Save American Democracy: Impeach Bush

By Linn Washington Jr., Philadelphia Tribune

Add criminal negligence to the list of offenses justifying impeachment proceedings against President Bush.

The callously inept response to Hurricane Katrina by Bush clearly contributed to exacerbating the horrific suffering and death along the Gulf Coast, especially in the flood ravaged city of New Orleans.

Including a criminal negligence charge to the already long list of impeachable offenses against Bush is one of the unique angles contained in the new book, The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing President George W. Bush from Office. (St. Martin’s Press)

A key point stressed by the co-authors of this book last week during their presentation at Philadelphia’s Free Library on the Parkway in Center City is that impeaching Bush is not partisan politics.

Impeaching Bush seeks to prevent this emperor wannabe from further destruction of US constitutional protections, the nation at-large and the wider world.

"Impeachment is not a left v. right issue or a Democrat v. Republican issue. It is a humanity issue," said co-author Barbara Olshansky, a lawyer and constitutional law expert.

The Bush Administration's undercutting constitutional rights plus its defiant refusal to follow the rule of law domestically and internationally constitutes the "most wholesale theft from the US people imaginable," added Olshansky, deputy director for the New York City-based Center for Constitutional Rights.

Bush's failure to address the insidious issue of global warming, the co-authors argue, is perhaps his "greatest crime."

Olshansky's co-author, Philadelphia-area investigative reporter/author Dave Lindorff, says Bush is a "serious threat" to American democracy and world peace.

"The impeachable crimes of George Bush are really, really serious. They are not like Clinton's perjury about infidelity. Clinton's lies were not of constitutional gravity," Lindorff said.

"War crimes in Iraq, torture in secret prisons around the world, failing to provide soldiers with proper armor, the criminally negligent response to Katrina…the crimes of Bush are so grievous, it is irresponsible not to impeach," Lindorff declared, criticizing those Capitol Hill Democrats who downplay the importance of impeachment.

The US Constitution (Article II, Section 4) authorizes impeachment of the president, vice-president and all civil officers of the US for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

Bush's doing nothing while flood waters ravaged a major city qualifies as a "high crime."

In the book Olshansky and Lindorff document examples of the lie-based negligence Bush exhibited during Katrina.

Bush, for example, claimed that it was impossible to know that the hurricane would destroy the levees protecting the below sea level city.

However, a Bush Administration video-tape of a meeting held the day before Katrina struck "showed the president…being repeatedly warned…that the New Orleans levees could be breeched…and that rescue teams and resources were inadequate for the looming disaster."

Despite getting this dire briefing, this video obscenely shows the vacationing Bush asking “not one single question…” the book states.

Another Bush lie around Katrina relates to blame shifting where the White House blamed state and local officials for not declaring a state of emergency earlier.

The book details how days before Katrina struck, Louisiana Governor Blanco declared a state of emergency and the "White House responded by declaring a national emergency in the state."

Shamelessly, the Bush Administration lied about this state of emergency sequence despite its emergency declaration being posted on the White House web site.

This Katrina-based charge is uniquely interesting to the black community for two reasons: (1) blacks disproportionately bore the brunt of the devastating suffering and death caused by Katrina; and (2) Bush's inaction is another example of the bigotry embedded in his Administration.

Despite Bush’s televised promises to address poverty along the Gulf Coast, blacks in that region have been virtually excluded from jobs created by post-Katrina contracts given primarily to Bush-connected cronies.

Last week, Congressman Henry Waxman (D-Ca) released information documenting tens of millions of dollars in waste related to those crony contracts.

Also last week, Waxman, along with three members of the Congressional Black Caucus, released a report documenting the decrease in black political appointees under Bush despite "the number of political appointees on the federal payroll" soaring during Bush's two-terms.

Lindorff, during last week's presentation, said that impeachment proceedings are possible if the Democratic Party gains control of the Congress in the fall ’06 mid-term elections.

Lindorff notes that Michigan Congressman John Conyers introduced legislation last December to investigate impeachment and censure Bush for his lies about the Iraq War and domestic spying.

"The Democrats only need to gain 15-seats in the House to take control. If the Democrats gain control, Conyers will become chair of the Judiciary Committee," Lindorff said. "During the Nixon years, the real evidence of his crimes came out during the impeachment hearings."

Lindorff faults the mainstream news media for its "colossal failure" in holding Bush accountable, a "shameful" dereliction of the media’s watchdog duty.

Lindorff also assigns blame to the American public for not defending its democracy against Bush Administration assaults on law and basic liberties.

"I believe there is a disease of cynicism in this country. People sit back and don't participate," he said. "They say there's no use, but if we don't get involved, nothing will happen." Linn Washington Jr. is an award-winning writer who teaches journalism at Temple University.