FAQ

There are many questions regarding the consideration for impeachment of George Bush and Dick Cheney. We invite you to submit questions that you might have if you don’t see them below or would like to voice your view which may differ from ours. Most of the questions below are fairly simple ones but few of them have simple answers—given the unprecedented complexities of our current national predicament. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions that we get at GRIM:

Q: What are the ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ that George Bush & Dick Cheney are supposed to have committed?

Q: Won’t impeaching Bush make Cheney our president?

Q: Democrats don’t have enough of a majority to succeed with impeachment on their own. How are they going to get support from Republicans when the results of impeaching Bush & Cheney could be that Nancy Pelosi would end up as president?

Q: Why aren’t more Democratic politicians behind the impeachment effort?

Q: Isn’t it a little late in Bush’s & Cheney’s second term to be calling for impeachment?

Q: Since Nancy Pelosi said that impeachment is ‘off the table’, won’t she be subjected to ‘flip-flop’ ridicule if she puts it back ‘on the table’?

Q: Won’t impeachment further divide the country?

Q: What can I do to help with the impeachment cause?

Q: What are the ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ that George Bush & Dick Cheney are supposed to have committed?

A: There are numerous offenses they are guilty of. They have ‘defaulted’ on international treaties such as the Geneva Convention. They have used torture in violation of our own laws and international law. They have openly practiced illegal detention. They have routinely practiced illegal surveillance.

The worst crime that Bush & Cheney have committed (worst because of the devastating damage that has resulted) was the intentional distortion and selective presentation of intelligence that they made available to the American people, to Congress, and to the United Nations when they sold their case for attacking Iraq. They asked members of congress to make possibly the most important decision of their lives; and, at the same time, Bush & Cheney withheld any and all vital information that was contrary to their agenda. In doing so, they denied those members of congress the opportunity to make fully informed decisions.

This accusation does not come only from ‘left wing radicals’. Colin Powell, on June 10, 2007 told Tim Russert on ‘Meet the Press’ that when he was asked as Secretary of State to present the pro-war intelligence to the UN, he was [unknowingly then] denied all the information. All the information that was not given to him would have weakend the case for war on Iraq.

A prosecutor in a criminal trial who withholds exculpatory evidence from the defense will probably lose his job and his right to practice law. The president and vice president of the United States of America, in any administration, should be held to the same standard — if not even higher. As horrendous as the wrongful conviction of an innocent defendant is — the consequences of Bush & Cheney’s calculated and willful deception have been infinitely more damaging.

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Q: Won’t impeaching Bush make Cheney our president?

A: The general consensus is that Cheney should be impeached first in order to avoid that. Bush would then have to nominate a replacement who would have to meet the approval of congress. There is already a resolution in Congress to impeach Cheney.

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Q: Democrats don’t have enough of a majority to succeed with impeachment on their own. How are they going to get support from Republicans when the results of impeaching Bush & Cheney could be that Nancy Pelosi would end up as president?

A: It’s certainly doubtful that any republicans would help Nancy Pelosi, or any other non-republican, become president; and it’s true that a successful impeachment would require a multi-partisan effort. We have to appeal to the decency in all politicians to put their country ahead of their party.

There’s a growing wave of sentiment for impeachment in the American public that’s going to be tsunami-sized soon. That will force politicians of all parties to realize that they need to do their sworn duty and defend our constitution. Some politicians will come to that realization early on and emerge as leaders; others will wait to ride the wave and expose themselves as followers. Still others will stay on the sinking ship with their captain.

We’ve got to remember, there were supposedly too many Republicans in 1974 to impeach President Nixon but once they realized what crimes he’d committed, they told him to either resign or they’d back his impeachment rather than remain aligned with him.

The faction of the Republican Party that’s remaining aligned with Bush & Cheney is heading in a direction in which they will appeal only to the very uninformed or the very uncaring wealthy. If they don’t alienate themselves from this administration, they’ll probably regret it. Republicans will have to decide if they want to be American patriots or loyal Bushies—the two don’t go hand in hand.

