It's Still True: The Case for Impeaching Bush

I reprint below a letter to the editor I sent immediately after the US invaded Iraq:

Current revelations from senior intelligence experts in the US and in Britain raise serious doubts about the President's truthfulness in informing the public and, above all Congress, in justifying the war against Iraq. These reports by the media show, at a minimum, that the President and his advisors slanted or "spun" the information that was available from the intelligence community on Iraq and its weapons programs and its links to Al-Qaeda (see Ackerman and Spencer).

The implication of this information is that the President knowingly and deceptively presented information to justify the war against Iraq. Should this deception by the President be allowed to pass without comment or investigation, it will set into motion a pattern of distortion and manipulation of the facts that will affect our nation for many years to come.

Melvin Goodman, professor of international security at the National War College, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and former CIA analyst has stated that intelligence on Iraq going back to 1991 is suspect. He states that the obfuscation and “outright lying” by President Bush’s administration in its presentation of the facts on Iraq is an impeachable offense (interviewed on Minnesota Public Radio’s MidMorning).

Where is the outrage that usually accompanies being lied to? There was a time in the past when we could count on the free press to unearth lies and distortions by those in power. But the major news media have shirked this responsibility in cowardly obeisance to the official party line and mass entertainment. Instead of hard-hitting investigative reports, we have tabloid vignettes that feed a prurient curiosity about the private lives of the rich, famous, or powerful.

Playing on the fears and anger of the American public after 9/11, the Bush administration ramrodded through Congress and the public forum a series of questionable assertions to justify laying waste one of the poorest nations in the world, Afghanistan. Then, making a fictional case about weapons of mass destruction and links to terrorist organizations, it sent 250,000 American troops into Iraq. The resulting death toll for civilians and enemy combatants was horrendous.

When death and destruction are based on lies and deception, where is the enduring justice?

Any democracy is only as strong as the individual citizen's access to the truth. In making decisions, we must know what it is that our leaders know. Because of the nature of intelligence information, it is not always possible to make the details public, but the general implications of that information must be fairly and justly presented for citizens to make an informed decision.

It’s time to stand against public opinion and political expediency to find the truth behind this looming cloud of suspicion. We cannot allow lies and distortion in the pursuit of power to destroy all that we hold dear in our way of life.

Sincerely,

cynic librarian