EIGHTEENTH ADDRESS TO CITY COUNCIL (Re: A Resolution To Impeach)

June 10th.

Mayor, council members, good evening.

We have a major insider, now, Scott McClellan, revealing what he knew and witnessed first-hand as the President's press secretary.

Most of what he has to say in his new book basically confirms what we already know—that there was a “political propaganda machine” that misled the public on the reasons for war with Iraq.

On the outing of a CIA agent, he reveals that not only did Bush and Cheney know that Rove and Libby were involved in the scheme, but they were actively engaged in preventing the truth from coming out. Acts which are themselves felonies.

Of course, the smear machine is now turned up high in an attempt to discredit McClellan and drown out what he's trying to say. So far, the attacks are mostly personal; hardly anyone disputes him on the facts.

So we continue to bring before you what we know, still hoping to persuade you to pass this impeachment resolution. Hoping that you will finally allow Congress to hear our city's voice alongside 96 other cities and towns who have courageously lifted their voices in defense of the rule of law and the Constitution.

By asking you to pass this resolution, we're not asking you to attack the President and Vice President. We're asking you to condemn illegal wiretapping; to condemn the use of lies and propaganda to launch wars that cause the needless destruction of human life. We're asking you to uphold the U.N. Charter that makes it a war crime to launch unprovoked attacks on other countries.

We're asking you to stand by the Geneva Conventions and the U.S. Army Field Manual that brands the use of torture as illegal and immoral.

We're asking you to stand for the law that makes the casual exposure of our government agents an act of treason.

We're asking you to stand for the time-honored right of due-process, the principle that no one should be locked up for years without legal council, or a fair trial in a court of law.

We simply ask you to make a principled stand for the traditions and values of our
country.

In recent news, we learn that the Pentagon urged interrogators at Guantanamo to destroy handwritten notes in case they were called to testify about potentially harsh treatment of detainees.

We further learn that the U.S. deliberately thwarted evidence that could help terror suspects defend themselves at trial.

So? I hear you say. Why should we care what happens to them? Because we're better than that, aren't we? Because we believe in the rule of law which says that a person is innocent until proven guilty?

And if we don't believe in that. . . if—as the President says—the Constitution does not apply at Guantanamo, then what have we become?

Einstein said, “The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”

Thank you.