Obama Supporters in DC Want Bush Arrested

[davidswanson]

Sunday evening I spoke on a panel in Washington, D.C., about war crimes, and in walked a group of spirited activists led by Laurie Arbeiter wearing "Arrest Bush" sweatshirts and carrying "Arrest Bush" signs, and they were absolutely dumfounded by what they had just experienced. They'd spent the day at the train station in D.C. and on the streets of D.C. as excited Obama celebrators poured in by the tens of thousands, and they'd been unable to walk a dozen steps without people stopping them to have their photo taken with an "Arrest Bush" sign.

It's worth remembering that Bush is approved by 22 percent of Americans and a smaller percentage of non-Americans. It's hard to get under 20 percent in any poll in this country. More people believe in UFOs than approve of Bush. The media meme that prosecuting Bush would cost Obama political capital has not been proven false, but it is absolutely baseless until someone produces something to base it on.

So we had a little strategy meeting Sunday night and produced hard copies of an already running petition asking Eric Holder to appoint a Special Prosecutor. We got clipboards and pens and identified teams. As I write this Monday morning we are preparing to gather at Dupont Circle for a rally at 11 a.m. followed by a march to the White House where we will throw shoes at the outgoing war criminal. On Tuesday we have a permit for the whole sidewalk in front of the FBI Building along the parade, and we'll let you in if you have a sign that says "Arrest Bush." No other ticket required. At these and many other events and all over the city in the next two days, we hope to add many thousands of new people to the petition and collect their contact information to integrate them into the movement to get tough on (the biggest) crime.

If you're not in DC, you can sign the petition yourself or print out a PDF to collect signatures in the real world at http://convictbushcheney.org

This is not a fantasy, boys and girls. The New York Times' Scott Shane and Attorney General Mukasey agree with me that prosecution is now going to be hard to avoid. When even Nancy Pelosi has figured out where we're going, you know the winds of change are blowing strong. That's the dangerous thing about telling people that anything is possible: they'll end up insisting on what they really want. And they want lots of new laws, but they very dearly want us to start enforcing the old ones too.

[peekaloo]

1. Stay safe.

:patriot:

[lonestarnot]

2. It is going to happen. I am confident!

[bjobotts]

36. During the conventions you'd get arrested for carrying such a sign

[bjobotts]

37. at both dem and repub conventions. Pelosi is a phony but with enough pressure...

[BanzaiBonnie]

40. If we DON"T prosecute for the war crimes

I'm sure Pelosi has heard enough to know that if we don't, that this will go to the world court.

If we don't take responsibility and clean out the rats, then the rest of the world will demand it be done. Bush and gang will end up being tried at the Hague.

[The Wielding Truth]

41. I must happen! It is not to be accepted! America does not torture!

[grannie4peace]

3. done!

:patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot:

[bdamomma]

4. thanks David.

I signed the petition. And good for you to push for this, cause this needs to be done.

[edc]

5. Get away

:patriot: Better catch ole' George today, or he may slither away to Paraguay.

[mmonk]

6. Great work and keep it up. Thanks for the link and petition

so those of us that can't be physically in DC this week can still work to be of some use.

[jimlup]

7. As Bush walks off the stage on Tuesday

Slap on the handcuffs and haul he (and Cheney) off to jail where he can await trial for capital TREASON.

His greatest crimes which is the war of aggression on Iraq is the least likely to be prosecuted.

Oh well, I guess there is the reality of politics and all but hell! Let's get this guy. Can't we do something independent of Obama so that his hands are "clean". Or does that put him in the awkward position of having to issue a pardon if we push too hard?

[whirlygigspin]

12. shall we plan trump no trump?

I seriously doubt anything will ever happen, the war powers act is THE get out of jail free card, trumping the rest, yeah?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_and_Homeland_Security_Presidential_Directive

[jimlup]

13. Not Internationally

He should face the world court in the Hague but I'm dreaming of course it isn't going to happen.

I found a useful article by Edward Herman on ZNET addressing some of these issues and congress's complicity in them:

http://www.zcommunications.org/zmag/viewArticle/20142

[Baby Snooks]

28. A must read!!!

I do wish people would get used to the term Republicrat. That is what a growing number of Democrats are becoming. Joining the Republicans who have become Republicrats. Ain't "bipartisanship" grand? The problem is it doesn't really exist. We really only have one party in Washington.

