Talk:Impeachment/Bush Articles
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"Rep. McKinney Files Articles of Impeachment" Outgoing lawmaker cites numerous abuses of the Constitution by President Bush.
These have been circulating in Rhode Island [1]:
WHEREAS, United States House of Representatives rules allow for setting a federal impeachment in motion by charges transmitted from the legislature of a State or territory; and
WHEREAS, The State of Florida and the former territory of Mississippi have established precedent by referring such charges to Congress, which in each case resulted in Congress ordering a Committee to investigate and report on the charges, and which in one case resulted in the impeachment hearings of Judge Charles Swayne of Florida; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush, President of the United States, has so conducted himself and his office as to cause the people of the State of Rhode Island to doubt his integrity and to believe that his official actions as president have constituted High Crimes and Misdemeanors having repeatedly and intentionally violated and ignored the United States Constitution and other laws of the United States; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has ordered the federalization and deployment of our state's National Guard members overseas and thus has exceeded the authority granted in the provision of the United States Constitution that Congress shall have the power to "provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the laws of the Union, to suppress insurrections and repel invasions," reserving to our State Assembly and Governor the authority to direct the training and arming of members of our state's National Guard for defense of the state; and
WHEREAS, The federalization and deployment of National Guard members has rendered the National Guard force unable to carry out its state activities effectively and thus deprived the state of its Constitutional power to keep the National Guard for defense of our state; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has allowed stop-loss orders that violate the mutual understanding between Rhode Islanders in the Armed Forces including the National Guard and our state and nation they agreed to serve; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, committed a felony under 18 U.S.C. 1001, having conspired to exceed his constitutional authority to wage war, in that on March 19, 2003, by his order the United States of America invaded the sovereign country of Iraq in direct defiance of the United Nations Security Council. This constitutes a violation of Chapter 1, Article 2 of the United Nations Charter and a violation of Principal VI of the Nuremberg Charter. According to Article VI of the United States Constitution "This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land." George W. Bush has subverted and violated the principles of democracy by:
1. Providing misinformation to the United Nations Security Council, Congress, and the American people overstating the offensive capabilities of Iraq, including weapons of mass destruction, as justification for military action against Iraq.
2. Repeatedly manipulating the sentiments of the American people by erroneously linking Iraq with the terrorist attacks of September 11th by Al-Qaeda.
3. Repeatedly claiming that satellite photos of sites in Iraq depicted factories for weapons of mass destruction in contradiction with the results of ground inspections by United Nations teams.
4. Stating that "Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa" in his State of the Union Address after being told by the CIA that this was untrue and that the supporting documents were forged.
5. Influencing, manipulating and distorting intelligence related to Iraq with the intention of using that intelligence to support his goal of invading Iraq.
6. Invading Iraq with United States military forces.
7. Sacrificing the lives of thousands of American soldiers.
8. Killing tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians and conscripts.
9. Rejecting peaceful resolution by acts of UN compliance by Saddam Hussein.
10. Violating the Geneva Convention by abducting and transporting human beings to prisons in foreign countries where they can be subjected to inhumane treatment.
WHEREAS, the administration of the United States' invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and handling of the aftermath of Katrina, has resulted in the waste of assets, through incompetence, insufficient oversight, insufficient planning, and no-bid contracts with companies associated with White House officials that are serious conflicts of interest.; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has admitted that he willingly and repeatedly directed unwarranted surveillance of U. S. persons, in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of the United States; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush committed felonies under 18 U.S.C. 641 and 643 by transferring funds authorized for use in the war in Afghanistan and diverting it to an as-yet unauthorized build-up towards war in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush committed felonies, namely espionage, fraud, or obstruction of justice, through involvement in the cover-up of the leak of Valerie (Plame) Wilson's identity; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has approved of torture under the name of stress and duress, has denied the applicability of existing laws and treaties against torture, and has indicated in his signing statement of H.R. 1815 his future intention to continue to disregard such laws and treaties; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has appointed unqualified personnel to critical government positions as political favors where their incompetence places American citizens at risk or intentionally blocks information that may require consideration for the public good; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has repeatedly acted to expand the power of a unitary executive in violation of the principle of balance of power; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush, through the above actions has denied the citizens of our state of their rights and their safety; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, by the General Assembly of this state, that our Senators and Representatives in the United States Congress be, and they are hereby, requested to cause to be instituted in the Congress of the United States proper proceedings for the investigation of the governance of the Executive Branch by George W. Bush as President of the United States, and of his acts and doings as such, to the end that he may be impeached and removed from such office; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of State of Rhode Island be, and is hereby, instructed to certify to each Senator and Representative in the Congress of the United States, under the great seal of this state, a copy of this resolution and its adoption by its legislature.
--James S. 18:56, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
