Dear Congressmen,

We the undersigned write to you as registered Republicans who abhor what this administration has done to our Constitution and to our country. From running up the most massive debt in United States history, to undermining Americans’ most basic constitutional rights, to the conduct of a foreign policy in which the language of force has become almost the sole currency, the damage to our institutions, to our prestige abroad, and to our traditions of liberty at home continues. We abhor that the party of Barry Goldwater and Dwight Eisenhower, which is rightly the party of limited government, fiscal responsibility, and the primacy of the Constitution as the law of the land, seems to have been hijacked by an Executive Branch holding a NeoCon-authoritarian ideology rather than a truly conservative one.

Bruce Fein of the American Freedom Agenda has said: “As fellow conservatives, we believe we have a greater responsibility than most to stand up to this particular Administration and demand that it respect the checks and balances established by the Founding Fathers. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, regardless of party affiliation, and we can no more remain silent to the abuses occurring under President Bush than we could if a President Clinton were in office.”

Senator Barry Goldwater said “extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice…moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” The impeachment of any presidential administration is indeed a strong measure, but by any measure this administration has met the threshold for the conduct of impeachment hearings, by a margin which exceeds that of almost any previous administration. Therefore we call upon you, congressman, to support the immediate commencement of impeachment hearings, first against Vice President Dick Cheney, then against President George W. Bush, based on the following articles:

WHEREAS, members of the United States Congress take an oath to support the Constitution; and,

WHEREAS, the United States Constitution provides a system of checks and balances that is designed to prevent the abuse of power by government and to preserve the power and freedom of the people; and,

WHEREAS, on December 17th, 2005, President George W. Bush publicly admitted to ordering the National Security Agency to conduct electronic surveillance and information gathering on American citizens in a manner that may have violated the Constitution’s 4th Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures; and,

WHEREAS, George Bush on September 20, 2001 in a Joint Session of Congress announced a “War on Terror” in which he would have wartime powers, and subsequently proclaimed that the War on Terror would have “no end,” and who in a June 9, 2002 Presidential Order to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld acted to permanently strip Americans, through war with “no end,” of their constitutional rights by ordering indefinite detention of citizens, without access to legal counsel, without charge, based solely on the discretionary designation by the President of a U.S. citizen as an “enemy combatant,” which is a subversion of the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution and a violation of his oath sworn on January 20, 2000 “to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”; and,

WHEREAS, Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), who said in a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives on February 26, 2008 that “George Bush was elected President, not king,” in that same speech called attention to evidence in the public record that “this administration has intentionally obstructed Congress’ rightful and constitutional duties,” has “undercut congressional investigators, has lied to Members of Congress, and has forged ahead with secret deals in spite of efforts and pleas by Congress to be informed,” and in an investigation by Representative Rohrabacher of a terrorist who “currently resides in the United States and may well have had something to do with the bombing of the World Trade Center and the bombing of the Oklahoma City building,” has shown “contemptuous disregard for the authority delegated to Congress by the Constitution”; and,

WHEREAS, there is evidence in the public record that President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney may have abused their executive power by deliberately providing misleading information to Congress and the public about the threat from Iraq in order to induce Congress to approve the use of military force; and,

WHEREAS, there is evidence in the public record that George Bush admitted on July 12, 2007 that someone in his administration “did disclose the name of  that person” - Valerie Plame–thus revealing secrets to the enemy in wartime by ordering the public identification of American intelligence agent officer, who was engaged in tracing weapons of mass destruction before they reached American shores, and;

WHEREAS, there is evidence in the public record that President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney may have authorized and condoned the detention of prisoners without access to courts and the torture of those prisoners in violation of the “Federal Torture Act” Title 18 United States Code, Section 113C.

As conservatives we will no longer stand by as the old and honorable party of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt becomes the vehicle of death for our ancient freedoms. As conservatives we will not allow the party of limited government to become the party of Big Brother. Please commence hearings for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney immediately.