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Q: Why aren’t more Democratic politicians behind the impeachment effort?

A: There are a couple of reasons and neither speaks very highly of the Democrats—many say that they are putting what they think is best for the party ahead of what’s best for the country:

1. Since they realize that impeachment will require some Republican support, they’re not [yet] confident that it can be successful. Backing a failed attempt would look bad for them. They need to read up on the Nixon resignation and how it was forced by the threat of impeachment.
2. Many people believe that Democrats are OK with another 15 months of Bush/Cheney damage to the US so they’ll have that much more damage to feed off of in ‘08.

It’s obscene that so many politicians are allowing, and some even encouraging, our leaders to continue to ask our brave troops to risk their lives and the future of their families for an impossible cause [by most un-coerced accounts] while those same politicians won’t even risk their jobs. Non-reelected politicians have a much higher recovery rate than dead and maimed soldiers and civilians. That’s why it’s going to take an overwhelming and relentless demanding from the constituents of all politicians to get them off of their timid duffs. We’ll need to shame some of them into doing the right thing. That’s why a grassroots effort is needed.

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Q: Isn’t it a little late in Bush’s & Cheney’s second term to be calling for impeachment?

A: It’s true — time is running out. There most definitely is a sense of urgency. This is a very simple question that requires a lengthy, multifaceted answer:

1. We hope that once the proceedings begin, Bush & Cheney might resign [like Nixon did] in order to prevent the airing of all their ‘dirty laundry’. If they don’t resign, we feel that impeachment must be undertaken to begin the recovery of our country from the damage that Bush & Cheney have caused. We don’t want to pursue impeachment for vindictive reasons as that would further divide the country; instead, we feel that impeachment is absolutely necessary for the recovery of the USA and that should be a cause for all truly patriotic and informed citizens to unite behind.
2. Our credibility and respect as a nation have been seriously undermined by Bush & Cheney. The enormity of the blunders we’ve made under their misguidance is staggering. We have to convince the rest of the world that we are truly remorseful for those blunders. We know we need an international effort in order to allow our withdrawal from Iraq if there are to be minimal negative aftereffects.

   Presently, with Bush & Cheney as our representation to the world, no one is inspired to help us in Iraq. Whether you’re talking about an arrogant, hypocritical person or an arrogant, hypocritical country, folks just don’t feel motivated to help them. In order to inspire other countries to help Iraq, and therefore facilitate our exit, we will need their forgiveness. Forgiveness will not be forthcoming unless, and until, we convincingly show remorse for the damage we’ve done.

   There is no better way to demonstrate our remorse than to oust the perps who deceived us into the Iraq war. Starting the impeachment process will start the restoration of respect for us and inspire multinational help for Iraq. That will allow a smoother and timelier withdrawal of our troops.

3. We can’t just wait for Bush & Cheney to go away. Please consider this analogy: A couple is getting constant complaints from their neighbors that their 16 year old son is vandalizing the neighborhood, endangering other kids and pets with his reckless driving, and creating loud disturbances almost every night. The couple then responds by saying, “well, you know, he’ll be graduating in a year and a half and moving out — going to college out of town”. The neighbors would not be very favorably receptive to that response. We can not just slink back and wait for Bush & Cheney to ‘graduate’ as the rest of the world watches in disbelief! We have to be proactive in order to restore the respect and credibility of our country.
4. Under Bush & Cheney, allies have been dropping off like flies and hatred for the USA is probably at an all time high. We’ve been virtually without diplomacy for six-plus years. Since diplomacy has been absent for so long, any attempt at it now from this administration is recognized for what it probably is — a token, insincere gesture — too little, too late. Diplomacy requires trust and respect. At the moment, we have neither.

   A group of Republicans met with Bush a few months back [while Cheney was out of the country] to tell him he’d lost all credibility regarding the war. If you lack credibility on one matter, you lack credibility on all matters — there’s no such thing as ‘selective credibility’ — you either have it or you don’t. We simply can’t afford to wait any longer to reestablish relationships that have been compromised or completely severed by Bush & Cheney.

