August Spies

interesting article... http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20030606.html

"To put it bluntly, if Bush has taken Congress and the nation into war based on bogus information, he is cooked. Manipulation or deliberate misuse of national security intelligence data, if proven, could be "a high crime" under the Constitution's impeachment clause. It would also be a violation of federal criminal law, including the broad federal anti-conspiracy statute, which renders it a felony "to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose.""

Sassyone

Yes, lying is an impeachable offense. They impeached Bill Clinton for lying about sex, so they should darn well impeach Bush for lying about reason for War. Clinton's sex didn't kill anyone, Bush's WAR killed thousands.

JetBlckNewYr03

I wasn't aware of Clinton being impeached. Sounds new to me, because he finished out his presidency term.

And about Bush killing thousands of Iraqi soldiers: The ones that didn't surrender chose to fight for Saddam. I think the weapons of mass destruction were a minor part in going to war in reality. Iraqi people have been oppressed and murdered by Saddam for several decades. It was time for him to be ridded of his power.

dirkduck

"I wasn't aware of Clinton being impeached. Sounds new to me, because he finished out his presidency term. "

He was impeached, just not kicked out of office.

August Spies

jetblack:

the war killed thousands of civilians as well...

hezekiah jones

Clinton was impeached by the House but not convicted by the Senate.

Anyway, what war. There was no war. Only Congress has the power to declare war. Maybe Bush lied to Congress though. That would be pretty serious.

sodium

I know a lot of my fellow civics-geeks are typing away right now, so let's see if I can be the first to get this out. An American President is impeached if the House of Representatives votes for Impeachment, which results in a Senate vote on whether he or she (let's face it, he) should be removed. Impeachment is a lot more like indictment than conviction. People use it to mean "removed from office" though.

Viti

Hi Mom! Nice to see you posting!

So, who has to initiate the impeachment? Is there anything we can do other than write our congressmen?

Zimyatin

Art II, Sec 4:

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high crimes and Misdemeanors.

The beauty of the Consititution is that certain parts are deliberately vague - despite what strict-constructionist may argue. After all, what is a "high crime" or "high misdemeanor?" The authors of the Constitution knew that they could not foresee all possible misconduct by the chief executive so they essentially left the definition of "impeachable offenses" to ad hoc interpertations.

I feel that lying about the reasons for war most definitely fits "high crime." Especially as the war has saddled the nation with no exit stratagy, international ill-will, and the unnecessary loss of American life. But the reality of a republican congress means that the bar for impeachment is set so high that I can't imagine any situation where Bush Jr. would be impeached.

hezekiah jones

I don't think there's any question that the Executive leading Congress into armed foreign conflict on false pretenses would have constituted an impeachable offense for the Framers.