Guest Post

It’s time for Bush to resign. There are many reasons for this but Bush should spare himself and the country the agony of having to go through an Impeachment and trial to force the matter.

There are many reasons why Bush should be out of office. Some that I may have mentioned before...

- Fiscal ineptitude: Blindly forecasting non-existent future surpluses to fund mis-focused tax cuts. The result is a long-term spiral of fiscal decay.

- Converting the universal sympathy, cooperation and solidarity that the rest of the world had for us after 9/11 to one of growing suspicion and distance. Abu Grahab, Guantanamo and secret detentions and renditions will have a long-lasting effect on our place in the world as the "Beacon of Liberty". (Try this if you will. Pick an online English language newspaper anywhere in the world and read the postings on some subject that has to do with the U.S. and get a sense of the kind of attitude there is toward the U.S. and Bush in particular. Recently, on the BBC World Service, I would estimate the responses were 9 to 1 against our actions on renditions and of the 10% in favor most of those were Americans giving back the party line. Same result in Sydney, Moscow and the London Times. Our peace and security shouldn’t be based on a beauty contest but we are also not an island and we will need friends when Iraq is over.)

- Corruption reaching the highest levels of government: Already, the Texas mafia of Tom DeLay is being brought to ground and if Jack Abramoff "flips", the political fallout could create a nuclear winter in Washington possibly directly involving Bush (referring to the $9 million that was sought by Abramoff from the president of Gabon to set up a meeting with Bush. The meeting was later arranged).

- Ineptness in managing the War on Terror: Four years later and first responders can’t talk to one another. Ports and chemical plants are scarcely monitored yet just now we discover that toe nail clippers don’t represent a security risk on an airplane. Homeland Security money is used to air condition trash trucks because Congress won’t give up pro-rata allocations in favor of risk based allocations. Turf wars between sub-committees cause them to work at cross-purposes and promotes duplication of effort. Some of his "strong leadership" here would have gone a long way.

- Of course I have to mention the entire issue of the conflict in Iraq starting with the manipulated intelligence (see the Downing Street memo) and the gross incompetence shown in the original planning for the war and its aftermath. Disbanding the army; light and mobile forces; looted infrastructure; unprotected munitions dumps; appeasement of the militias. I could go on and on about Iraq alone.

Unfortunately for the causes of liberty none of these things without clear evidence of some crime and a sympathetic Congress would constitute Impeachable offenses but there are a few more matters to consider. The Appeals Court has touched on one already (the Padilla reversal that will possibly return to rear its ugly head) and the latest act of imperial hubris is just now reaching the boiling point.

No president has the right to imprison CITIZENS incommunicado and without the opportunity to answer the charges against them. It is understandable that this process should sometimes occur in secret if necessary to protect "sources and methods" and that the President be given the widest latitude in times of emergency. But for the President to unilaterally deny Habeas Corpus without congressional approval and then to continue a shell game with people to avoid Due Process is UN-AMERICAN. Every American should be concerned that our government has crossed that threshold.

After stories of torture and secret detentions of citizens it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to now find that Bush has gone totally off the rails and approved the wholesale monitoring of communications. With shotgun precision Bush has admittedly violated both the letter and the intent of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The act was specifically designed to deal with the need of the government to act quickly to respond to legitimate investigation needs. Since getting approval for surveillance is a virtual "slam dunk" and the law provides for after the fact approvals and requires court approval for U.S. surveillance, the only conclusions that can be drawn from Bush’s actions are that he knowingly violated the law, a felony, and for this he should be Impeached and removed from office.

Still, we don’t need another Impeachment and trial. We need solidarity to achieve our goals in Iraq but we also need new leadership. I propose that Bush should be encouraged to resign for the good of the country. If he doesn’t resign, a new Congress that is willing to proceed toward Impeachment should be elected and we should go to Plan B, Impeachment and removal. Sure, this would leave Cheyney officially in charge but at least you know what you’re getting with him and in the unlikely event that the CIA/Libby/Rove matter gets to Cheyney maybe McCain would have sold enough of his soul by then to be in the right place at the right time...

But one fantasy at a time.

My Uncle wrote this and emailed it to a bunch of his friends (including me). I wanted to post it here (slightly edited) since I agree with it fully.