   Ask anyone you know who has gone without a paycheck for a month how long it took [or will take] to catch up on the bills. The answer will not be ‘a month’. It can take many months or even years. If we continue to wait until the end of Bush & Cheney’s second term to resume genuine diplomacy, it will probably take decades to make up for that lost time. We need to start the recovery and restoration process ASAP. We, at GRIM feel adamantly that impeachment is the best and only route.

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Q: Since Nancy Pelosi said that impeachment is ‘off the table’, won’t she be subjected to ‘flip-flop’ ridicule if she puts it back ‘on the table’?

A: The uninformed, easily manipulated people who bought into that ‘flip-flop’ rhetoric hurled at John Kerry in ’04 are a lost cause anyway. It’s a sure bet that loyal Bushies will try to run it into the ground, again, when Ms. Pelosi and other politicians of all parties act on their realization that Bush & Cheney have to go for the good of the country.

Adaptability is a very important trait that good leaders have to have. It runs hand in hand with intelligent planning. You probably would want your pilot to adjust the flight plan and fly around an unexpected storm instead of stubbornly trying to fly through it. If George Bush had demonstrated the ability and the will to consider expert opinions, pay attention to reality, and actually respond to new information, we wouldn’t be in such a deep hole now.

When the Bush campaign strategists, mainly Karl Rove, came up with their ‘flip-flop’ label for Kerry; that’s probably when they decided upon ‘stay the course’ as a label for Bush — implying that Kerry was ‘wishy-washy’ and Bush was ‘steadfast’. It’s quite likely that Bush, himself, might have been more ‘adaptable’ if the ‘flip-flop’ rhetoric hadn’t been so relentlessly blasted out over and over. Instead of ‘staying the course’, he might have adapted; he might have actually changed course when all the evidence indicated he should!

Strong, intelligent leaders won’t shy away from improving a plan or a course of action when situations change.

As more and more evidence piles up that Bush & Cheney ‘cooked the books’ for selling their war, as more and more ex-Bush staffers expose the contrived Bush propaganda that has been fed to us, as more and more evidence emerges that the Bush administration tried to transform the Justice department into another arm of the Bush regime, and as more and more patriotic citizens demand impeachment, impeachment will get put back ‘on the table’. There will be no apologies necessary for changing the course as the new evidence mounts and Ms. Pelosi and many others adapt appropriately.

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Q: Won’t impeachment further divide the country?

A: Only if it were done in a vindictive way. Our motives are for starting a healing process for our country. Our country has been divided by the polarizing rants and ridiculous claims of this administration. You either agree with Bush or you’re ‘for the terrorists’. ‘You’re either with us or you’re against us’ not only has divided our country but has alienated most of the world. They’ve made assertions that expressing dissent is ‘unpatriotic’ — what a slap in the face of the hundreds of thousands of our citizens who have sacrificed their lives to defend our right to voice dissent!

In a desperate, unconscionable attempt to cling to their uninformed, easily duped loyalists, Bush & Cheney still link Saddam Hussein to 9/11 in a way that if you are ‘not for the war in Iraq’, you’re ‘for the terrorists’; and, if you are ‘not for the war in Iraq’, you’re ‘not backing the troops’. As Bush & Cheney continue to bombard the loyal Bushies with their misleading, polarizing propaganda, THEY are continuing to worsen the divide in this country.

