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A Reputation in Tatters - Time To Impeach Bush (by Paul Craig Roberts)
Chronicles Magazine ^ | 5/20/05

Posted on 05/20/2005 1:26:39 PM PDT by KidGlock

CHRONICLES EXTRA | EVENTS | HOME

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

A Reputation in Tatters

George W. Bush and his gang of neocon warmongers have destroyed America’s reputation. It is likely to stay destroyed, because at this point the only way to restore America’s reputation would be to impeach and convict President Bush for intentionally deceiving Congress and the American people in order to start a war of aggression against a country that posed no threat to the United States.

America can redeem itself only by holding Bush accountable.

As intent as Republicans were to impeach President Bill Clinton for lying about a sexual affair, they have a blind eye for President Bush’s far more serious lies. Bush’s lies have caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people, injured and maimed tens of thousands more, devastated a country, destroyed America’s reputation, caused 1 billion Muslims to hate America, ruined our alliances with Europe, created a police state at home, and squandered $300 billion dollars and counting.

America’s reputation is so damaged that not even our puppets can stand the heat. Anti-American riots, which have left Afghan cities and towns in flames and hospitals overflowing with casualties, have forced Bush’s Afghan puppet, “President” Hamid Karzai, to assert his independence from his U.S. overlords. In a belated act of sovereignty, Karzai asserted authority over heavy-handed U.S. troops whose brutal and stupid ways sparked the devastating riots. Karzai demanded control of U.S. military activities in Afghanistan and called for the return of the Afghan detainees who are being held at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Abundant evidence now exists in the public domain to convict George W. Bush of the crime of the century. The secret British government memo (dated July 23, 2002, and available here), leaked to the Sunday Times (which printed it on May 1, 2005), reports that Bush wanted “to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. . . . But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbors, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. . . . The (United Kingdom) attorney general said that the desire for regime change was not a legal base for military action. There were three possible legal bases: self-defense, humanitarian intervention or UNSC (U.N. Security Council) authorization. The first and second could not be the base in this case. Relying on UNSCR 1205 of three years ago would be difficult.”

This memo is the mother of all smoking guns. Why isn’t Bush in the dock?

Has American democracy failed at home?

COPYRIGHT 2005 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: antiwarright; clueless; delutionalnonsense; idiot; pathetic; paulcraigroberts; unaware
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To: tahotdog

Try to keep it concise so somebody will read it.


281 posted on 05/20/2005 5:59:57 PM PDT by iconoclast (Conservative, not partisan.)
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To: Gondring

LOL. I didn't even know any of them talked. We were out of town and I guess I missed a few things.


282 posted on 05/20/2005 6:00:18 PM PDT by Peach
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To: KidGlock

"The (United Kingdom) attorney general said that the desire for regime change was not a legal base for military action. There were three possible legal bases: self-defense, humanitarian intervention or UNSC (U.N. Security Council) authorization. The first and second could not be the base in this case. Relying on UNSCR 1205 of three years ago would be difficult."

The writer doesn't mention that the so-called memo which he quotes has been proclaimed a forgery by the United Kingdom attorney general; and at present there is a full-scale inquiry going on to find who forged it.


283 posted on 05/20/2005 6:00:52 PM PDT by DianeDePoitiers
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To: KidGlock

Not only did Muslims hate Carter but rabbits did too


284 posted on 05/20/2005 6:02:34 PM PDT by woofie ("Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!!")
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To: iconoclast
Paul Craig Roberts is and has been a respected conservative commentator since you were in your diapers, if not before.

I was a respected liberal for 47 years(since birth), the last 4 I have been conservative. People change. Maybe he went liberal the way I went conservative.

People change.

285 posted on 05/20/2005 6:02:57 PM PDT by processing please hold (Islam and Christianity do not mix ----9-11 taught us that)
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To: Gondring; Fledermaus
BTW, I was very vocal at the time in saying that Bush was going about it wrong by playing up the WMD angle. The true and legal justification for going in was in the UN Resolutions. IOW, I'm not just giving a post hoc critique.

You are correct. The UN resolutions were sufficient. I said the same at the time.

By making the legal argument, with true justification, Bush would have had a stronger position in dealing with the UN, too. But he just had to play the emotional card, and that's where he lost. Rather than making the UN fools, he made us look that way. :-(

This is where you're not being completely fair to Bush. The reason for the emphasis on WMD's was because Tony Blair told him that was the only basis upon which he could secure sufficient support in Parliament. It was a mistake, but hindsight is always easier than foresight.

See...comments like that are why both neocons and paleocons hate me. :-)

I used to play USCF tournament chess. In chess there's a saying: "You can play your opponent, or you can play the board." I prefer to play the board!

286 posted on 05/20/2005 6:06:09 PM PDT by tarheelswamprat (This tagline space for rent - cheap!)
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To: mountainfolk
Facts is facts.

