WILL BUSH EVER BE BROUGHT TO THE BAR OF JUSTICE? BERLUSCONI TO STAND TRIAL AS A CRIMINAL

Now that Howard Dean has publicly stated that the Democrats aren't planning to start impeachment proceedings against Bush after they win back a majority in Congress, maybe those of us who don't accept the Bush Regime as a normal part of the ebb and flow of legitimate American politics need to start asking ourselves if Bush and his bandit cronies and lackeys will ever be brought to Justice.

The Italian version of Bush, the recently deposed little crook Silvio Berlusconi was claiming he was being harrassed by the new government. He's lucky he's not in prison yet, where he, like Bush, belongs. Today's news, that an Italian judge has ordered Berlusconi to stand trial on fraud charges is heartening. But could it ever happen here?

Even the traitorous southern swine Jefferson Davis was only incarcerated for 2 years after the Confederate rebellion was put down and the unrepentant racist rebels elected him to the U.S. Senate from Mississippi, an office from which he was barred by the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. More recently Richard Nixon escaped prison-- and even a trial-- as part of a deal that made Gerald Ford President briefly (although long enough to pardon Nixon for everything and anything he had ever done). Apparently Americans don't like imprisoning their leaders, although the only people I know who wouldn't like to see Bush and Cheney imprisoned are people who want to see them face... something more... permanent (after a fair trial, of course).

According to VoteToImpeach.org over 700,000 people have already signed their petition to impeach him. Although there are numerous reasons Bush should be impeached and punished, there is general agreement that the 4 main categories of his high crimes and misdemeanors involve dragging the U.S. into a war with Iraq based on systematic lying; the illegal wiretapping of American citizens; committing war crimes like having citizens of other countries tortured; and blatant and continuous violation of international treaties. If you want to get into all the specifics, plus other probable criminal charges, take a look at this. (And none of this is off-the-wall-stuff like him being in on 9-11. This is just the stuff we're sure of, not the wild theories... not that I'm discounting them.

Polls have shown that a majority of Americans now believe Bush should be impeached if it can be proved that he lied about Iraq. Wikipedia has a thorough page called "Movement to Impeach George W. Bush, which includes information on the efforts in the state legislatures of Illinois, Vermont and California to force Congress to take up the issue. For now, though, it's just a dream in the minds of every American awake and in love with Democracy.

'Til then we need to somehow prevent Republicans from tampering with election results and sit back and enjoy the spectacle of Bush's pal Berlusconi in court. "A flamboyant showman who defied national opinion and backed U.S. President George W. Bush's war in Iraq, [he] could face up to six years in jail for tax fraud if convicted. But the perma-tanned 69-year-old has managed to avoid jail in at least seven previous graft trials. He was found guilty four times, but verdicts were overturned on appeal or the statute of limitations applied and charges were dropped." And then there'll be DeLay and Ney and Jerry Lewis and John Doolittle... and wasn't it just today that another Republican crook caught in the Rove-Mehlman scam to steal the New Hampshire U.S. Senate seat currently being illegally occupied by John Sununu, said that his crimes against democracy were approved by "The White House and the national Republican Party" (both ostensibly headed by Bush)?


MONDAY UPDATE: CAN BUSH BE TRIED AS AN INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMINAL?

Maybe our political system can be counted on to give Bush a pass, but a Nuremberg chief prosecutor says there is a case for trying Bush for the "supreme crime against humanity, an illegal war of aggression against a sovereign nation."