|
military prisons where they receive no habeas corpus rights, 150,000 march in D.C. and surround the White House in protest. Riot police are called in to remove the protesters from the grounds, and a largely peaceful demonstration ends in chaos and bloodshed with five protesters killed. The next day, outraged D.C. residents march in solidarity with the protesters. This time, 400,000 swamp the White House in a second day of bloody protests. News outlets worldwide report on the chaos, while American media attempts to whitewash, ignore, or downplay the events unfolding. From Paris and Berlin to Tokyo, the world watches in awe as Americans throw up barricades to stall the police on every street corner and charge police lines. 30 protesters are killed in clashes with police, with 2 officers killed.
Bush, using the John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007, declares martial law over the city and mobilizes troops to crush dissidents in a violent crackdown and reassert authority over the city and initiate a pogrom of mass arrests. Congress calls Bush's action an outrage but is powerless to stop Bush. Several dozen moderate Republicans joined in condemning the actions. Bush promptly shuts down C-SPAN broadcasts, plants troops inside the Capitol building, and makes the building off limits to everyone including representatives and senators. Several representatives and senators are arrested for trying to re-enter the building. The Old Republic is swept away in the fires.
On the third day, armored vehicles and tanks begin rolling through D.C. suburbs towards the city center but are promptly swamped by citizens trying to block their progress. They say things such as don't fire or you might kill a relative or friend of yours and other things meant to take away the soldiers' resolve. Smart citizens take out their children and friends to show soldiers that they're family folks and don't want anything but what is right. More confrontations erupt between police and protesters at the barricades all over the city center as troops slowly make their way towards the city center. Five more protesters are killed with three more officers killed. Thousands have been injured in clashes.
On the fourth day, troops finally reach the center of the city and are marshaled to prepare to fire teargas and rubber bullets on citizens and to prepare mass round-ups of people, but many soldiers refused orders and joined the protesters. A tank that was co-opted by protesters and sympathetic soldiers begins assaulting the government barricades erected around the White House. After puncturing a hole in the barricades and blowing away the front gates of the White House grounds, protesters, several of whom are carrying American flags, begin flooding through the breach and fight with remaining police officers. Many other police officers either abandoned their lines or joined protesters. Only Bush loyalists are left to defend Bush in a White House converted into, as protesters called it, "Bushler's bunker." By the end of the day, Bush is dragged out by protesters and imprisoned in a city jail and was sparred a brutal fate by cooler heads that prevailed. A flag is planted on top of the White House signifying that the struggle had ended.
On the fifth day, with Bush deposed from power and Dick Cheney and many other Bush officials forced to flee, the line of succession puts power into Nancy Pelosi's hands, and under heavy pressure she promptly orders the reconstitution of the US Congress and nullifies martial law. In addition, soldiers who disobeyed orders to fire on protesters are given blanket immunity, and Articles of Impeachment are drafted against Bush and Cheney. Several dozen other high ranking officers within the Pentagon, NSA, and CIA are arrested for violations of the law and are tried for treason, destruction of evidence, depriving citizens of due process rights, crimes against humanity, and outright war crimes. Impeachment against both Cheney and Bush are successful, stripping them of sovereign immunity afforded to government officials. They are then promptly charged with the war crime of starting an aggressive war and are ultimately convicted with life in prison with no chance of parole.
With the old government institutions in disarray, Pelosi sets a new date for presidential elections and the construction of a new cabinet. The drafts of the bills introduced in Congress state that with the new elections, the government would officially be entitled the Second Republic of the United States of America. In addition, authorization for the Iraq War is repealed, and US troops in Iraq are ordered to cease all operations and begin handing over authority to the Iraqi government in preparation for an ordered withdrawal. Soldiers who deserted during the war are given blanket amnesty. American involvement in Iraq is over, but for Iraqis, the fighting lasted for another two years before a Shi'ite victory is achieved.
Ten years later, a monument is erected on the National Mall honoring the men and women who fought, bled, and died fighting against a homegrown tyranny and the soldiers who served honorably in a tragic war.
|