http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/070405B.shtml
Veterans Group Issues "Declaration of Impeachment"
Veterans for Peace
Monday 04 July 2005
Group also announces petition to remove President Bush.
St. Louis - A national veterans' organization today issued a "Declaration of Impeachment" and announced it is beginning an online petition to remove President Bush from office for crimes committed during the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Using the same language as the original "Declaration of Independence," Veterans For Peace cited many of the same reasons to remove George Bush that Thomas Jefferson cited to separate from King George of England. And in a modern version of the signing of the Declaration, VFP announced the posting of its online impeachment petition.
"The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny," Jefferson wrote, and then added the famous litany of abuses charged against the king that VFP said is unchanged today:
* "He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
* He has - deprive(ed) us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury - transport(ed) us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences.
* He has constrained our fellow Citizens - to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
* He is at this time transporting large Armies - to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
* A (President) whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."
The veterans' Declaration of Impeachment came to the same conclusion as Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, when it declared " - it is the Right of the People - it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
VFP President, Dave Cline, a decorated Vietnam combat veteran, said, "You bet it's our right and our duty! Today's tyrant named George may have little regard for the Constitution, but as members of the military we took an oath to uphold that document. George Bush has repeatedly violated not only the Constitution but federal law, by invading and occupying Iraq. In our system the remedy for such high crimes is clear: he must be impeached."
Emphasizing the gravity with which Veterans for Peace takes the impeachment of George Bush, Cline concluded by quoting the final sentence of the Declaration of Independence: "And for the support of this Declaration - we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."
To sign the online petition, or to read the "Declaration of Impeachment" and VFP's documented case for removing George Bush, go to: VeteransForPeace.org
Veterans For Peace is a national organization founded in 1985, with 123 chapters across the country.
Declaration of Impeachment
Issued by Veterans For Peace
Monday 04 July 2005
Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and are instituted to secure the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But
"...whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
...all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations - design(s) to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
...The history of the present King (George) of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny ... To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
* He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
* He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
* He has - deprive(ed) us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury - transport(ed) us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences.
* He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us -.
* He is at this time transporting large Armies - to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
* He has constrained our fellow Citizens - to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
* A (President) whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
We, therefore - do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People - solemnly publish and declare, That these - Free and Independent (People) - are Absolved from all Allegiance to the (Bush Administration), and that all political connection between them and (this Administration), is and ought to be totally dissolved - And for the support of this Declaration - we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."
(Note: Except for the first two lines above and words in parentheses, this Declaration is quoted directly from the original Declaration of Independence.)
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