President George W. Bush should be impeached and charged with criminal violation of U.S. law. He has openly admitted that he issued orders authorizing the National Security Agency to conduct electronic surveilance of U.S. citizens without obtaining the necessary court orders or search warrants. The President makes the false claim that he has legal authority to do this.
The order is in fact a flagrant violation of 50 USC 1801 – 50 USC 1811, and is punishable by fines and/or imprisonment of up to five years. It is reasonable to assume that by issuing the executive order, President Bush is responsible for quite a few violations of this law.
The law already has provision for surveilance for 72 hours prior to obtaining a court order, so the President’s claims about needing to move quickly are irrelevant. 72 hours is more than enough for federal authorities to present their case to a judge and get an order.
I’m amazed that the President can with a straight face claim that he’s protecting our civil liberties, while admitting that he is brazenly violating them.
The President should not be above the law; even the President should not be able to commit a felony and get away with it.
In the very same press conference in which he admitted ordering surveilance of U.S. citizens, he gave an example of a woman that didn’t think Saddam Hussein should be given a trial, and explained the importance of rule of law. If he can recognize the importance of rule of law in Iraq, why can’t he recognize it right here in the United States of America? Rule of law is fundamentally what distinguishes our system of government from a banana republic, and we would be foolish to give it up just for an unnecessary and unjustified encroachment of our civil liberties.
Please write to your Senators and Representatives and ask them to investigate this matter and to impeach President Bush. If lying to a grand jury about sex is enough grounds to impeach a President, multiple felony violations of U.S. law should be more than enough.
Update:
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has asked four presidential scholars for confirmation of former White House Counsel John Dean’s statement that President Bush has admitted to an impeachable offense.
Saddam Hussein, a criminal tyrant, was sentenced to death for his inhuman tratement and killings of innocent civilians who opposed his rule. He deserved to die for his action.
Thinking on that line of judgement, the acts our president Bush did is parallel to what Saddam did. By declaring war on Iraq and occupying that country on the basis of lies and planted evidences over 650,000 innocent civilians died so far… Bush should also be tried for war crimes and deserved to be sentenced to die..