Impeaching Bush, Cheney is the first step to recovery

Editor,

President Bush and his cronies often accuse their adversaries of the very crimes they themselves are guilty of. This inclination is pathological. Thus, Bush has the audacity to threaten Iran with military action for, as he claims, trying to build a nuclear bomb, attacking his forces in Iraq and murdering Iraqi civilians.

In order to demonstrate good-natured righteousness, he tells the Iranians that "(they) can do better than this government." Bush is 10 thousand times more guilty of these charges than the object of his staged rage. The reckless incompetence of this self-designated war president has murdered 1 million Iraqis, displaced 5 million of them and initiated new nuclear weapons research to replace thousands of weapons stored, among other places, in New Mexico.

The only excuse for such silence could perhaps be sought in the innocence of those who are unwilling or unable to imagine the unimaginable - the monstrous impertinence of Bush's murderous demeanor. Were these not the same people who believed the Bush lies to drum this country into a criminal war and turn American journalism into cheerleading spectatorship?

After some 4,000 dead American soldiers, tens of thousands wounded and their families financially and emotionally crippled, the nation is waking up from the nightmare of this so-called presidency.

Today, Bush's words ring true in the ears of the American people: "Yes, we can do better than this government." After six catastrophic years, people finally deserve to have their so-called government brought to justice for crimes committed at home and abroad.

The impeachment of Bush and Vice President Cheney is long overdue. Together with Alberto Gonzales and Donald Rumsfeld, they must be sent to The Hague for war crimes. This is just the beginning of a national recovery. Only a radical disassociation from torture, warmongering and patriotism gone berserk can save this nation. Acknowledgement of the failure of the current system must muster enough courage to change it. The present dollar democracy, where only millionaires can run for office to invite the private interests of corporations to determine and corrupt government policies, must make room for a democracy with proportional representation.

That such an imposter could usurp presidential power is in itself an indictment that teaches this nation a lesson. We witness this in the current presidential race, where candidates portray themselves as the latest saviors who can regain the mythical glory of an illusionary past. The apparent need for such empty promises suggests a fundamental, systemic political immaturity. Humility would do this nation enormous good. The U.S. would then be able to seek the advice from so-called lesser nations, but with a strong tradition of peace through justice for all. Once this is done, it will become clear why, in those nations, the catastrophic embarrassment of Bush and his cronies would have been an outright impossibility.

Joachim L. Oberst

UNM instructor