Of the people. By the people. For the people. The people don't matter.

We cry out for a Nuremberg. It will never happen. Too many have been too complicit. In both parties. In the one party.

The General Assembly could approve a resolution calling for the International Criminal Court to try the United States for war crimes. The problem is all it takes is one vote by one member of the Security Council to veto a resolution by the General Assembly. And it might not be the United States that would veto. Which would save everyone further the condemnation that would result if the United States used its veto to block its own trial. So Great Britain would veto it. To save itself as well as the United States.

That leaves the Justice Department. The Justice Department is not going to charge a former president for matters that Congress was aware of and that Congress could have at least filed for impeachment over.

Bush will leave tomorrow, accompanied by his father, and both will be shooting the bird at everyone as they leave.

There will be no Nuremberg. There will be no justice. There will only be history. And history will not be kind to the Bushes. Or to the American people. We were such good Germans.

[leftstreet]

32. "Illegal war, constitution busting, and torture have been bipartisan"

Excellent article!

:thumbsup:

[libodem]

15. I'd give up my birthday and Christmas forever!

If that would happen. I want to see the Cheneybush threatened with interrogation by having a cage full of Rush Limbaugh's ass gerbils, visually present.

[edc]

8. Simple Fact

No one in this country has the constitutional authority to approve the use of torture or any other violation of American law under any circumstances or of any international law to which the United States is a signatory. Nor may any such authority be asserted or otherwise claimed by legal opinion. Specifically, any person who has committed or aided and abetted the commission of war crimes in any way is culpable and in legal jeopardy. Amen.

[lostnotforgotten]

9. Let's See If Obama has The Courage To Act On These Facts

eom

[mmonk]

10. Nice prayer.

;-)

[mod mom]

11. We need to keep pushing this mantra! Rule of Law must prevail!

[The Wielding Truth]

39. It's past time that we admonish torture carried out by anyone!

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

14. signed it.

Thanks David.

[Octafish]

16. Whitehouse wants to help -- Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), that is.

From ThinkProgress.org:

Whitehouse: If Obama doesn’t investigate Bush’s crimes, I will.

“I think that there’s a lot that remains to look at, and I appreciate that President Obama doesn’t want to make it his purpose as a new president, with America in real distress in many directions, to go back and look at all this, but I think we in Congress have an independent responsibility, and I fully intend to discharge that responsibility,” Whitehouse said.

May these traitors, mass-murderers, warmongers, war profiteers, thieves, gangsters, liars and worse experience justice.

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. I get tons of positive comments every time I wear my ARREST BUSH shirts

I sold a bunch at my Democratic party meetings here.

I think Democrats feel safer bringing it up now that the election is over.

[EFerrari]

18. I was remembering that a younger Obama organized asbestos removal

from public housing. He knows what needs to be done here.

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. He also likes reaching across the aisle and making friends with right wingers

Just sayin.

[EFerrari]

20. CSPAN Theater. I don't believe there are two wings

but I'm a grumpy old lady. :)

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. Watch Frontline - the Obama bio due to air tomorrow night

I watched it online last week. Maybe it's still there. Anyway, really opened my eyes to his fondness for befriending conservatives.

[Vincardog]

22. Good luck and Gob bless

[pleah]

23. Apparently, I have already signed.

;-)

[Danascot]

24. David, thank you for your tireless work on this issue

I believe that this is the right moment to push this hard. People are in no mood to let Bush off.

No one is above the law including the pResident. In America, if there is reasonable suspicion that a serious crime has been committed, whether or not to investigate and prosecute is not a matter for discussion.

I've signed the petition and I'll print out hard copies and collect signatures tomorrow at our local inaugural events.

Thanks again.

[williesgirl]

25. signed and recommended

[KoKo]

26. kick...because the Obama Phenomina...has caught the Media..so they can Pump him up

for "reaching across to encompass McCain...so they can TEAR HIM DOWN! In the Meanwhile YOUR PROTESTS will get the amount of coverage they gave IRAQ WAR PROTESTORS...THOUSANDS IN NORTH CAROLINA ...the Red State that went BLUE...and so many of us PROTESTED AGAINST IRAQ WAR...and NO ONE..even our SENATOR, JOHN EDWARDS even ACKNOWLEDGED that WE WERE THERE...even PROTESTING, HIM!