To sign your name and add comments to this letter please use this guestbook.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee

Signatories;

Susan Paine Serpa

Comments: I am a recently registered Republican who has come in from the wilderness to the party of Barry Goldwater. Coming to the conclusion that the Democratic party no longer represents any values besides its own perpetuation and self-aggrandizement, and is useless in defense of the Constitution, I refuse to cede the party of limited government and fidelity to the Constitution to this extremist strain of authoritarian Neocon ideology.

(Also see statement from State Rep. Rep. Eileen Ehlers, Representing Hooksett, below)

LETTER FROM NH STATE REP. JIM SPLAINE
The Impeachment Resolution — NH State Representative Betty Hall Is An American Hero

by: Rep. Jim Splaine

One of my most golden memories of the New Hampshire State Legislature was in 1973, when I stood with just about two dozen other House members — we stood in those days on “division” votes since roll calls before push button machines took 45 minutes or so to run through — in favor of a resolution to call for the impeachment of President Richard “I Am Not A Crook” Nixon.

It was clear the President had lied, and had covered up his lie, and had participated in wrongdoing that put America’s democracy in harm’s way. I have to admit that as a young pup that term, and being one of the younger members of the House as opposed to now when I’m close to “average” age (scary, huh?), I was shaking a bit while standing to be counted.

I won’ be shaking (because I’ll be sitting down just pushing a button) nor will I have any doubt about it being the right thing to do when I vote this coming Wednesday in favor of Representative Betty Hall’s resolution calling for the United States Congress to begin an investigation regarding the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney.

Why? Because just like President Nixon, the current occupant of the White House has lied, had tried to cover it up, and has participated in wrongdoing that has put American’s democracy in harm’s way. And HIS lies have resulted in the deaths of more than 4,000 American soldiers, and hundreds of thousands of other men, women, and children. The horror of it all.

Yes, this man and his alter ego will be put out of the White House in January. But neither deserve to journey into history without the asterisk that there were efforts in various states to encourage Congress to impeach them. As they leave the White House, the past has shown us that former Presidents usually go onto even richer lives and fame. This one doesn’t deserve it. Nor does his partner. Their legacy should be shame.

The resolution appears in full below. It is being recommended to be killed by the State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs Committee by a vote of 10-5. NH State Representative Betty Hall, to me and many others, is an American hero. She seeks to impeach two people who are not.
—————————————-

And from State Rep. Rep. Eileen Ehlers, Representing Hooksett, NH, tonight:

“So many think it is futile, late, not necessary to impeach. At risk, as Ellsberg and other speakers told us, is the very Constitution. Future presidents must be put on notice that we will not tolerate them being above the law. Bush and Cheney must be held accountable. I will vote NO on the motion to table the resolution, and vote OUGHT TO PASS on HR 24.”

We are having a fun campaign to get New Hampshire’s  four country-music radio stations to play Tom Chelston’s great country song “Impeach” (Helloo George….!)  Please listen to a station online (if you are not in NH) and make a request, say “Yes on HR 24 for impeachment!”

Link to “impeach” country-western song by Tom Chelston, Oklahoma

NH country radio:

WNHW To listen to online: http://www.933thewolf.com/

Request Line: 1-888-779-WOLF (9653) 603-225-1160 if the above 800 number doesn’t work from out of state

WXLF / WZLF To listen to online: http://www.953thewolf.com/

Request Line: 603-727-0262

WXXK “KIXX 100.5″ To listen to online: http://www.kixx.com/

phone: 603-448-1400

WOKQ To listen to online: http://www.wokq.com/

HR24

Our Founding Fathers actually foresaw the day when we would elect a bad president and congress would refuse their duty to impeach.But we the People  have a fallback: By rules of order for Congress Jefferson’s Manual section 603 another avenue for impeachment is through the urgings of any State or US territory. 14-term state Rep. Betty Hall has introduced HR24 to impeach Bush and Cheney.

See resolution to direct Congress to begin impeachment investigations on Dick Cheney here.