Correction.

Propaganda is propaganda,

287 posted on 05/20/2005 6:07:09 PM PDT by iconoclast (Conservative, not partisan.)
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To: randog
This guy relies on British "super secret" memos and British law (opinion, actually) to bring a case of impeachment against an American president??!!

dont laugh at British law, at least those guys speak a form of English

288 posted on 05/20/2005 6:07:44 PM PDT by woofie ("Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!!")
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To: muawiyah
I just put you in the "Peach" category.

Not worthy of response.

289 posted on 05/20/2005 6:09:35 PM PDT by iconoclast (Conservative, not partisan.)
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To: KidGlock

"Bush’s lies have caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people, injured and maimed tens of thousands more, devastated a country, destroyed America’s reputation, caused 1 billion Muslims to hate America, ruined our alliances with Europe, created a police state at home, and squandered $300 billion dollars and counting"

"deaths of tens of thousands?" that's like 10k plus...where has this occured exactly?

"destroyed americas reputation?" 9-11 destroyed america's people.

"caused muslims to hate america." What planet is this idiot from?

"created a police state at home?" that he did.

"squandered 300 billion?" What president or congress hasn't?


290 posted on 05/20/2005 6:10:01 PM PDT by takenoprisoner (illegally posting on an expired tag)
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To: nuffsenuff
Anyone know what happened to him?

From the tenor of his article, it sounds like he has either joined the Paleocon Buchananite "pitchfork brigade", or has waded so deeply into valueless Libertarianism that he no longer sees Evil for what it is. Either way, he's off the reservation. My experience has been: scratch a Paleocon and you'll find an anti-Semite underneath. Scratch a Libertarian, and you'll find a coward.

291 posted on 05/20/2005 6:13:45 PM PDT by andy58-in-nh
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To: woofie
Yes, Carter was nearly dragged from his boat and drowned by a vicious swamp rabbit.

Do you suppose the rabbit knew something?

292 posted on 05/20/2005 6:16:56 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: Fledermaus
I thought the no-fly zones were in the ceasefire agreement.

Nope. I don't see them there. I'm looking at http://www.fas.org/news/un/iraq/sres/index.html. It's not the UN site itself, but is easier to use and I don't see differences between the docs there and the ones at http://documents.un.org/globalE.html.

Anyway, it seems that the Northern and Southern No-Fly Zones were set up in April 1991 and August 1992, respectively, to protect the Kurds and Shiites, respectively, were trying to overthrow Saddam. Nothing in the ceasefire mentions them at all.

Clinton extended the Southern one, too, and attacked targets outside it.

293 posted on 05/20/2005 6:17:50 PM PDT by Gondring (Pretend you don't know me...I'm in the WPPFF.)
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To: muawiyah

rabbits are the first to know


294 posted on 05/20/2005 6:17:50 PM PDT by woofie ("Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!!")
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To: Gondring
Me too.

I'm kinda hopeful, bur bascially in the same boat as you.

295 posted on 05/20/2005 6:17:58 PM PDT by iconoclast (Conservative, not partisan.)
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To: Vn_survivor_67-68

Probably goes back to the 6-Day War.


296 posted on 05/20/2005 6:20:42 PM PDT by FreedomPoster (Official Ruling Class Oligarch Oppressor)
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To: iconoclast
Do you have a high school diploma?

Yes why do you ask ?

297 posted on 05/20/2005 6:23:06 PM PDT by oldbrowser (You lost the election.....get over it.)
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To: KidGlock
Knee jerk freepers consistently miss this simple logical fallacy:

Conservatives generally vote for conservatives
Conservatives all voted for Bush
QED Bush is a conservative.

(hint: he ain't)

I voted for Bush, and would do it again when faced with the choice between him and Kerry. That does NOT mean I think he is a conservative. He is most decidedly NOT a conservative. He is a strictly moral statist. The only difference between Bush and the leftist statist is that the leftist believes there are no moral absolutes. The leftist wants to use the power of the state to enforce this amoralism and economic redistributionism on the population. Bush wants to use the power of the state for other things. Both are statists. They BELIEVE in government and the power of the state to "do good."They just define "good" differently.

There are a few of us who still believe that even if Billy Graham had absolute power, it would still be a bad thing to have that kind of power concentrated in the state. Those who remember the principles upon which the USA was founded, think Bush abhorrent for this reason, whether he lied or not about IRAQ.
298 posted on 05/20/2005 6:23:38 PM PDT by chronic_loser
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To: pbrown
People change.

For sure.

But Paul hasn't.

299 posted on 05/20/2005 6:27:19 PM PDT by iconoclast (Conservative, not partisan.)
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To: Gondring
Wait another 5-7 years when the boomers start retiring in mass, it's called gradualism as opposed to getting hit all at once.
300 posted on 05/20/2005 6:27:34 PM PDT by John Lenin
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