I’ve only received one reply on my please-impeach-now letter below. Tom Harkin’s office sent back a form letter that looks to have been written a while back, before the current session of congress really got underway (it’s reproduced below). I like everything the letter said, but it was outdated and didn’t say anything about my central point (impeachment!)
I’m not surprised to hear no response from Senator Grassley. I am a little surprised not to hear from Rep. Loebsack, though.
Harkin’s response:
Mr. Jack Pinette
665 Emily Street
North Liberty, IA 52317
Dear Jack:
Thank you for contacting me. I am always glad to hear from you.
I appreciate hearing from you about the possible impeachment of Bush
Administration officials. I share your grave concerns about many of the
President’s foreign and domestic policies and the way this Administration
has handled the war in Iraq. That is why I supported the resolution
disapproving of the President’s “surge” plan to deploy additional troops.
In addition, I introduced Concurrent Resolution 93 into the Senate in the
109th Congress. This legislation stated that the United States should
neither maintain a permanent military presence in Iraq nor should the
United States attempt to control Iraq’s oil. I was heartened to see that
both of these proposals were among the recommendations made my the Iraq
Study Group. I believe that the only true way forward in Iraq is to set a
timetable for redeployment of U.S. forces. Only this will give the Iraqi
leaders the incentive to resolve their political differences and take
responsibility for their own future.
In the last Congress, I was also proud to be a cosponsor of the
resolution to censure President Bush for illegally spying on Americans
because I believe that the President is not above the law. Like many
Americans I was shocked to learn that the National Security Agency (NSA)
has eavesdropped on the phone conversations of thousands of people within
the United States without the consent of a judge, as is required by the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and has been collecting the
phone records of millions of Americans without a proper search warrant. I
believe these secret programs are just one example of the Administration’s
contempt for Congressional and judicial oversight, and of its ongoing
attempts to vastly and unnecessarily expand Executive power.
The President must be held accountable by Congress, as he is here to
serve the American people and uphold the Constitution. I look forward to
vigorous oversight by the new Democratic Congress into the handling of
Iraq, domestic spying, limitations on civil rights and efforts to greatly
extend the power of the executive branch through the use of signing
statements and other methods. In the midterm elections, the American
people expressed a strong desire for more balance and oversight. As your
Senator, you can be assured that I will be a vigorous advocate of
oversight and continue to move to ensure that the most egregious policies
of this Administration on torture, detention, and domestic spying are not
allowed to continue.
Again, thanks for sharing your views with me. Please don’t hesitate to
let me know how you feel on any issue that concerns you.
Sincerely,
Tom Harkin
United States Senator
1 Comment
Update: I’m not the only one thinking this way.
I sent this to Senators Grassley and Harkin, and to Rep. Loebsack, via the contact forms on their respective web pages.
Thanks for all of the work you do on behalf of Iowa and the nation.
Before getting to the point, I’d like to stress that this is not a canned letter sent by or on behalf of a special interest group or political action organization. This is just me, talking to you as my representative in Washington, before my lunch break is over.
I wanted to send this note to add my voice to those calling for impeachment of the President and Vice-President.
I’m aware that, due to the realities of the political establishment and the current makeup of the House and Senate, an impeachment is unlikely to result in conviction.
But I still think it’s a step that should be taken, on a couple of different levels.
First, as a constitutional issue, the President and Vice-President have grossly violated their oaths to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States”. The suspension of habeas corpus, authorization of torture, extraordinary rendition, warrantless wiretapping… the list goes on.
And although they are non anti-Constitutional per se, the Iraq war, both for the deceptive beginning and the near-total lack of planning (repeating known falsehoods as justification, ignoring State Department plans for rebuilding, silencing or “retiring” or attacking those who presented accurate estimates of the effort, stocking the Coalition Provisional Authority with untried think-tank babies valuable only for their political loyalty, handing out no-bid contracts to politically connected American firms instead of employing actual Iraqis to do the work)… all of this adds up to “high crimes and misdemeanors”.
Responding to these failures and violations is now a moral imperative, and a Constitutional imperative as well. If the Legislative Branch cannot respond to this level of malfeasance, our Constitutional processes have failed, and the foundational concepts that support our system of government are in a truly dismaying state of disrepair and decay.
Secondly, there are practical reasons for pursuing impeachment. Even if it’s impossible to gain a convicting majority, even if the proceedings last beyond the end of the current administration’s term, the impeachment itself should serve to restrict the President’s and Vice-President’s actions over the next year and a half; this in itself would be a considerable good.
Furthermore, the beginnings of an impeachment process may serve to ameliorate the alarming slide in our national image. I can’t subscribe to the protectionist view that we don’t have to care what those outside our borders think of us, nor the comforting falsehood that we are hated “for our freedoms”.
America has of course always been open to both internal and external criticism; just because we were the finest nation on earth didn’t mean we were perfect. But in the past, while attracting negative attention for certain specific mistakes, the United States has nevertheless been a beacon of inspiration to the world. No more; we are now widely seen as hypocrites at best, and dangerous lunatics at worst.
The precipitous drop in America’s image abroad profoundly affects our foreign policy options, from trade agreements to intelligence sharing to counter-proliferation and even foreign aid arrangements.
I’d like America to once again have true moral authority on the world stage, and the ability to offer itself as an example of good government to be emulated. Beginning impeachment proceedings now would be powerful first step toward rebuilding our image and influence around the globe.
This has gone beyond partisanship, beyond political calculations. It’s the right thing to do, and this is the right time to do it.
Thanks for your time,
Jack Pinette
1 Comment