The vote is April 16th! Betty will bring messages of support for the petition to the NH Legislature. You do not need to be a NH resident to send words urging support. If you’d like to urge passage of this petition, email Betty at: i.support.HR24@gmail.com

To take the action a bit further, please CALL the representatives below:

Member HomePhone Email
Baroody, Benjamin C 603-622-2844 ben.baroody@leg.state.nh.us
Beaulieu, Jane E 603-626-1260
Beck, Catriona D 603-588-3053 catriona@catrionabeck.com
Bergin, Peter F 603-673-1885 pfbergin@gmail.com
Brown, C. Pennington 603-679-1766 penningtonbrown@comcast.net
Brueggemann, Donald A 603-224-5548 donbruegge@comcast.net
Brunelle, Michael D 603-669-0868 repbrunelle@hotmail.com
Buco, Thomas L 603-447-4985 tombuco@yahoo.com
Burridge, Delmar D 603-352-5363 dburridge@ne.rr.com
Butcher, Suzanne S 603-357-8383 suzannebutcherNH@yahoo.com
Butterworth, Timothy 603-363-8076 tim.butterworth@leg.state.nh.us
Butynski, William 603-336-7498 williambutynski@aol.com
Cali-Pitts, Jacqueline A 603-431-7657 cali0917@aol.com
Casey, Kimberley S 603-772-8506 caseycorps@aol.com
Chase, Claudia A 603-547-6278 mirrixlooms@comcast.net
Cloutier, John R 603-542-6190 jocloutier@comcast.net
Converse, Larry 603-542-2180 lcallcone@aol.com
Cooney, Mary R 603-536-1141 mary.cooney@leg.state.nh.us
Daler, Jennifer 603-371-0595 jenniferdaler@yahoo.com
Dokmo, Cynthia J 603-673-0395 cynthia.dokmo@leg.state.nh.us
Donovan, Thomas E (W)603-542-0463 mrtedd2001@yahoo.com
Drisko, Richard B 603-465-2517 driskorb@aol.com
Dumaine, Dudley D 603-622-2293 buppadan@comcast.net
Dunn, J. Timothy 603-357-7993 dunnbt@verizon.net
Eaton, Stephanie 603-444-2604 stephanie.eaton@leg.state.nh.us
Flockhart, Eileen C 603-778-0647 hartflock@comcast.net
Foster, Linda T 603-673-6104 linda.foster@leg.state.nh.us
Gargasz, Carolyn M 603-465-7463 cgargasz@cs.com
Ginsburg, Ruth 603-882-8647 ginsburg@tiac.net
Grassie, Anne C 603-332-8562 anne@grassie.org
Hager, Elizabeth S 603-224-2060 elizabeth.hager@leg.state.nh.us
Hamm, Christine C 603-746-4919 hammchristine@gmail.com
Hammond, Jill Shaffer 603-547-0715 jshafham@verizon.net
Harvey, Suzanne 603-598-0582 suzanne.harvey@leg.state.nh.us
Hatch, William A 603-466-9491 hatchbill@hotmail.com
Hilliard, Dana S 603-343-4114 sshilliard@hotmail.com
Irwin, Anne-Marie 603-924-6617 anne-marie.irwin@leg.state.nh.us
Kaelin, Michael A 603-654-5948 mike.kaelin@leg.state.nh.us
Kaen, Naida L 603-659-2205 naidakaen@hotmail.com
Knox, J. David 603-569-2530 jdknox@worldpath.net
Kopka, Angeline K 603-577-5561 akopkare@aol.com
Kurk, Neal M 603-529-7253 neal.kurk@leg.state.nh.us
Leishman, Peter R 603-365-0621 PRLeishman@aol.com
Levesque, Melanie A 603-672-3951 mlevesquel@charter.net
Mann, Maureen R 603-463-9990 Maureen.Mann@leg.state.nh.us
McLeod, Martha 603-823-8041 mmcleod@nchcnh.org
McMahon, Patricia M 603-927-4705 msricia@yahoo.com
Merrick, Evalyn S 603-788-4311 evalyn.merrick@leg.state.nh.us
Miller, Joseph M 603-868-1689 docjoe@comcast.net
Millham, Alida I 603-524-1278 amillham@metrocast.net
Mitchell, Bonnie G 603-532-6311 bonniegay@comcast.net
O’Connell, Timothy D 603-673-2963 tocnoc@comcast.net
Reardon, Tara G 603-224-0614 hontgr@aol.com
Roberts, Kris E 603-352-1105 kris@kriseroberts.info
Rosenwald, Cindy 603-595-9896 cindy.rosenwald@leg.state.nh.us
Schulze, Joan H 603-888-3380 joanschulze@verizon.net
Shaw, Barbara E 603-626-4681 beshaw3@aol.com
Shaw, Kimberly C 603-882-2845 kcshawed@aol.com
Wallner, Mary J 603-225-5249 maryjane.wallner@leg.state.nh.us
Webb, Leigh A 603-934-8222 leigh.webb@leg.state.nh.us
Weed, Charles F 603-352-8309 cweed@keene.edu
Williams, Robert W 603-225-9283 robert.williams@leg.state.nh.us
Yeaton, Charles B 603-736-9087 cyeaton@metrocast.net

