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Posted in entirety with permission.
Betrayals
Cindy Sheehan
In the past week, my travels have taken me to 15 different cities in New England holding impeachment teach-ins.
Admittedly, we were speaking to converted, mostly singing, Impeachment Choir members, but still, the outrage against the crimes of the BushCo is palpable and profound.
I can also the frustration mounting against the Democratic Party who did nothing to check the outright criminals squatting in the White House and Blair House for the first six years of unmitigated disaster because they were not “in power.” Now that the Dems are “in power” they are still doing nothing to rein in the reign of King George the Terrible. What is Congress’ excuse now? It is unfathomable that they have not already courageously acted against BushCo! Instead of inviting George to speak at the recent Dem retreat, they should have had him handcuffed!
As Chalmers Johnson says in his fabulous book: Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic:
When it comes to the deliberate dismantling of the Constitution, however, the events that followed the Supreme Court’s intervention in the election of 2000 that named George W. Bush the forty-third president have proved unprecedented…If the United States has neither the means nor the will to overcome this crisis, then we have entered the last days of the Republic.
Our Republic has the means (Articles of Impeachment) to overcome the shocking crisis we have found ourselves in, but where is the will? I was thrilled with my fellow Americans when we went out to vote in record numbers against George Bush and his failed war and disastrous foreign and domestic policies. I was not optimistic though that a change in Congressional power would make a difference in the war. I knew that the struggle for peace must continue full force with the Dems as we had been doing with a Republican controlled government for years. I found that criticizing Democrats for behaving the same way as Republicans is not popular in some “liberal” circles, but the occupation of Iraq is not popular in most circles and the Democrats are not doing anything constructive to obstruct the Bush Regime.
One of my idols, Congressman John Conyers was on Amy Goodman shortly after the January 27th rally and march in DC where he proclaimed that we could “fire” George Bush. Amy asked him how we could do that short of impeachment and Mr. Conyers said that impeachment was a “luxury.” Many people feel that for peace and justice to once again come to our world that impeachment is about as much of a luxury to humanity as oxygen is. I found it ironic, also, that at the end of a week where Congress spent the entire time debating a NON-binding, meaningless resolution against the occupation; Mr. Conyers called impeachment a “waste of time.”
George Bush is well into the seventh and penultimate year of his mind-boggling and injurious presidency and he only becomes more defiant and obstinate about holding onto an occupation that is destroying at least two countries and leading this country down a path to becoming a rogue state with vast and appalling nuclear capabilities. However, a few weeks ago, he finally said something that I agreed with. If Congress really feels strongly about ending the occupation, they would not send him meaningless NON-binding resolutions, but they would vote “nay” on the next supplemental one hundred billions of more dollars that he is asking for to wage his war of terror. I totally agree, but he and Congress are immorally using the “support the troops” anti-troop excuse to give a psychopathic killer more money to kill more of our troops and more innocent Iraqi babies.
Our troops have never been supported in the field in Iraq and I have news for people who are breaking the back of our military to continue to line the pockets of the war machine: OUR TROOPS DON’T NEED SUPPORT IN THE FIELD, IF THEY ARE BROUGHT HOME. It is as simple and pure as that. Use the money that has already been appropriated to fund a safe and speedy withdrawal and use future monies to fully fund the VA system to take care of our veterans and to pay reparations to the peoples of Iraq.
The Iraqi people, our troops, the darling baby girl sitting in front of me and the two toddler boys behind me who have been kicking the back of my seat for about two hours now on this plane and the rest of the children of the world, do not have the “luxury” of waiting for peace and accountability. Roughly one Iraqi has been killed for every ten minutes of the occupation; one American soldier dies every ten hours and ten billion dollars an hour have been stolen from our families and communities by the new robber barons of the 21st century.
BushCo has continually and consistently betrayed its position as officers of the public trust and Congress is following suit by allowing it to get away with its transgressions.
The planet cannot afford two more years of the Bush regime. We can only be betrayed if we allow the treachery to continue.
We voted for change on November 7th. Now let’s make sure our votes count.
Call Congressman Conyers.
Call Speaker Pelosi.
Call your Congressional Representative.
Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spc. Casey Sheehan who was killed in Bush's war of terror on 04/04/04.
She is the co-founder and president of Gold Star Families for Peace and The Camp Casey Peace Institute.
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