Transcripts of comments by Albert Abbasse and Geoffrey Saint are available here and here
On Monday, January 8, the Kent County chapter of Democracy for America hosted a forum on whether or not Bush should be impeached. About 45 people were in attendance for the forum that featured a historical presentation on impeachment in the US followed by a panel of three.
The historical presentation was given by Hope Professor Earl Curry, who talked about the previous cases of impeachment in the US. He cited the example of Senator Blount in 1797, a few judicial cases, and the previous two presidential examples with Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. Curry made it clear that there has never been any clear definition of what are impeachable offenses and that no one has really been held accountable even though some convictions occurred. He made the point that what drives impeachment proceedings is more political than the principle of upholding the Constitution.
There were three panelists who spoke next: Al Abasse, a professor who teaches constitutional law, Geoffrey Saint, a professor of political science, and Barbara Van't Hof. Mr. Abasse stressed that impeachment is a very serious issue and in the case of Bush important because if impeachment doesn't happen "then the constitution doesn't mean anything." He felt there was enough evidence of deliberately misleading the US public into supporting the war in Iraq and suspending habeas corpus to warrant impeachment. He also made the statement that going to war in Afghanistan was appropriate, but not in Iraq on the grounds that there was no cause for war.
Geoffrey Saint took the position that impeachment is a good idea, but that pragmatically it would be disastrous for the country and the Democratic Party. He said it was too late in Bush's term to be a viable option and that it would waste time and energy on the 2008 election. He also stated that it would stall the country politically and possibly cost the Democrats in their desire to win the White House in 2008. Saint made mention of an earlier attempt by people to impeach Bush in 2003 and cited a proposal by noted International Law professor Francis Boyle. This second panelist also stated that going forward with impeachment proceedings would re-energize the GOP.
The last panelist took neither a position for or against impeachment, although she did not think it was not the best action to take at this point. Of the three speakers she was the only one to point out not just the illegality of the war in Iraq but the global consequences, the deaths in Iraq, and torture as violations of the Geneva Convention. In the end though she felt that Speaker of the House Nacy Pelosi and others were being pragmatic by taking impeachment off the table and that "if the Democrats are to make any progress on legislative issues they need bi-partisan support." Barbara Van't Hof did feel that a Truth Movement needs to be established and that she would support a World Court action against the Bush administration for War Crimes. While the audience was clearly in the Democratic Party camp it was clear that many people during the question and answer period felt that there needs to be some accountability with the current administration. While no clear action came out of the discussion, it clearly engaged the audience in thinking about government accountability and war crimes. At the end someone also mentioned a recent event in New York where proceedings did take place to review and eventually indict Bush on War Crimes. The group is called the International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration.
