Impeachment

In by-gone days, a President was impeached because he received oral sex from a White House intern, and then lied about it. Lying was certainly unacceptable behavior from a President of the United States, but removal from office seemed a rather severe penalty to many people, including a majority of the United States Senate, where the President would not be convicted of any of the articles of impeachment.

Today we find out that President Bush decided to manipulate the intelligence findings to support Bush’s plan to invade Iraq. In other words, war was inevitable, regardless of the facts. The Bush administration told Tony Blair it would lie if it had to in order to support its case for invading Iraq. So to sum up the pertinent details:

• Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, but the Bush administration repeatedly claimed that it did have such weapons, knowing full well that that evidence was made-up.
• Iraq had no ties to Al-Qaeda, but the Bush administration repeatedly claimed that it did have such weapons. In fact, the intelligence community did not believe there was a co-operative relationship between Iraq and Al-Qaeda.
  

The effect on the country’s fortunes when a President lied about having oral sex with an intern was nil. The effect on the country’s fortunes when President Bush and his administration lied and made up intelligence about Iraq is overwhelming.

• Over 1500 Americans killed.
• Over 10,000 Americans wounded, many of them maimed or suffering from incurable nervous system damage.
• Nearly $300 billion dollars spent or pledged to be spent on the war and post-war efforts
  
• Countless Iraqis killed or wounded
• A quagmire in Iraq that has cost the United States much of its good-will internationally

If ever there was a case for impeachment, this is it.