I met with Congressman Conyers for over an hour on the 12th day of my fast, after many postponements. He asked me about my father, Ed Blankenheim, and I pulled out my copy of Freedom Riders, 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice. I showed him the picture of my dad bent over chocking after the Freedom Riders‘ bus was set on fire. “This could have easily killed everybody on the bus.” he said. He paged through the book and continued to talk. “Look at this bus after they got through with it. Boy oh boy, so much violence … and law enforcement was involved in so much of it …”

“And they are now.” I replied. “I’ve attended both of the Mukasey hearings. Apparently he believes the president is above the law. It seems he will do nothing to hold him or the members of this administration accountable. That’s the reason I’ve come to speak with you today, why I’m fasting … to plead with you to begin impeachment hearings.”

I read him an excerpt from the book describing why my father joined the Freedom Riders: “Farmer had asked “to keep an eye out for potential Freedom Riders” and [Dave McReynolds] felt he had found a good prospect in Arizona. Blankenheim had seen enough of the South … to be wary of directly challenging the region’s racial shibboleths, and he knew full well that he “was being invited on a trip into the Deep South as part of a mixed-race bomb.” After a little prodding from Farmer, though, he could not resist joining the Ride.” “I was no less concerned about the danger of my commitment,” my father later explained, “but all that I had seen in the South and all that I had learned from Dave stared me down. I had come too far and I couldn’t turn back.”

“This is how I feel … we’ve come too far and I can’t turn back. There are now 42 people who have joined the fast. We’re desperate to hold this criminal administration accountable. We respect you, we honor you, and we’re asking that you PLEASE start the impeachment hearings against Dick Cheney.

“Have you heard about the contempt of Congress charges we’ve issued to Miers and Bolton?” he replied. “If they don’t comply, we’ll challenge them in court. We’re not depending on him (Mukasey) to comply. He’ll do what Gonzalez did and not enforce it. We think this is a historic step forward.”

“But if you held impeachment hearings executive privilege wouldn’t apply. You could subpoena Cheney himself.” I talked about the Watergate hearings and Vice President Agnew’s decision to step down before he had to face an investigation and John Dean’s crucial testimony which led to Nixon’s resignation. Neither would have happened if there hadn’t been open hearings. The Congressman reminded me he introduced the first impeachment resolution for Nixon. “And you could do that now. Bush and Cheney are far worse than Nixon ever was. Tell me what I need to do to reach you.” I asked. He replied, “I think you’ve reached me.”

I read him a statement from a dear friend, Gael Murphy: “We come to you with a heavy heart, overflowing with the sadness of the American people, and the state of our beloved country. The government’s inability to deliver justice to its people, creating so much mistrust that it is destroying our inner fiber. It is time for a cleansing of all of the crimes, known and unknown. The war, the torture and the lies committed in our name and their consequences cannot be ignored or they will be repeated. When South Africa began to create its democracy it chose a path of truth and reconciliation to resolve conflicts left from the past. We desperately need such a process in this country to be able to move forward and to accomplish that which you devoted your entire career to achieve. Good policy is good politics. The Congress has a sworn duty to impeach if crimes are committed. The Constitution says Congress SHALL impeach. It is not a choice. Bringing Justice to the American people is the only successful road forward.”

