by YAW

Created on: May 08, 2008   Last Updated: April 07, 2012

Impeach The President

It was Eighteenth Century Italian born historian, Lord Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton who said, "Liberty is the prevention of control by others." Lord Acton further said, "And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentally of gangsters get control. History has proven that. All power corrupts; and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Lord Acton's dictum seems to ring true after over two hundred years.

Given the check that the United States Congress has over the Executive Branch, the president cannot exercise absolute power. If the president does it, it would be with the consent of Congress.

It is important to revisit the reasons President George Bush told the world the United States went to war with Iraq. This is five years later, with over four thousand American troops killed, hundreds committed suicide, thousands more permanently mentally and physically injured and hundreds of monthly suicide attempts. Millions of displaced Iraqis and hundreds of thousands of their innocent compatriots slaughtered.

Immediately following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, most of the world was in sympathy with the United States. The entire United States was united, Republicans, Green Party, Democrats and everyone else. But President Bush squandered a glorious chance to unite the nation after the divisive 2000 Presidential Election results between himself and then Vice President Al Gore.
Shortly after those unfortunate events of September 11, 2001, and for many of the following months, emotional tension in the United States was riding high. Common sense and reason were thrown through the window. In came emotion and some Americans' ability to reason became cloudy and nonexistent. Most members of the United States Congress became emotional; their sense of reason went to sleep and they gave President Bush the authority to go to war with Iraq on a pack of lies. Some people called it a blank check. It was likely some in the United States Congress voted for the war to avoid being called unpatriotic.

It must be recalled that the United States had forces in the hills of Afghanistan months after the nation was attacked. They were searching for the Al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, the so-called mastermind behind the attacks on the United States. During early 2008 President Bush was asked whether the troops in Afghanistan were looking for bin Laden, he said he was not thinking about the Al Qaeda leader.

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