Happy Anniversary, Mr. President — Resolution To Impeach George W. Bush Introduced To Texas Legislature On Fourth Anniversary Of Iraq Invasion
Resolution To Impeach George W. Bush Introduced
To Texas Legislature On Fourth Anniversary Of Iraq Invasion
AUSTIN Lon Burnam is prepared to face what he is sure will be a political fallout over his actions.
Burnam, a six-term State Representative from Fort Worth’s 90th district, spends his off hours as the Director of The Dallas Peace Center; a position he has held since May 1, 2000. To Camp Casey alumni who spent weeks in Crawford, he’s one of the big wheels that helped open the flood gates during Cindy Sheehan’s first summer in Texas. To the leadership of The Crawford Peace House, he’s a close and frequent ally, ever-present at peace planning sessions. But to his colleagues in the Texas House, many of them moderate Republicans, he is, as of March 19, 2007, a definitive persona non-grata.
On Thursday, March 1, The Lone Star Iconoclast obtained a copy of Representative Burnam’s impeachment resolution. It may be found on page five. Burnam also took time out of his busy schedule to submit to a Q&A interview with investigative reporter Stephen Webster. Their discussion follows.
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ICONOCLAST: Representative Burnam, you are going to propose an impeachment resolution to the Texas legislature on March 19, which is also the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Correct?
BURNAM: Correct.
ICONOCLAST: That’s pretty audacious, considering the state you are in. Why do you feel this must be done?
BURNAM: There are a number of these resolutions being filed around the country, and I think it is about time. We have to get a reality check. We’re going to have to stop, look, and see where we are. Indeed, I have believed all along he was lying and misrepresenting issues to the public. In the last four years, a lot of people have figured that out.
What the guy’s done is committed high crimes and misdemeanors, and he should be impeached. Now, granted, this is the Texas legislature, and this isn’t going to get very far in the legislative process. But there’s no other issue more compelling that when your government starts a war – an elective, totally optional war of aggression. People who were in leadership positions need to held accountable. That is my intent in filing this impeachment resolution.
ICONOCLAST: Let’s talk about some of the specific charges given by your resolution. … One of the first reasons that you give for filing the impeachment resolution is that President Bush conspired with others to defraud the United States of American by intentionally misleading the Congress and the nation regarding an Iraqi threat to the American people to justify a war in direct defiance to the United Nations Security Council. Would you care to expand on that?
BURNAM: That’s pretty straightforward. If you recall the facts, and we go further into the charges in the resolution, that’s exactly what he did. I think a lot of people have forgotten that.
ICONOCLAST: Doesn’t it say in the resolution authorizing President Bush to use force that it was given because Al Qaeda was known to be in association with Saddam Husain in Iraq?
BURNAM: I don’t know if it said that precisely in the resolution, but everybody was given that impression at the time.
ICONOCLAST: The second reason you give in the resolution states taht the decision to go into Iraq was unnecessarily reckless, and though Saddam Husain w
