AN ALTERNATIVE HISTORY:

TNR ^ | April 9, 2004 | Greg Easterbrook

[.cnI redruM]

A hush fell over the city as George W. Bush today became the first president of the United States ever to be removed from office by impeachment. Meeting late into the night, the Senate unanimously voted to convict Bush following a trial on his bill of impeachment from the House.

Moments after being sworn in as the 44th president, Dick Cheney said that disgraced former national security adviser Condoleezza Rice would be turned over to the Hague for trial in the International Court of Justice as a war criminal. Cheney said Washington would "firmly resist" international demands that Bush be extradited for prosecution as well.

On August 7, 2001, Bush had ordered the United States military to stage an all-out attack on alleged terrorist camps in Afghanistan. Thousands of U.S. special forces units parachuted into this neutral country, while air strikes targeted the Afghan government and its supporting military. Pentagon units seized abandoned Soviet air bases throughout Afghanistan, while establishing support bases in nearby nations such as Uzbekistan. Simultaneously, FBI agents throughout the United States staged raids in which dozens of men accused of terrorism were taken prisoner.

Reaction was swift and furious. Florida Senator Bob Graham said Bush had "brought shame to the United States with his paranoid delusions about so-called terror networks." British Prime Minister Tony Blair accused the United States of "an inexcusable act of conquest in plain violation of international law." White House chief counterterrorism advisor Richard Clarke immediately resigned in protest of "a disgusting exercise in over-kill."

When dozens of U.S. soldiers were slain in gun battles with fighters in the Afghan mountains, public opinion polls showed the nation overwhelmingly opposed to Bush's action. Political leaders of both parties called on Bush to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan immediately. "We are supposed to believe that attacking people in caves in some place called Tora Bora is worth the life of even one single U.S. soldier?" former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey asked.

When an off-target U.S. bomb killed scores of Afghan civilians who had taken refuge in a mosque, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Aznar announced a global boycott of American products. The United Nations General Assembly voted to condemn the United States, and Washington was forced into the humiliating position of vetoing a Security Council resolution declaring America guilty of "criminal acts of aggression."

Bush justified his attack on Afghanistan, and the detention of 19 men of Arab descent who had entered the country legally, on grounds of intelligence reports suggesting an imminent, devastating attack on the United States. But no such attack ever occurred, leading to widespread ridicule of Bush's claims. Speaking before a special commission created by Congress to investigate Bush's anti-terrorism actions, former national security adviser Rice shocked and horrified listeners when she admitted, "We had no actionable warnings of any specific threat, just good reason to believe something really bad was about to happen."

The president fired Rice immediately after her admission, but this did little to quell public anger regarding the war in Afghanistan. When it was revealed that U.S. special forces were also carrying out attacks against suspected terrorist bases in Indonesia and Pakistan, fury against the United States became universal, with even Israel condemning American action as "totally unjustified."

Speaking briefly to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House before a helicopter carried him out of Washington as the first-ever president removed by impeachment, Bush seemed bitter. "I was given bad advice," he insisted. "My advisers told me that unless we took decisive action, thousands of innocent Americans might die. Obviously I should not have listened."

Announcing his candidacy for the 2004 Republican presidential nomination, Senator John McCain said today that "George W. Bush was very foolish and naïve; he didn't realize he was being pushed into this needless conflict by oil interests that wanted to seize Afghanistan to run a pipeline across it." McCain spoke at a campaign rally at the World Trade Center in New York City

[.cnI redruM]

That's why I follow Easterblog. He's got stones of solid brass. I don't always agree with him. Perhaps 40% of the time, in actuality. But he says what he thinks no matter what.

[Numbers Guy]

I'm glad I checked, I was just about to post this myself. This responds to the conspiracy theorist widow comments (not to mention Richard Clarke) better than anything I've read up until now.

[snooker]

Now that's good!!!!

[.cnI redruM]

Go ahead and post it. I never take a well-intentioned thread stomping the wrong way.

[litehaus]

Never make the "short list" of things to read at DU!...LOL!!

[jocon307]

"Are some of the writers going to support Bush?"

That wouldn't surprise me, we've got secret ballots for just that reason : )

TNR was excellent, excellent, after 9/11, and Peretz the publisher is a super strong supporter of Israel. So, all in all, I peg them as liberal with sanity.

I don't go to that site much anymore, since there is not too much you can read for free. I'm so cheap, but when I retire I will subscribe to everything!

This is a wonderful piece, it's really a poke in the eye of all those who are so proud of their 20/20 hindsight. Since it's from the center-left media, it may get some legs. It'll be interesting to see if it does.

Thanks to you, .cnI, we can say we saw it here first!

[GOP_1900AD]

Totally tongue in cheek .. it would have been sort of cool if Rice would have answered every question with "Sir, to do otherwise would have been considered politically incorrect by the Libaral intelligencia and ill informed and indecisive swing voters." Sadly, this satire depicts harsh realities regarding freedom to act. On September 10, Bush had no freedom to act, September 11 onward, he had a sliver of it.

[syriacus]

Oh, and furthermore. How many people out here who believe Bush attacked Iraq, without sufficient evidence, are now demanding to know why nothing was done to prevent 9-11?

How many people?

Too many

[Travis McGee]

Great satire! Biting, and on the bullseye!

[Redcloak]

I was thinking just this morning how the libs would have screamed if Bush had "done something" to prevent 9-11. Arresting Atta and his cohorts would have started a jihad by the ACLU. Singeing so much as a single hair on bin Laden's beard would have brought full-throated howls of outrage from well of the Senate.

[Congressman Billybob]

If any more proof be needed that lib/Dems live in an alternative universe, this article provides it. If the same standards suggested in this article had applied in 1941, Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt would both have been removed from office for their "folly and criminality" in opposing the Nazi government of Hitler's Germany.

The only thing of interest about this article is that there are reporters and editors who are such geo-political morons that they would write and publish such cr*p. And that there are thousands of Americans who will read such garbage and take it seriously.

It is pathetic, but necessary under the First Amendment, that people like this are loose in the streets of America without a keeper. Freedom to speak is, of course, no guarantee that those who do speak will have two functioning brain cells to rub together.

"The Passion of the Christ, and of the World." Latest column that is an Easter present for the FR community.

Congressman Billybob

Click here, then click the blue CFR button, to join the anti-CFR effort (or visit the "Hugh & Series, Critical & Pulled by JimRob" thread). Please do it now.

[Congressman Billybob]

Are you CERTAIN this article is a satire?

Billybob

[Just another Joe]

It hasn't taken long to forget the events of 9-11.

Never forget, Never Forgive

[BroncosFan]

Ping

[F.J. Mitchell]

Great satire.

[BibChr]

That is really, really good. I only wish he'd "quoted" more senators, commentators, and "experts."

Dan

[XHogPilot]

Mega Bump

[GarnetGirl04]

Devistating essay. I too was not terribly hawkish before 9/11, and I'm a staunch conservative republican. If you couldn't have convinced me, how could Bush have convinced Graham, Daschle, Kerry, et al?

In Iraq, we had proof of previous weapons use, and Hussein wouldn't disarm in public. Can you imagine trying to get people to worry about a bunch of guys with no location, no evidence of wmd, no specific time, no specific weapon? Even if someone, somewhere had found the specific plan, they'd say Bush was out of his tree, reading too many Clancy novels.

[Lurking Libertarian]

Thanks for the ping. Good article.

[Alas Babylon!]

May I forward this to liberals who are howling over Dick Clarke's testimony?