Should Bush Be Impeached?

The latest Guantanamo pronouncement from the White House raises more of the same old question.

Do we, the Western World, live under a rule of law or have we been reduced to the caprices of those who have become our leaders?

A report today indicates that Saddam Hussein and Robert Mugabe may not be alone in the paranoid imprisonment syndrome.

“The Democrats want to cut Guantanamo Bay’s budget, saying that would allow the prison to stay open for six months.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates says he is working hard to find a way to shut the facility but there are obstacles to be overcome.

“The biggest challenge is finding a statutory basis for holding prisoners who should never be released and who may or may not be able to be put on trial,” he said.“

The basis of all Laws relating to imprisonment used to be the Magna Carta-inspired “Habeas corpus“.

This has been suspended in both Australia and in America. It has been suspended before, in England and Ireland and previously in America but always for a defined situation or length of time.

Australia’s Federal Anti-Terrorism Act 2005 allows the executive branch of government rather than the judiciary to imprison people and to imprison people indefinitely without charge or trial. The act also makes it an offence to even talk about somebody being imprisoned. One of the more controversial aspects of the legislation is the requirement that a parent, if informed of their child’s detention, may not inform any further person including the other parent. This clause applies also to detention of adults.

And we thought all along that “The Disappeared” only lived in Argentina.

America has also suspended Habeas corpus, which, under the constitution may only be abrogated in times of rebellion and invasion.

Of course it is possible to rewrite the definitions of “Rebellion” and “Invasion” to mean anything the Executive want them to mean. This is what Robert Gates is now trying to do since the Cheney definitions now appear a little flawed. The chinks in the White House armour are beginning to show as more and more innocent people are found to have been imprisoned and sometimes tortured. How long will it be before the rights of the Press are removed as they already have been in Australia so that all these actions may be taken in absolute secrecy? And in safety by an unscrutenised Administration?

So, is the complete removal of liberty sufficient cause for impeachment?

Or has the average American become so afraid of his or her own shadow that the actions of a few madmen cause America to grovel at the feet of a White House gone insane with power?