Bush deserves to be impeached (Commie Alert-Boston Globe Letter to the Editor)

Boston Globe | 1/12/2004 | ALEX SUGERMAN-BROZAN

[Lance Romance]

Bush deserves to be impeached

1/12/2004

THE CARNEGIE Endowment for International Peace report confirms that the Bush administration systematically misrepresented the threat from Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile program, and compares the misrepresentations of two presidents ("Carnegie study calls arms threat overstated," Page A1, Jan. 9). President Clinton misrepresented an extramarital affair. The impact? Damaged integrity and perhaps a damaged marriage for the Clintons. The reaction? Near impeachment and universal Republican apoplexy.

President Bush misrepresented the threat posed by Iraq. The impact? An unnecessary war, the deaths of thousands of Iraqis and hundreds of Americans, the wholesale devastation of a nation and its infrastructure, untold damage to America's credibility and alliances, the further undermining of the United Nations, the worsening of widespread animosity toward the United States, and the setting of a dangerous precedent of preemptive war.

The reaction? The two don't even compare. If misrepresentation on this scale, with results of such widespread suffering, doesn't deserve impeachment, then I don't know what does.

ALEX SUGERMAN-BROZAN
Boston

[zarf]

I've seen it myself and it's no big difference from a corporation. Yeah, money's a big part of the system, but it's not the dark, evil monster driving the death machine you make it out to be.

In my experience, policy has always dictated direction and money follows (as does the obligatory corruption-but that's another story), not the other way around.

[cwb]

From Appendix B, US Government Intelligence Threat Assessment:

Appendix B: Chemical Agents

Chemical warfare agents are among the easiest WMD to produce. The toxicity of chemical agents falls generally between that of the more deadly biological agents and that of conventional weapons..."

[cwb]

Exactly...and just the term NBC (nuclear, biological and chemical) is the acronym used to describe the 3 classifications of WMDs...as defined by these conventions.

[ravingnutter]

First of all, there were more than just a couple of shells. Secondly, maybe you missed this story from October? Botulinum 'is WMD'

Excerpts:

The vial of botulinum bacteria discovered in Iraq by U.S. arms inspectors – which experts call the most poisonous substance known to man – is "a weapon of mass destruction," the State Department's top spokesman announced yesterday.

According to Agence France-Presse, the Center for Civilian Bio-defense Strategies at Johns Hopkins University says: "Botulinum toxin is the single most poisonous substance known" and "poses a major bioweapons threat because of its extreme potency and lethality, its ease of production, transport and misuse, and the potential need for prolonged intensive care in affected persons."

Noting that the vial of live botulinum bacteria had been hidden in an Iraqi scientist's home refrigerator, Kay, testifying before Congress, said the discovery "illustrates the point ... about the difficulty of locating small stocks of material that can be used to covertly surge production of deadly weapons."

[ravingnutter]

I bet if this was Clinton you would be the first to be wanting someone head.

Excuse me, but Clinton himself and all his cronies were stating back in 1998-2000 that they were totally convinced Saddam had WMD, so don't even try to pull that here.

[cwb]

Keep moving those goalposts.

[Robert A Cook PE]

His striped pajama-like outfit, completed with a scraggly beard, near-shaved head, and ultra-thin wasted appearance, make him appear to be a concentration camp intern, not a well-fed lawyer.

Ironic he would want that association, given his strong Jewish heritage.

[Robert A Cook PE]

The bot. toxins, as do the fuel-enrichment tools, and the poison gas delivery shells and rockets, PROVE Saddamn had the programs.

We haven't found the RESULTS of those programs (yet!) but we have proved (as Kay wrote) that he had the programs in place and was actively MAKING the results (the weapons.)

Worse, UNLIKE ANY OTHER RULER IN THE WORLD - Saddamn USED HIS WEAPONS.

Now, admittedly, Saddamn wasn't killing Boston residents (yet) but NOT EVEN HITLER AND STALIN killed their ENEMIES with chemical and biological weapons.

THe Japanese only used their bio/chemical weapons in testing. Deadly, but it wasn't their own citizens that they were killing in WWII.

Once he got a weapon (more likely - Once he got his second weapon, it would be used. Immediately. On US soil.

Then, once New York was destroyed in the "test" he'd threaten the next city.

[Robert A Cook PE]

So, is it a religion?

Or a international-socialist non-faith gathering?

(Thought you actually had to convert to become a "Jew" ... At least who I know who HAVE converted had to actually practice their new religion.)

[cwb]

"Just because some scientist has a bad form of botulinum bacteria does not mean we have a weapon..."

It's really irrelevant to what form or condition the botulinum bacteria was in. Saddam agreed to dispose and turn over "all" the materials he still possessed...including the centrifuge found under the rose bush. The fact that he didn't was a clear violation of the UN resolutions. Even the great war opponent, Scott Ritter, made it clear in 1998, that Saddam could fully reconstitute his WMD programs from just minimal samples of biological material. Keep moving those goal posts.

[BlueNgold]

... does not give any member nation the right to act unilaterally without a major vote by the UNSC.

A simple reading of the appropriate documents shows that statement to be a myth. Although, I must say it is an oft quoted and well travelled myth, it does remain a myth. The United Sates had the full authority of the UNSC, and the UN knows this to be true. Note that even Kofi Annan, while trying to discourage our actions, never to my knowledge has stated publicly that such actions were outside of our authority under U.N. resolutions. To do so would be to perpetrate a lie. Nowhere do the appropriate resolutions require a vote of the UNSC before action can be taken, quite the opposite in fact:

I quote from UNSC Resolution 1441:
... (UNSC) Resolution 678 (1990) authorized member states to use all necessary means to uphold (UNSC) Resolution 660,... and all relevant resolutions subsequent to Resolution 660 (1990) and to restore international peace and security in the area.
The United States never lost our UN authority to use force. (Please note that actions by adminsitrations of President GHW Bush and President Clinton were done under this specific clause. We are well within the bounds of international law in our actions.)

The specific authority given by UNSC Resolution 678, which provided the international authority, and which was reiterated as remaining in effect as recently as UNSC 1441:
The United Nations Security Council acting under Chapter VII of the Charter Authorizes:
Member States, Cooperating with the government of Kuwait... to use all necessary means to uphold and implement resolution 660 (1990) and all subsequent relevant resolutions and to restore international peace and security in the area.
This also explains why launching the operation from Kuwait was so critical. This established the clear cooperation of the Kuwaiti government and engaged the full authority of the UNSC in undertaking Operation Iraqi Freedom.

There is no breach of international law. The UNSC was not ignored. The appropriate international partners were involved. Any claims to the contrary are spurious, uninformed, and ignore the clear facts of the matter.

[ClintonBeGone]

"The thought of that did pass through my mind, briefly."

There are a couple of other things that should be passing through your mind which are not. Start with neurons.....

I'm glad you said it to yourself before someone else did.

[philosofy123]

Blah, blah, I hate Bush, blah, blah, I have no brain, blah, blah, Cheney-Halliburton-Bechtel, blah, blah, extremist, blah, blah, tax-cuts for the rich, blah, blah, selected, not elected, blah, blah, I hate myself (that's the real reason), blah, blah... Thank you. Thank you. I'll be here all week. Drinks are free on Thursday from 4-6. That's what the entire liberal establishment has become: a joke and a comedy routine. What else have I missed? There, in under 40 words, I have explained the whole liberal approach.

Effin' disgusting.

Effing very funny dude. You should be on the comedy channel.