by Sam Husseini
Sectors of the peace movement in the U.S. -- at least those which still
show signs of having a pulse -- have seized upon the Downing Street Memo
which might finally draw out in some substantive fashion the deceitful
manner in which the U.S. moved toward the invasion of Iraq. The group
AfterDowningStreet.org has called for an inquiry into possible impeachable
offenses committed by Bush.
Meanwhile other people in the U.S. who continue to back Bush are focusing
on "how to end the insurgency." They talk of the U.S. military casualties
in Iraq and see that Donald Rumsfeld now states that the insurgency could
last 12 years.
The two camps actually answer each other. If you want to end the insurgency
-- or resistance, depending on your views -- then make an honest accounting
of what your own government has done. Doing that will be perceived and
respected by others. Bush lied the country into war and initiated the war
in an unconstitutional manner. The fact that the Congress, the media, and,
to a large extent, the U.S. public were complicit in this does not absolve
Bush. They each should be judged as expeditiously as possible, but Bush
should be impeached -- now.
Doing so will have an impact in the Mideast and beyond.
Consider:
After the February 15, 2003 protests, the leadership of Hezballah said they
would no longer burn U.S. flags. They perceived that substantial parts of
the U.S. public were outwardly opposing the then-impending invasion of
Iraq. They changed.
More recently, the Iranian people also perceived how the U.S. functions:
They were basically threatened no matter who won their election. They
discerned that that the U.S. attacked Iraq even though Iraq did not have
weapons or mass destruction and was allowing access to UN inspectors
(despite the fact that such inspections had been used for espionage against
Iraq in the past). Based on this, the Iranian people did the obvious thing:
They voted for the candidate who is almost always described as the
"hardliner" -- but on economic issues sounds like a socialist -- and not
the WTO-loving "reformer."
Such actions by Iranians might tick off liberals in the U.S., but if these
liberals had done their alleged job and really changed U.S. politics, the
dynamics would be different in the Mideast.
There might still be a bit of time to redress this before further
calamities occur.
An impeachment of Bush, for the right reasons -- and not for some
peripheral technicality -- might be the surest, quickest way to ending the
violent resistance in Iraq, ending further bloodshed and beginning a real
democratic process which is designed by Iraqis in accord with the region
and not U.S. administration and corporate ambitions. All the people in Iraq
-- including the resistance which the administration tells us it is
speaking to, at least on days they are not dismissing them as "terrorists"
-- will take note. And, like Hezballah, which is converting itself to a
political party, they will change.
The people of the U.S. can demand an impeachment of Bush and signal to the
people of Iraq, the Mideast and the world that they will take matters into
their hands and show they want a modicum of people and justice on this
planet. That is, if the people of the U.S. actually do want a modicum of
peace and justice on this planet.
Sam Husseini has just returned from the Mideast to the U.S. Some of his
writings are at http://www.husseini.org [1]