Montana Partners for Impeachment Newsletter No. 11
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Beach Sign of 1000 Citizens...Heidi Alletzhauser..Missoula, MT Peace Sign of 100 Citizens...MPFI Pic From shining sea to mountain majesty, American citizens demand Accountability and Peace, Jan '07
Fanaticism in Foreign Policy
This week the standoff of a president--who does not talk to his opponents--against his military advisors, congress, and the American people, made vivid the emotional tone of desperation which has fueled his administration from the start. When struck by a religious cabal seeking legitimation he not only gave it to them by re-inventing dungeons, torture, and self-incriminating interrogations straight out of the Spanish Inquisition (Article III of his impeachment). He re-doubled their fanaticism rather than criminalize it, and elevated the acts of a few thousand to the status of world war, war against an abstraction he could rail against and pursue indiscriminately. "Terrorism."Then he went them one better as he dismantled diplomatic cautions Western Civilization took hundreds of years to institute for the protection and stabilization of the world's population. This week he fired thousands of indiscriminate rounds per minute from an aerial battleship at Somalis who had pacified their capital Mogadishu, and did it in their own country, with only the legal justification he was looking to kill terrorists not apprehended by a previous administration. As is usual by now, he killed the wrong people. This week he also landed five helicopters on an Iraqi government building flying the flag of Iran. His justification there was simply that he was looking for weapons, something the Kurds did not appreciate since the forces ransacked the place and kidnapped a staff encouraged to be there by the Baker Commission. Sovereign borders and sovereign consular offices have no meaning for a fanatical foreign policy which dismisses diplomacy when it can threaten war.
Where Bush and Cheney have felt hampered by the laws of civilization they have simply broken them. Required to certify to congress that Iraq was an imminent threat, they set up a misinformation bureau staffed with political hacks to manufacture excuses for invasion, and when those did not persuade the UN Security Council they went ahead, invading 'in our opinion' only, while breaking the laws of our nation and the world body of nations (Article II). At present, Bush and Cheney are poised to do it again, engaging in gunboat diplomacy in the Persian Gulf and off the horn of Africa, endorsing potential hits by the CIA in Lebanon, and starving the Palestinian government in Gaza to overthrow its democratically-elected leaders. This week the Administration even threatened to depose the 'democratically-elected' Maliki government in Iraq if it did not follow dictates and schedules made from the White House. The obvious policy of divide and conquor there sanctions civil war more clearly than it does 'civilization under the rule of law.'
The assault of this Administration on American laws and values is perhaps the most difficult for citizens to understand. In a hurry up session before the election last fall, the Bush cabal of militarists in congress suspended habeas corpus rights (gained by Westerners in the early Middle Ages) and then tried to legalize four years of its failure to secure warrants under the US FISA law to spy on civilians (Article I). They were not successful in the latter case, but they continue to violate FISA, and they added their intention to open civilians' personal mail without warrants last week. This week, Bush's "detainee czar" blatantly intimidated US legal firms not to represent Guantanamo prisoners, on threat of losing corporate clients. That is, a competent legal system will not be tolerated. In all, this executive splinter of one-party-government has spent six years defying US separation of powers as if our Constitution were a codicile in Madison's will, not the law of the land (Article IV). Congress is not the 'tail end of the dog' in American Constitutional government (nor are the courts). It IS the dog, and this week it barked loudly at our lawless and shameless executive. We shall see if it has any bite, guarding the door of the public treasury against fanatics.
Incompetence in Peace and War--Righting the Balance
"Bush's tough tactics are a 'declaration of war' on Iran" The Independent.
500 rallies of grass roots Americans say NO to Bush's escalation one day after his speech. Moveon.org.
Bush implements escalation as World-wide demonstrations protest to close Guantanamo.
Montana's Senator Baucus upstaged Bush escalation plans, saying he'd not support the Bush/Cheney War if he'd been told The Truth.
Bush misses executing all three Somali Al Qaeda planners from the air, but kills Thirty Cows.
Cyberspace has taken up the Iraq War as its new venue of conflict. You Tube.
Next year in Atlanta, 'moderate' Baptists will gather, invited by two Southern Baptists who invited no Southern Conference leadership. Presidents Carter and Clinton
View the Frontline Program Indicting Cheney, The Dark Side WMD Fraud 'From the Top' Now Clear.
Democrats.com puts up an online petition to impeach Bush/Cheney in 2007 Sign Up.
Bush and Cheney Refuse to Listen
'No timetable' for Iraq progress even hinted at by new Pentagon Secretary Testimony in Congress
Rice, appearing before congress, won't rule out military actions on Iran Or Syria?
Bush staffing largest embassy in the world in Baghdad Green Zone. Digging in.
Cheney tells Fox Entertainment News he's fighting a 'global war' from Pakistan to North Africa, and the US will do whatever it takes To Win
“We want to watch that play out” is how Detainee Czar Charles Stimson pursued his corporate intimidation of US Legal Firms
John Bolton says of Iran, “There are all kinds of ways to change the regime"...mentioning covert and overt means to Topple the government.
MPFI Warning! Unrestrained behavior among stressed troops Produces Tragedy.
MPFI Warning on sources and methods: Baghdad police stations dedicated by Bush to co-occupancy by Iraq and US troops may not be there at the time troops are Billetted.
Bush will now open your mail. Disguised Executive Order.
Action Being Taken
Montana Veterans for Peace has endorsed MPFI's Resolution to Impeach, and published their support nationally online "Impeachment is Rumbling in the Mountains of Montana"
UM Students for Peace and Justice have endorsed the MT Resolution to Impeach Bush/Cheney.
MPFI asks that recipients of our newsletter who support the Resolution now send a check for $5 or more as a binder of support. It will be used for office supplies to assist progress on the bill. Send it to 1345 S. 2nd W. Apt. #1, Missoula, MT 59801.
Half a dozen groups, including MPFI, were notified by as many newsletters to assemble for a protest of Bush's Expand-the-War Speech, one day later. About 50 carried signs in the 6 degree weather around the Reserve and South interchange in Missoula, while drivers honked their support.
A Citizen's Perspective: MPFI feature Here being expanded to permit members to post their deepest thoughts about abuses of power online. Send with subject line, "Submission" to Here.
Opinion: Supplemental funding for the Iraq War--beyond the costs of pulling US troops out of Iraq over the next 4-5 months--are unjustified. Senator Baucus took a similar position on January 10th.
Download the MT Resolution for impeaching Bush/Cheney in 2007 (now at the MT Legislature developing support). Here. Request a Center for Constitutional Rights book for arguing each Article on the floor of the Montana Legislature. Here
Martin Luther King Day