“Truth and reconciliation is what our country wants. The American people and the world need to see us hold these criminals accountable for all the suffering, the war, the shredding of our Constitution. Sir … Bush and Cheney continue to threaten Iran, even after the N.I.E. came out with a report stating they have no active nuclear weapons program. They’re just looking for an excuse. I’m so afraid Bush will attack Iran before he leaves office” … and I started to cry. I showed him some of the beautiful photographs Jes and I had taken during our trip to Iran last May and I told him stories of the wonderful people we met there. He was silent.

His staff reminded him he had an appointment, so Congressman Conyers ended our talk by saying, “I see many people across the country and I have many friends who want me to take this action [of impeachment]. I think about it every day. It’s a decision I’ve taken lots of advice on, but I have to decide. I’m deeply moved, but the decision I make I will have to live with and I will soon have to answer to my friends. They will either agree or disagree with what I do.”

He signed my copy of his book Constitution in Crisis (see slide show photos below), we shook hands and then I hugged him. He told me, “I’m sympathetic to the issue you raise and feel your deep passion and belief.”

I believe Congressman Conyers was touched by my plea, but he’s not yet willing to start impeachment hearings. I will continue the fast.

Peace and Freedom,

Leslie and Jes

Leslie meets with Congressman Conyers … a short flickr slide show:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/codepinkalert/sets/72157603918137331/show/

Impeachment folks,

http://wexlerwantshearings.com/

I don’t think there is any way to over-emphasize how incredible and
unique the Wexler/Baldwin/Gutierrez appeal for impeachment proceedings
to begin against Cheney is for us.

This isn’t just another petition. This petition is initiated by a
six-term member of the House of Representatives - and not only that -
a senior member of the House Judiciary.

Drop your other efforts, let go of your “ain’t gonna happen” lethargy
and take this for what it is: The last, best chance for impeachment
hearings of Cheney to begin. Every impeachment site and organization
needs to alter their website to put this petition on their face page
full-time, every blogger needs to discuss this every day and every
call to our Representatives needs to be on this topic for it to
succeed.

Every group that has been gathering petition signatures needs to
re-contact each and every signer and get them to sign on online to
support this appeal at:

http://wexlerwantshearings.com/

Listening to Wasserman-Schultz say that there isn’t enough public
support for it makes clear that on the other side of the corporate
lobbyist wall and inside the D.C. echo chamber, they don’t know what
we know, that Americans are eager for and longing for impeachment to
happen.

Again… we have been handed an incredible gift that can bring to pass
what we have been tirelessly fighting for for years. We can’t let this
go…

Are you with me?

~ Mikael

http://wexlerwantshearings.com/

Public sentiment for impeachment expands letters@TimesRecord.Com 11/30/2007 By John Kaminski and Gary Higginbottom

The percentage of Americans favoring impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney is approaching the percentage who favored impeachment of President Nixon in 1973-74.

Public opinion has reached this high level even before Congress has started any impeachment investigation of the Bush-Cheney administration. The public is way ahead of Congress, suggesting that it is time for the U.S. House of Representatives to move forward with the impeachment process.

In October 1973, a Gallup Poll results showed only 28 percent favored Nixon’s impeachment and removal from office. That was after a summer of well-publicized Senate Watergate Committee hearings.

Just nine months later, the day before Nixon resigned, nearly two-thirds of Americans believed there was enough evidence for an impeachment trial, and 55 percent thought Nixon should be removed from office.

That is how drastically opinion shifted once Congress acted and revealed the full extent of Nixon’s abuses of power.

Now, without any impeachment investigation by Congress, we already see the public’s desire for impeachment action approaching the level that led to Nixon’s departure from office.

Now, 55 percent of Americans believe that “President Bush has abused his powers as president, which rise to the level of impeachable offenses under the Constitution,” and 34 percent believe he should be removed from office.

