--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], smee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Boyle, Francis > Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 8:43 AM > To: 'AALS Section on Minority Grps. mailing list' ('AALS Section on Minority > Grps. mailing list') > Subject: Campaign To Impeach Bush! > > > > The > National Campaign to Impeach President George W. Bush > by > Professor Francis A. Boyle > Author, Destroying World Order (Clarity Press: 2004) > Since the U.S. Supreme Court's installation of George W. Bush as President in > January of 2001, the peoples of the world have witnessed a government in the > United States of America that demonstrates little if any respect for > fundamental considerations of international law, international organizations, > and human rights, let alone appreciation of the requirements for maintaining > international peace and security. What the world has watched instead is a > comprehensive and malicious assault upon the integrity of the international > legal order by a group of men and women who are thoroughly Machiavellian in > their perception of international relations and in their conduct of both > foreign policy and domestic affairs. This is not simply a question of giving > or withholding the benefit of the doubt when it comes to complicated matters > of foreign affairs and defense policies to a U.S. government charged with the > security of both its own citizens and those of its allies in Europe, the > Western Hemisphere, and the Pacific. Rather, the Bush Jr. administration's > foreign policies represent a gross deviation from those basic rules of > international deportment and civilized behavior that the United States > government had traditionally played the pioneer role in promoting for the > entire world community. Even more seriously, in many instances specific > components of the Bush Jr. administration's foreign policies constitute > ongoing criminal activity under well-recognized principles of both > international law and U.S. domestic law, and in particular the Nuremberg > Charter, the Nuremberg Judgment, and the Nuremberg Principles. > Depending upon the substantive issues involved, those international crimes > typically include but are not limited to the Nuremberg offenses of crimes > against peace, crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as grave > breaches of the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the 1907 Hague Regulations > on land warfare, torture, disappearances, and assassinations. In addition, > various members of the Bush Jr. administration committed numerous inchoate > crimes incidental to these substantive offenses that under the Nuremberg > Charter, Judgment, and Principles were international crimes in their own > right: viz., planning, preparation, solicitation, incitement, conspiracy, > complicity, attempt, aiding and abetting, etc. Of course the great irony of > today's situation is that six decades ago at Nuremberg, representatives of the > U.S. government participated in the prosecution, punishment and execution of > Nazi government officials for committing some of the same types of heinous > international crimes that members of the Bush Jr. administration currently > inflict upon people all around the world. To be sure, I personally oppose the > imposition of capital punishment upon any person for any reason no matter how > monstrous their crimes: Bush Jr., Tony Blair, Saddam Hussein, Slobodan > Milosevic, Vladimir Putin, Ariel Sharon, my former client John Wayne Gacy, > etc. > Furthermore, according to basic principles of international criminal law, all > high-level civilian officials and military officers in the U.S. government who > either knew or should have known that soldiers or civilians under their > control committed or were about to commit international crimes, and failed to > take the measures necessary to stop them, or to punish them, or both, are > likewise personally responsible for the commission of international crimes. > This category of officialdom who actually knew or at least should have known > of the commission of such substantive or inchoate international crimes under > their jurisdiction and failed to do anything about it typically includes the > Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, Director of Central Intelligence, > the National Security Adviser, the Attorney General, the Pentagon's Joint > Chiefs of Staff and regional CINCs, and presumably the President and Vice > President. These U.S. government officials and their immediate subordinates, > among others, were personally responsible for the commission or at least > complicity in the commission of crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, > and war crimes as specified by the Nuremberg Charter, Judgment, and Principles > - at a minimum. In international legal terms, the Bush Jr. administration > itself should be viewed as constituting an ongoing criminal conspiracy under > international criminal law. > Consequently, on Tuesday 11 March 2003, with the Bush Jr. administration's war > of aggression against Iraq staring the American People, Congress and Republic > in their face, Congressman John Conyers of Michigan, the Ranking Member of the > House Judiciary Committee (which has jurisdiction over Bills of Impeachment), > convened an emergency meeting of forty or more of his top advisors, most of > whom were lawyers. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss and debate > immediately putting into the U.S. House of Representatives Bills of > Impeachment against President Bush Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary > of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and then Attorney General John Ashcroft in order > to head off the impending war. Congressman Conyers kindly requested that > Ramsey Clark and I come to the meeting in order to argue the case for > impeachment. > This impeachment debate lasted for two hours. It was presided over by > Congressman Conyers, who quite correctly did not tip his hand one way or the > other on the merits of impeachment. He simply moderated the debate between > Clark and I, on the one side, favoring immediately filing Bills of Impeachment > against Bush Jr. et al. to stop the threatened war, and almost everyone else > there who were against impeachment for partisan political reasons. Obviously > no point would be served here by attempting to digest a two-hour- long vigorous > debate among a group of well-trained lawyers on such a controversial matter at > this critical moment in American history. But at the time I was struck by the > fact that this momentous debate was conducted at a private office right down > the street from the White House on the eve of war. > Suffice it to say that most of the "experts" there opposed impeachment not on > the basis of enforcing the Constitution and the Rule of Law, whether > international or domestic, but on the political grounds that it might hurt the > Democratic Party effort to get their presidential candidate elected in the > year 2004. As a political independent, I did not argue that point. Rather, I > argued the merits of impeaching Bush Jr., Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Ashcroft under > the United States Constitution, U.S. federal laws, U.S. treaties and other > international agreements to which the United States is a party, etc. Article > VI of the U.S. Constitution provides that treaties "shall be the supreme Law > of the Land." This so-called Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution also > applies to international executive agreements concluded under the auspices of > the U.S. President such as the 1945 Nuremberg Charter. > Congressman Conyers was so kind as to allow me the closing argument in the > debate. Briefly put, the concluding point I chose to make was historical: > The Athenians lost their democracy. The Romans lost their Republic. And if > we Americans did not act now we could lose our Republic! The United States of > America is not immune to the laws of history! > After two hours of most vigorous debate among those in attendance, the meeting > adjourned with second revised draft Bills of Impeachment sitting on the table. > Certainly, if the U.S. House of Representatives can impeach President Clinton > for sex and lying about sex, then a fortiori the House can, should, and must > impeach President Bush Jr. for war, lying about war, and threatening more > wars. All that is needed is for one Member of Congress with courage, > integrity, principles and a safe seat to file these currently amended draft > Bills of Impeachment against Bush Jr., Cheney, Rumsfeld, and now Attorney > General Albert Gonzales, who bears personal criminal responsibility for the > Bush Jr. administration torture scandal. Failing this, the alternative is > likely to be an American Empire abroad, a U.S. police state at home, and > continuing wars of aggression to sustain both-along the lines of George > Orwell's classic novel 1984. Despite all of the serious flaws demonstrated by > successive United States governments that this author has amply documented > elsewhere during the past quarter century as a Professor of Law, the truth of > the matter is that America is still the oldest Republic in the world today. > "We the People of the United States" must fight to keep it that way! > --- End forwarded message ---
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