Subject: Via ANCAPS: Judiciary Chair Pledges to Impeach Bush After Nov. 4 Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:08 am
By Josiah Ryan CNSNews.com Staff Writer March 19, 2008
( CNSNews.com) - At a gathering of liberal activists in Washington on Tuesday, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) was asked if he would commit to holding the Bush administration accountable once a Democrat is in the White House and illegal acts have been pinned on President Bush.
"Yes, you have my word on that," Conyers replied. He then shook the questioner's hand as a sign of his commitment.
Conyers, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, told an audience at the liberal Take Back America Conference that he is wrestling with the idea of beginning impeachment proceedings against President Bush and Vice President Cheney, but he believes that such an effort might hamper Sen. Barack Obama's chance of winning the presidency.
However, Conyers guaranteed his liberal audience that he will pursue legal action against Bush after the November elections.
"There are those who said, if you elect Democrats to Congress, we will guarantee you two things: Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y) will become chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and he will raises taxes; and Conyers will become chairman of the Judiciary and he will impeach President George W. Bush," Conyers said. "You want to make them half right?"
The audience replied with thirty seconds of hearty applause. Conyers was speaking at a panel discussion entitled "The Republic Against the Rogue Presidency."
"Dear friends, this [impeachment] is a decision I am struggling with, and I want to share it here. Do I want to jeopardize the election by taking up this issue?" Conyers asked. "The problem is, this could become the issue of the 2008 election. This brilliant, talented Senator (Obama), who has more delegates and more votes than anybody else, could get derailed."
When Cybercast News Service asked Conyers to clarify the statement, he said, "I am afraid they would raise it in the campaign, and that they will use it against us, and that we would end up getting McCain. I would regret that for the rest of my life," he said. "That's the only reason. That would be my fear."
But Conyers told Cybercast News Service this does not mean the Bush administration will not be held accountable. "We can win this election and go get these guys afterwards. But we just don't want to jeopardize November 4th," he said.
Different panelists offered perspectives on why they think President Bush deserves to be brought before a court.
David Cole, a law professor at Yale University and a legal correspondent for The Nation magazine, said Bush's refusal to yield to the constitutional system of checks and balances is one of his biggest crimes.
President Bush has decided he has "unilateral, uncheckable power with respect to the enemy," Cole said. "The only checks and balances this president believes in is check and balances within the White House," he added.
Conyers has his own list of complaints against the Bush administration. "You get cocky, you get arrogant and you think you can do anything. And frequently you will try to do anything," he said.
Conyers told the crowd there is one scenario that could trigger immediate impeachment proceedings against the president: "If Bush goes into Iran he should be impeached," Conyers said, noting that "many members of Congress" have signed their names to a letter warning Bush not to invade Iran.
The fifth annual Take Back America Conference includes forums that allow liberals to discuss important issues, including how to recover from the "ashes of this conservative era," as the Web site put it.
Conyers is one of the Bush administration's chief antagonists in Congress, opposing the president on almost every issue, including the Iraq war, health care, terrorist surveillance, and other issues.
Just last week, his Judiciary Committee took the rare step of filing a civil lawsuit against former White House aides Joshua Bolten and Harriet Miers for failing to obey a committee subpoena. Conyers wants to force the two to testify about the firings of nine federal prosecutors in 2006.
The House cited Bolten and Miers for contempt of Congress last month.
Subject: Re: Via ANCAPS: Judiciary Chair Pledges to Impeach Bush After Nov. 4 Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:13 am
Bush Impeachment A Rallying Cry for Anti-War Movement & ANCAPS Too
By Fred Lucas CNSNews.com Staff Writer March 19, 2007
(CNSNews.com) - Alan McConnell of Silver Spring, Md., stood near the Lincoln Memorial, the starting point for the "March on the Pentagon" Saturday, selling little green "Impeach Bush" buttons for a dollar each.
The proceeds, he said, would go toward making big green "Impeach Bush" yard signs. In the first hour at the rally, he made $150 in sales from the anti-war crowd that numbered in the thousands, all braving the windy, 30-degree weather in Washington, D.C.
The protesters participating in the march from the Mall to the Pentagon - a march intended to recall a 1967 anti-Vietnam War march -- made impeachment of President George W. Bush a high priority, waving signs that said "Impeach Bush for War Crimes;" "Visualize Impeachment, Save the Country;" and "Impeach and Imprison Bush," among others.
Both protesters and speakers at the march cited as reasons for impeachment their belief that Bush intentionally lied about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to "mislead" the country into war; the warrantless domestic surveillance of international telephone calls; and the leaking of CIA employee Valerie Plame Wilson's identity. Many also called for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney and cabinet officials as well.
The group ImpeachBush.org, a group founded by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, was a co-sponsor of the "March on the Pentagon," along with the A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition.
"The president and vice president committed high crimes and misdemeanors. How many crimes do they have to commit? How long does this have to go on?" said Clark, who served on the legal defense team for Saddam Hussein when he was tried in Iraq for crimes against humanity. "Impeachment is the first step to restore order to the country."
ImpeachBush.org says it has collected more than 850,000 signatures on impeachment petitions and it claims to be the country's largest impeachment group. And there are other such groups.