What our "WHORE MEDIA" covers and what it DOESN'T is the story of the NEW MILLENIUM. :cry:

[Fireweed247]

27. K&R

[MasonJar]

29. Please sign if you haven't; these citizens are working hard for us.

[wordpix]

30. it's a real movement - I never saw Jonathan Turley so excited by this people's movement! I'll be at

the FBI Bldg tomorrow to meet you with my sign.

[Solly Mack]

31. K&R

[caseymoz]

33. I think the Obama administration will drag its feet.

But I think 3-4 years for now, we'll see Bush and his gang on trial for violations of the Convention on Torture and the laws there-under. Unfortunately, many people in government have been complicit in allowing it, including Democrats. It might turn into a "purge." It's no wonder Obama sounds reluctant to take the lid off of it, but the law doesn't allow any discretion about it.

[emlev]

34. I'm taking petitions to my local parade tomorrow night!

You can, too!

[eowyn_of_rohan]

35. Obama supporters most EVERYWHERE want him arrested!

Thank you for your effort to get signatures and to make this happen. Justice must prevail if we are to move forward with hope and optimism.

[digidigido]

38. But there are UFO's

[calimary]

42. I think what we SERIOUSLY need to do is be relentless about this. Keep up the drumbeat.

These are WAR CRIMES.

They MUST be prosecuted. Otherwise we'll be telling the world that torture is no big deal, certainly okay with us, and that we're not gonna do Thing One about it or the people who perpetrated and approved it IN OUR NAME. AND WITH OUR MONEY.

We're going to have to apply pressure, LOTS of it, and NO letting up. And encourage everyone we know, at every turn, to add to the pressure. We can't move forward anywhere if we don't know where we've been. And we can't afford to let torture stand and become a precedent for later rogue presidents and regimes.

[Hubert Flottz]

43. BushCo are the warped MoFos who turned America into a

banana republic on 12/12/2000. They are the bastids that ran this country like it was a banana republic for eight years. Let's see to it that they and their collaborators and cronies end up paying a price like most ousted leaders do in a banana republic(jail forever or worse)and then we can turn our country back into the United States of America.

I think we might need to take a look at the politically motivated SCOTUS justices who made this nightmare possible in the first place and impeach some of them.

[AsahinaKimi]

44. I have said it again and again..

PROSECUTE BUSH.. and his cabal. The crimes committed by his administration
must be prosecuted.

[jeff30997]

45. Meanwhile in a parallel Universe where Dems have spines:

[mod mom]

46. Obama supporters in Ohio do to! gladly signed!

[rtassi]

47. signed! nt.

[L. Coyote]

48. Error: you can only recommend threads which were started in the past 24 hours

[spanone]

49. Obama supporters ACROSS THE WORLD want bu$h* arrested

[TankLV]

50. Arrest bush*, try him, imprison him, then EXECUTE him for WAR CRIMES and TREASON!

and let the chips fall where they may - ALL the Criminals must be BROUGHT TO JUSTICE!

whether they are repuke or DEMOCRAT.

but first and foremost, cheney, rice, rumsfield, and that fat pasty bastard ROVE must be rounded up and PROSECUTED!!!

NO EXCEPTIONS...

[Waiting For Everyman]

51. His whole presidency was a crime.

[BanTheGOP]

52. Don't forget the enabler...the repbulican Party Organization itself!

One of the CRUCIAL elements we need to pursue is the actual criminal existence of the republican Party apparatus itself. Of COURSE it is a given that Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rove, and other republican leaders should either be thrown into Ft. Leavenworth, or more preferably, be extradited to the World Court for crimes against humanity that would dwarf anything put out by the Nuremberg trials.

But it is a folly to think it can't happen again, WITHOUT ensuring safeguards such as ensuring that the republican party does NOT operate as a so-called political organization! Without a DOUBT, monies raised by the organization provided the fuel and the base for such criminal acts to occur in the FIRST place.