution (H. Res. 635) creating a Select Committee with subpoena authority to investigate the misconduct of the Bush Administration with regard to the Iraq war and report on possible impeachable offenses. In Watergate, for example, the Congress did not begin matters as an impeachment inquiry, but investigated matters -- through the Ervin Committee -- and referred impeachable evidence to the Judiciary Committee.

Second, I have introduced Resolutions regarding both President Bush (H. Res. 636) and Vice-President Cheney (H. Res. 637) proposing that they be censured by Congress based on the uncontroverted evidence already on the record and their failure to respond to Congressional and public inquiries about these matters and have never accounted for their many specific misstatements in the run up to War.

As you know, taking these steps means that I am likely to be criticized by the political and media establishments in Washington and attacked by the right wing noise machine. There is a school of thought among Washington political consultants that criticizing the President about Iraq will make Democrats appear to be weak on national security. There is a media establishment that marginalizes politicians for espousing beliefs held by the majority of Americans. The right wing noise machine in turn retaliates against the President’s critics.

Be that as it may, I just could not be silent any longer. The title of the report is exactly right: the Constitution is in Crisis. There are serious and well-substantiated allegations that the Executive Branch has usurped the sole power of the Congress to declare war by deceiving the Congress about the evidence for war. There are serious and well-substantiated allegations that the Executive Branch has deceived the American people to manufacture the people’s consent for war.

If you agree with me, I am going to need your help like never before. Please go to my website, johnconyers.com, where you will find an action center, including a copy of the Report via Raw Story, and ways you can help. Also visit censurebush.org to join with other activists who want to move this issue forward.

For more information, go to johnconyers.com