Aggressively trying to sell his green buttons, McConnell, of the group United Local Impeachment Meet-up approached Monica McGovern, 47, who was holding a collection bucket for donations to the pro-impeachment group WorldCan'tWait.org in one hand and a "Stop the Iraq War, No Iran War, Impeach Bush" sign in the other.
McGovern, who traveled from Bush's birthplace of New Haven, Conn., for the march, told McConnell she didn't have a $1 to spend on the green button, and declined his request to use money from the bucket for the purchase.
"I'm a conservative Republican and believed the president, but then I found out it was a lie and not an intelligence mistake," McGovern, 47, told Cybercast News Service.
She said she doesn't expect Congress to do anything about it.
"It's discouraging," she said. "But I have to do the right thing even if there is no chance."
Multiple speakers near the Pentagon led the crowd in chants of "Impeach Bush."
To be sure, protesters in the large crowd had multiple messages. Many held signs that said "9/11: It was an Inside Job;" "Who Would Jesus Bomb?" and "The Rapture is Not an Exit Strategy."
Others carried upside down American flags. At least one person wore a Bush mask with a red devil outfit including horns.
"They are Satanic," said Kennedy Hart of Northern Virginia, referring to the Bush administraton. "How do you run your own nation into the ground and kill mass numbers of people without being Satanic? They think they are above God and can use the world as their playground."
Hart held a sign that said "Impeach Cheney, Then Bush."
"If you just impeach Bush, who do you get? The one who designed the war," said Hart, who is part of the political action committee of perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche.
Despite the apparent broad support in the anti-war movement for impeachment, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has said more than once that impeachment is "off the table." However, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which would preside over impeachment proceedings, has repeatedly expressed interest in taking up the matter.
Speaking to the crowd, former Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney of Georgia blamed her own party for not taking action on impeachment and ending the war.
"Why is impeachment off the table?" McKinney shouted into the microphone. "The Democrats are full partners in George Bush's war. As an American of conscience, I declare my independence from every bomb that was dropped. I declare my independence from every civil right violated. Sadly, I declare my independence from the leaders who let this happen."
But Ted Seaman, 73, a former member of the U.S. Air Force who came from Jacksonville, Fla., to march, said Valerie Plame Wilson's testimony to Congress on Friday gives momentum to the calls for impeachment.
"We're finally getting a breath of fresh air because subpoenas have been issued about the lies that were told," Seaman told Cybercast News Service.
Cindy Sheehan, who became a leading war critic after her son was killed in Iraq, said Congress will listen only if the public demands impeachment.
"We have to march the halls of Congress and tell them they work for you, not the corporations," Sheehan said. "We are the deciders, and we decided that George Bush and Dick Cheney should be impeached, should be indicted and should be imprisoned."
Subject: US Protesters Mark Iraq War Anniversary Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:36 pm
US Protesters Mark Iraq War Anniversary
Demonstrations against the war in Iraq have been held across the United States on the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion. VOA's Michael Bowman reports from Washington, where several thousand protesters gathered near major landmarks and federal buildings.
In a rolling flourish of activity, protesters gathered near the White House, the Capitol, the Internal Revenue Service, and the American Petroleum Institute among other well-known landmarks to voice their anger over the continuing war in Iraq. Among them: New York resident Jim Anderson, who traveled to Washington to take part in the demonstrations.
Protesters in downtown Washington DC, 19 Mar 2008
"There are a lot of people out there who have no idea how much the war is costing us in terms of lives, in terms of damage to the Iraqi people and their culture, and in terms of direct cost to the American people in both appropriations and economic stress," he said.
Polls have shown a gradual erosion of popular support for the war effort in Iraq since Saddam Hussein's ouster. The low-point for approval of the war came a year ago, when opinion surveys showed roughly seven of 10 Americans opposed.
Although a majority of Americans continue to disapprove, pessimism over the war's chances of success appears to have moderated slightly since President Bush ordered a troop surge that is believed to have brought about a decrease in bloodshed in Iraq over the last nine months.
But improvements on the ground in Iraq do not impress Sheila Morris, an educator from Minnesota who stood with a group of demonstrators near the White House.
"I know three people who have died in Iraq: a friend of mine's son and two of my son's friends," said Morris. "I blame the [Bush] administration and I also blame the Congress for just laying low [not acting to end the war] and not paying attention."
Polls show a majority of Americans favor withdrawing from Iraq. But surveys also show that, among those who want to bring the war to an end, opinion is split on whether to withdraw immediately or do so gradually over a period of months or years.
Asked about warnings by analysts that a sudden U.S. troop pullout could trigger a bloodbath in Iraq - and asked whether the United States bears responsibility for the safety of the Iraqi people in the post-Saddam era - she says, "I do not know."
She does, however, believe that it is important to voice her opinion through demonstrations.
"I do not know if it [demonstrating] affects public opinion, but it keeps the awareness there," she said.
Similar protests were mounted in cities, towns and college communities across the country
Subject: Via ANCAPS: Judiciary Chair Pledges to Impeach Bush After Nov. 4 
Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:08 am
