In January 2001, George W. Bush became the first President in 130 years to have lost the popular vote. Paradoxically, this did not sway him from following reactionary policies far to the right of the mainstream Republicans who actually voted for him.
And then the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization murdered 3,000 innocent civilians on September 11th, 2001.
After the terrorist attacks, George W. Bush rightly launched a campaign to liberate Afghanistan from Al-Qaeda and their close ally, the Taliban militia. Before this was even accomplished, though, Bush decided to attack Iraq, and diverted America's attention and resources towards that goal. Although there are still American soldiers serving in Afghanistan, the nation has effectively been abandoned by the Bush Administration, and the Taliban has now reconquered a third of that country. Warlords continue to control parts of Afghanistan. Instead of sending our soldiers and funds to help the Afghan people reclaim their nation, Bush decided to continue the "War on Terror" by attacking a country that had nothing to do with Al-Qaeda or terrorism.
Although a brutal tyrant, Saddam Hussein's aggression had been successfully contained; he had not threatened anyone in a dozen years. Yet Bush insisted that mortal enemies Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein were in fact close friends. America was in imminent danger, he claimed, of Saddam arming people who wanted to kill him with chemical, biological and nuclear weapons that didn't exist. There were widespread protests in the United States and almost universal opposition from America's friends and allies. But Bush would not be deterred, and he sent hundreds of American soldiers to their deaths in the unnecessary invasion of a country that had never attacked us. For the first time in history, the United States fired first.
Bush's warmongering actually made the situation worse. The deaths of thousands of Iraqis has convinced millions of mainstream Muslims that Osama bin Laden is right to call the United States evil. Bush played right into Bin Laden's hands, and he calls himself a fighter of terrorism!
George W. Bush continually invokes the memory of September 11th to justify just about everything he does. He dishonors the memory of the thousands of innocents killed that day by using their deaths to advance an agenda that usually has nothing to do with fighting terror.
Bush defies the Constitution he swore to uphold and defend. He has called upon Congress to fund religious charities - which would be illegal under the First Amendment. He wishes to strengthen the so-called PATRIOT Act, which violates the Second, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments and does little to protect America from terrorism. Although it's reasonable to require the FBI and CIA to share information in a post-September 11th world, it is against the Constitution to declare someone an "enemy combatant" on the President's whim, then imprison them indefinitely without charge, counsel or trial. It is likewise unconstitutional to spy on someone without reasonable cause.
Likewise, the torture of anyone in American custody has been banned by America's highest law (the Eighth Amendment) for 215 years. However, for over a year, the Bush Administration inundated Americans with the baseless claim that the invasion of Iraq was part of the war against Al-Qaeda. All this eventually led to the torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, most of whom had been arrested by mistake. Although some of the soldiers involved in the torture have been rightly court-martialed, no one in the Bush Administration has been held accountable for this. Could the torture have happened had Bush and company not misled our soldiers into believing Iraq was to blame for September 11th?
Congress impeached President Clinton for perjury in a civil case regarding his adultery, which was not related to his conduct as President. Although a moral outrage, Clinton's adultery hardly constituted a "high crime." Yet Congress has so far refused to impeach President Bush for misleading the nation in order to start a war, for unilaterally breaking treaties, and for dismantling the Bill of Rights. As Congress has done nothing, it is up to us - the American people - to demand that Congress act and remove Bush from office.
United We Stand - behind the truth, the Constitution, our soldiers, and our flag. United We Stand - against lies, against torture, and against unnecessary wars.