We, at GRIM, are absolutely FOR THE TROOPS — we want them home with their families — not sitting in a shooting gallery with targets on their backs and never being quite sure where the blasts will come from. Bush & Cheney ‘flat out’ don’t care how enraged knowledgeable people get so long as they can desperately cling to their uninformed and misinformed minority. We will continue to demonstrate in a positive way how impeachment will be a uniting cause — there’s so much damage to be undone! Impeachment will be a multi-partisan accomplishment we can all be proud of. Once impeachment investigations begin, the shield of Executive Privilege will no longer protect the Administration from congressional investigations. With unobstructed investigations in full force, it won’t take long for the American public to know the ugly truth about how we were led into this awful war in Iraq. We are currently divided into two deeply entrenched camps—many of us are convinced we were purposely misled into war by the Bush Administration—many believe that Congress had all the inteligence that the administration had and are therefore equally responsible. Without investigations we will remain divided on that issue. Without the power of impeachment behind inquiries, there will be no truly revealing investigations.

We, at GRIM, will continue to emphasize that impeachment, in addition to being a uniting cause, would facilitate the following advances and benefits for the United States:

1. We would be on the road to restoring world respect and credibility for the US.
2. Restored respect and credibility will open the door for diplomacy, once again.
3. Restored world respect would inspire other countries/societies/cultures to come to our aid in securing Iraq — right now it’s pretty widely accepted that we’re not only part of the solution, we’re also a big part of the problem. We’re inspiring the violence simply by continuing to occupy Iraq. Other countries stand a much better chance of accomplishing what we simply can’t accomplish because of the inherent, natural resistance to anything that represents us. Other forces will be actually be much safer in the absence of our forces.
4. The aid from other countries would allow our departure from Iraq which we all so dearly long for. Other countries have been so rudely and severely snubbed by our rogue, arrogant administration that they’d rather watch us clamor in our misery than get involved in a helpful way. They are in no way inspired to help us while we’re under the control of Bush & Cheney. If we allow them to simply run their course, we will indirectly be condoning their behavior and thereby prolonging and intensifying the alienation of the world community.
5. Removing Bush & Cheney — as soon as we possibly can — would demonstrate our total disapproval of their conduct. Not doing it implies our endorsement!
6. We would be showing future administrations that they must represent the people of the United States of America in a transparent way that prevents a runaway imbalance in our government — an imbalance that would result in a government that may as well be a dictatorship. We’re frightfully close to a dictatorship right now! We could start the restoration of democracy here instead of trying to impose it elsewhere.
7. Impeachment would very emphatically demonstrate [to all of those who might consider democracy for their country] the all important ‘self-correction’ properties of our democracy when things do go awry — just as our forefathers foresaw. If Bush & Cheney aren’t precisely what our forefathers anticipated when provisions for impeachment were written into the constitution, it’s hard to imagine what would be!
8. 8. We could take the appropriate steps to make sure that surveillance, if and when it is used, is not only justified, but accounted for. We could restore civil liberties and the rule of law that have been trashed by this administration and insist upon respect for the constitution from our future leaders.
9. 9. We could reaffirm our belief in, and re-establish our compliance with, the Geneva Convention. We’ve been in defiance of it under Bush & Cheney — just one more thing they’ve done to alienate the rest of the world from us — one more thing they’ve done to put our troops in harms way.
10. 10. We could, once again, strive to make the United States of America a role model that we can be proud of and that people of most other countries not only respect but wish to emulate.

These are all very positive reasons and goals that should make impeachment a very unifying effort.

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Q: What can I do to help with the impeachment cause?

1. You can use our website and links to others to learn about meetings, vigils, rallies, marches, etc, in your area and attend them.
2. You can volunteer to help at events.
3. You can contribute funds to GRIM or other impeachment groups.
4. You can create an account and contribute your thoughts in writing to be published.
5. You can join our mailing list to receive news and information about impeachment activities nationwide.
6. You can call your Representatives in Washington demanding impeachment—we’ll provide toll free phone numbers for calling. You can use the Write to Congress tool in the upper left corner of this web site to make this easier.
7. You can write letters to the editor and guest editorials to newspapers and other publications.
8. You can submit postings to blogs.
9. You can buy impeachment merchandise from GRIM, found in the right hand column of this web site.
10. You can wear orange to show that you support impeachment.
11. You can steer others to www.impeachbushcheney.net and ask them to do the same.

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