For Vice President Cheney, 52 percent believe he committed impeachable offenses, and 43 percent believe he should be removed.

Perhaps most telling is that 64 percent of Americans believe that President Bush has abused his powers, and 70 percent believe that Cheney has done so. Polling was conducted by American Research Group Inc., on Nov. 9-12.

Maine people feel much the same way. According to a recent poll by Critical Insights Inc., 40 percent of Maine adults say they favor “the U.S. House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against Vice President Cheney,” and 38 percent against President Bush.

Not surprisingly, Maine Republicans and Democrats differ substantially on this matter. Among Maine Democrats, 58 percent favor impeachment proceedings against Cheney, and 54 percent against Bush.

One in six Maine Republicans favors impeachment proceedings against Cheney, and one in eight against Bush.

Maine independents are about evenly split on the impeachment of both Bush and Cheney.

By any historic gauge, the nation clearly believes that we have a major problem with our president and vice president, although the Democrats in control of Congress have refused to even start an impeachment investigation. They are dismissing the sizable portion of citizens calling for Congress to act as the Constitution directed to keep presidential power under control.

The Constitution gives Tom Allen, Mike Michaud and Congress the tool of impeachment to address the problem that a majority of Americans now recognize. This impeachment tool is designed to keep our rulers’ power in check — to prevent drifting into a situation of absolute power by an individual or a small controlling group.

Impeachment is the tool being demanded by 43 percent of Americans who not only recognize the problem, but even call for the drastic action of removing Cheney from office.

House Democratic leadership is acting in a timid and irresponsibly political fashion. Likely, they want to keep the Republican executives in power and all Republican politicians “on the ropes” until the 2008 elections. Or perhaps they misguidedly believe that there are more important activities for Congress than heeding this historically strong demand to address these obvious abuses.

Whatever the motivation, Democratic congressional leaders continue to shirk their oaths of office by allowing the executive branch to ignore laws and plan expanded warfare without congressional authorization.

Public opinion and Constitutional responsibility are commanding congressional Democrats Tom Allen and Mike Michaud as strongly as in Nixon’s day.

Will they recognize the strength of public sentiment and the dire condition of our nation and take the required corrective action of impeachment investigation? Or will they choose to ignore the call and allow present and future presidents to control the people and their representatives — an authoritarian power that the Constitution directed Congress to prohibit?

John Kaminski is a Topsham resident and chairman of Maine Lawyers for Democracy. Gary Higginbottom is one of the founders of the Maine Campaign to Impeach.

by Ralph Lopez
Now that the impeach movement is picking up steam, it’s time to demolish the last of ludicrous right-winger arguments, like “a timeline emboldens the enemy.” What’s ridiculous is we bought into this kind of crap for so long, starting with the first ploy to shut-down debate, “saying 9/11 was retaliation for U.S. foreign policy is saying the victims deserved it.” In months of listening to that debate, I never once heard someone say, “The American government and the American people are two different things, and as always the people pay for the mistakes of the government.” I was saying it, but no one was listening. A nice, clean rebuttal. Right-wingers say “Huh? That’s complicated. I can’t hold two different ideas in my head at the same time.”

Exactly so. George Bush set out to prey on the feeble-minded. Evil-doers and good guys. The only people responsible for 9/11 are the people who perpetrated it, let’s have some moral clarity, dammit. Except now that we are backing off recognizing a genocide for our convenient marriage with Turkey, some might wonder, what the f- is that? Saddam’s numbers are iffy from 100,000 to 500,000, but Turkey, er, the Ottoman Empire, definitely comes in at about 3 million slaughtered. And calling it the Ottoman Empire doesn’t change that this was as recent as World War I. Now is when people might catch onto how Dick Cheney was trading with the enemy Saddam, who was shooting at American pilots, in 1998 through Dresser Industries, then a fully-owned subsidiary of Halliburton. Yep, Dick was still CEO, and they were selling Saddam parts for his oil fields so they’d have more money to shoot SAMs at F-16s. If only the Democrats would use it. People might believe that in 1982 we were giving Saddam those bio agents he used to kill “his own people.” Moral clarity.

