| Resolution to Impeach President George W. Bush
WHEREAS, President Bush has broken federal laws, intentionally violated the Constitution, and abused the power of his office to the extreme detriment of the country and the people's interests, constituting high crimes and misdemeanors; and
WHEREAS, President Bush has publicly admitted to ordering the National Security Agency to violate provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, specifically authorizing the Agency to spy on American citizens without warrant, a violation of the Fourth Amendment and a federal offense punishable by up to five years in prison; and
WHEREAS, Evidence suggests that President Bush authorized the use of certain acts of torture to be used in the interrogation of detainees in American detention centers; and
WHEREAS, The Bush Administration has held American citizens and citizens of other nations as prisoners of war without charge or trial; and
WHEREAS, The United States government has been embarrassed by revelations of torture and abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib and other American detention facilities around the world; and
WHEREAS, article 13 of the Geneva Conventions states that, "Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated," and article 17 states that " No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever."
WHEREAS, the United States is a signatory to the Geneva Conventions and article IV of the United States Constitution provides that "…all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land."; and
WHEREAS, The Bush Administration's defiance of the Geneva Conventions has potentially threatened the lives and well-being of American soldiers captured as prisoners of war in future conflicts; and
WHEREAS, the War Crimes Act of 1996 establishes that a person who acts in breach of the Geneva Conventions has committed a war crime and is subject to punishment under federal law; and
WHEREAS, President Bush conspired with others to defraud the United States of America by intentionally misleading Congress and the American people of the United States regarding the threat from Iraq in order to justify a war against the sovereign nation of Iraq in violation of Section 371 of Title 18 of the United States Code; and
WHEREAS, Saddam Hussein was a despotic leader who had used chemical weapons against Iran, and the Kurdish and Shia people, and required appropriate attention by the United States and the international community; and
WHEREAS, Iraq posed no threat to the territory or people of the United States; and
WHEREAS, in March 2003 prior to the Iraq invasion, United Nations weapons inspectors were on the ground in Iraq, uninhibited from performing their job of monitoring Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities; and
WHEREAS, prior to the Iraq invasion, the U.S. controlled over 60% of Iraqi airspace, while Saddam Hussein's military only controlled 80% of its own territory; and
WHEREAS, the 2003 invasion of Iraq has resulted in over 2400 American military casualties, tens of thousands of American wounded, tens of thousands of dead Iraqi civilians, and has caused the United States to incur over $285 billion of dollars in unnecessary expenses and diminished military readiness; and
WHEREAS, The Bush administration's defiance of international law to invade Iraq has tarnished the United States' reputation as a country based in principles of human rights and threatened America's integrity in the international community; and
WHEREAS, The Bush Administration leaked classified national secrets to further a political agenda, exposing an unknown number of covert U. S. intelligence agents to potential harm and retribution while simultaneously refusing to investigate the matter; and
WHEREAS, The Republican-controlled Congress has declined to fully investigate any of these charges to date; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE Texas Democratic Party, that the President of the United States, George W. Bush, has willfully violated his Oath of Office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and should be impeached by the U.S House of Representatives; and be it further
RESOLVED, That George W. Bush, if found guilty of the charges contained herein, should be removed from office and disqualified to hold any other office in the United States. |
