Dear Speaker Pelosi:

President Bush has just vetoed a bill that would ban him from torturing people. His actions have violated 232 years of American law. General Washington himself was the first American official to ban waterboarding and other forms of torture -- but Bush and Cheney insist on using it.

The facts are clear. Torture victims will say anything to get the pain to stop. Torture cannot make people tell the truth. Dozens of retired military officers have protested the use of torture; the majority of the US Congress opposes it; and an overwhelming majority of the American people oppose it.

The United States already has an anti-torture statute on the books: the War Crimes Act. The United States is a party to the Geneva Conventions, which also ban torture. Our highest law -- the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution -- also bans torture. But Bush insists on torturing people anyway.

Madam Speaker, President Bush and Vice President Cheney have committed crimes. Congress has the power to stop them. How long will Congress refuse to do so? If Congress knows torture is happening and does nothing to stop it, does this mean that Congress itself approves torture?

Bush and Cheney must be impeached, and the impeachment process must begin immediately. Bush has made his intentions clear. He will torture people as long as he is President, no matter what the law says or how many bills Congress passes.

If we do not uphold the Geneva Conventions and our own laws, we certainly cannot expect other nations to do so. Our intelligence professionals will now chase false leads obtained by torture, and real leads will be ignored. Our military professionals will now be targets for retaliation, and since Bush has swept aside the Geneva Conventions, international law will no longer protect them.

How many people will be tortured before Congress forces Bush and Cheney to stop? How many crimes will Bush and Cheney get to commit before Congress puts impeachment back on the table?

Bush and Cheney must be impeached and removed from office now. Our intelligence and military professionals are in danger now. Congress must not allow our troops to go to war without the protection of international law. Our nation cannot allow the President and Vice President to order torture for one more day, let alone ten more months.

Speaker Pelosi, you must immediately cosponsor House Resolution 333 -- the impeachment of Vice President Cheney -- and offer articles to impeach President Bush.

I was fortunate enough to attend your reception this past January, and you told the guests that it was great being Speaker of the House. With all due respect, I strongly disagree with you. In your past year as Speaker, Bush and Cheney have continued their disastrous war in Iraq, and hundreds more of our soldiers have died. The Congress that you lead has given Bush and Cheney billions of our tax dollars to spend on their botched occupation of a country that posed no threat. Even when Bush and Cheney ordered torture, a horrendous crime, you took impeachment off the table. Speaker Pelosi, unless you act right away to impeach the Torture President and the Imperial Vice President, you will go down in history as the Democratic leader who was complicit in Bush and Cheney's crimes.

Yours sincerely,
C. Colvin

Dear Speaker Pelosi:

President Bush told ABC News last Friday that he approved torture. In other words, he admitted breaking the Eighth Amendment, the Geneva Conventions, and the War Crimes Act.

After World War II, the United States prosecuted the Axis leaders who had used those same "enhanced interrogation techniques" as war criminals. Apparently, it isn't torture when we do it.

The Founding Fathers wrote into our Constitution a remedy for public officials who commit high crimes. That remedy is impeachment. Upon taking office in the U.S. Congress, you swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. Impeaching Bush and Cheney is your moral and legal obligation.

However, you have said that impeachment is "off the table." In other words, you will not stop Bush and Cheney no matter how many war crimes they commit, no matter how many laws they break, and no matter how many people they torture.

For the last year and a half, you have refused to uphold the Bill of Rights and the rule of law. Instead, you have spent your term as Speaker enabling war criminals. The only possible conclusion is that you yourself approve of torture. You agree that the President is above the law and that Congress is impotent.

You are wrong, and I'm voting for Cindy Sheehan. If neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are going to uphold the Constitution, I'll vote for someone who will.

I remain sincerely,

C. Colvin