But back to how a timeline will “embolden” the enemy. I would just say on talk radio, look, they look pretty emboldened already. When you’re willing to blow yourself to bits, you don’t need much more encouragement. Then the right-wingers build a circular argument: they say, a timeline just tells them if they sit tight until this date, they know they can just take over. On others words, there is no way out. If it emboldens them, we can’t leave. If it makes them sit on their hands, we can’t leave. So when can we leave?

When we have victory. What’s that? Either they kill each other when we leave now or they do it when we leave later. Bush missed the anouncement: Disneyland in Iraq has been cancelled. A car bomb blew up in Tomorrowland.

They best we can do is Murtha’s “over the horizon presence” and a lot of help from Syrian, Saudi, Egytian, Lebanese, and Iranian troops enforcing the fragile peace. A Middle East UN. It’s their part of the world, their problem, and it just might give young would-be jihadis one thing that would pull them back from imminent martyrdom: a little pride.

We’ve been corrupting their rulers and snuffing their oppositions so long they feel what area experts refer to as a humiliation complex. A bunch of big Americans, and before that Europeans, have colonized them and beaten them down so long that now they have something to prove. Now we’re even marrying their women, after bombing the hell out of them and walking in like John f-ing Wayne.

Let them prove that they can handle the security of their own region, and take part in what must be one of the most creative peace efforts the world has ever known. Yes, I was there, in Baghdad, when our people stood on their feet again. Young Arab men long for the sense of identity which Huntington trivialized in “Clash of Civilizations.”

It’s not about objecting to a MacDonald’s on your block. It’s about reversing in some measure the historical grievances of the region, going back to the CIA’s monstrously dirty overthrow of the Middle East equivalent of Thomas Jefferson, Iranian President Mohammed Mossadeq, in 1953. All the factional leaders hated Mossadeq, same as they hate each other now. The only thing they agreed on was that Mossadeq was a) incorruptable and b) had Iranian interests foremost in his heart.

Of course he wanted a fair share of Iranian oil revenues, being stolen at the time by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, the precursor of British Petroleum. Back then, talking that way has a good way to get your harbors shelled by British warships. Hollering loudest for this was the British Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill.

Now that we have disposed of the remaining right-wing arguments supporting their twisted foreign policy, let’s take care of one that the Democrats use when they are grabbing onto doorways and kicking and screaming as we drag them toward impeachment: Impeachment will jeopardize the 2008 presidency. Now that Bush has had a good time playing them with the child healthcare law, they say the Republicans just handed them an issue. This is in line with their philosophy that somehow losing is really winning.

If we allow ourselves to get beat up and not make anyone mad we’ll win the presidency in 2004. Right. If we keep losing issues we really win because we’ll have issues for 2008. Right. What Rahm Emanual and his K Street buddies are really saying is, just keep the money rolling in for things like “tort reform” and Star Wars (which if you can believe it, is premised on the assumption that if we learn how to shoot down a few missiles, the other side won’t just build more of them, until there are too many to shoot down.) Keep that money rolling in, and I can keep happy the most important man on the planet, my Beamer mechanic.

Impeachment never strengthened presidencies, only weakened them. Both Nixon and Clinton, for starters. This “no-backlash, winning-by-losing” party strategy will probably get most Democratic congressmen re-elected, only because the advantages of incumbency are overwhelming. The only losers are us, and a bunch of teens and 20-somethings who should be worrying about finding dates and tuning hot rods, not about getting legs blown off by IEDs.

write congress

For impeachment advocates to engage in the posting and dicussion of general news, presidential candidates, random thoughts,  and other topics not directly related to on-going impeachment work.  Click “comments” to post.  Your name can be your real one or made up.  Also please consider starting a diary on DailyKos.com. where there are many anti-impeachment Democrats who are worth arguing with, and you can make an impact.  These diaries are seen by thousands of people because they appear on the DailyKos main page.  Just go to http://dailykos.com, then “diaries,” then “create account.”  Share your posts here.