Plenty of Opportunities to Impeach Bush
    By Diane E. Dees
    Mother Jones

    Wednesday 05 April 2006

    The United States of America has undergone three impeachment proceedings. In 1868, President Andrew Johnson was impeached because he removed Secretary of War Edwin Stanton from his position, which was a violation of the Tenure of Office Act. He was not convicted, and Kansas Senator Edmond G. Ross, who cast the vote that saved the president, is profiled in John F. Kennedy's Profiles In Courage. In 1974, President Richard M. Nixon was impeached because of the Watergate break-in cover-up, but he resigned from office before the proceedings could go forth. And in 1998-99, President Bill Clinton was impeached for lying about an affair he had with an intern. Clinton, of course, was not convicted.

    In each case, impeachment proceedings were begun because of the perception that the president had violated a law. Patriot Daily points out that Congress may ratify Bush's illegal spying with new FISA legislation so that his actions will be deemed legal and he cannot be impeached for having committed them.

    Patriot Daily goes on to say, however, that during the month of March alone, Bush violated enough other laws to make impeachment proceedings possible. The writer of the Patriot Daily piece says that, "to avoid writing a book," it was necessary to omit any violations of law committed before March 1, 2006, violations of humanitarian laws and negligence, and some of the prior laws to which there had not been additional information added.

    With these restrictions in mind, here are just a few of the March violations:

    Bush signed the spending bill, knowing that violated a Constitutional requirement that the bill must first pass in both chambers.

    He violated the material witness law by using it as preventive detention authority who could commit terrorist acts some day but for whom there is no cause for criminal charges.

    He violated the Clean Air Act by loosening emission standards for aging coal-fired power plants. The Clean Air Act makes it clear that only Congress may make such a decision.

    In a legal brief written for the US Supreme Court, Bush cited evidence from a debate by two Republican senators. There was no such debate. The evidence was manufactured by the White House.

    Bush defined "material support" for terrorists in such a distorted fashion that victims of terrorists wound up being defined as terrorists.

    He approved the ports deal, knowing that Dubai's boycott of Israel was illegal under US law.

    He failed to hand over delinquent mining company safety violation fees to the Department of the Treasury, as required by law. (He also decreased major fines, and did not collect any in half of the cases.)

    He violated the law when he secured the UAE ports deal without the required national security review.

    Bush's nuclear deal with India violates US and international nuclear nonproliferation laws.

    Patriot Daily lists many more violations committed by the Bush administration, as well as relevant links.