WASHINGTON - April 27 - Green Party leaders called Rep. Dennis Kucinich's (D-Ohio) filing of articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney an important first step towards holding the Bush Administration accountable for numerous impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors. 

"The Green Party endorsed a resolution in 2003 calling for impeachment of President Bush, and Green leaders have expanded the call to include Mr. Cheney, who is clearly the brains behind many of the White House's worst and most illegal actions," said Carl Romanelli, Pennsylvania Green candidate for the US Senate in 2006. "The chief obstacle to impeachment has been the Democratic Party leadership, which has indulged and enabled the Bush Administration's abuses of power every step of the way." 

Greens across the US plan to participate in various events in Washington, DC, and across the US calling for impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney this coming weekend <http://www.a28.org>. 

In Utah, the Desert Greens Green Party of Utah <http://www.desertgreens.org> and People for Peace and Justice of Utah have organized an 'Impeach' rally at noon on April 28 at the Federal Building in Salt Lake City, 100 South State Street. 

The Green Parties of Santa Clara and San Mateo (California) will participate in a Beach Impeach action, and will gather to create the 'I' in 'IMPEACH' on the beach <http://beachimpeach.com/sfa28.html>. 

The Green Party of the United States passed a resolution in July, 2003, urging impeachment of President Bush <http://www.gp.org/position/st_2003_07_impeach.shtml>. 

The Green Party's impeachment page can be visited at <http://www.gp.org/impeachbush>. A Green petition for impeachment is at <http://www.gp.org/action/>.  

After the initial illegal invasion of Iraq, said Green Party leaders, the crimes of the Bush Administration began to mount precipitously: 

• manipulation of intelligence to deceive the public into supporting the war (fraudulent claims about Iraqi WMDs, collusion between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, attempts by Saddam to obtain nuclear weapons materials) 

• cover-ups of the administration's knowledge of information about the impending 9/11 attacks 

• encouragement of torture and 'extraordinary rendition' of prisoners to exact information 

•  denial of habeas corpus and due process

• warrantless surveillance of US citizens

• hundreds of 'signing statements' purportedly exempting the Bush Administration from over 1,000 federal laws

• censoring and tampering with scientific research to conceal the seriousness of global warming

• threats to attack Iran despite Iran's lack of any real threat to the US."

The effects of these crimes and abuses of power include:

• the deaths of more than 3,300 US service members and 650,000 Iraqi citizens, as well as countless more injured because of the US invasion

•  anger and hostility towards the US and US citizens throughout the world, especially in Muslim nations

• broken treaties and alienation of US allies

• damage to US democracy and entrenchment of the administrations' theory of 'unitary executive power'

• danger to captured US service personnel and citizens in retaliation for torture committed at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and other sites

• a possible regional or global conflict if the US attacks Iran

• the US treasury plundered for the benefit of arms makers, oil companies, and other corporate profiteers like Halliburton and Blackwater

• severe damage to public health and the environment in coming decades because of the White House's failure to address climate change

Greens also noted that some of the Bush Administration's crimes were carried out with the cooperation of Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

"Let's not forget that a bipartisan congressional vote in October, 2002, transferred war power from Congress to the White House, violating the checks and balances enshrined in the Constitution," said Rebecca Rotzler, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States and Deputy Mayor of New Paltz, New York, where Greens are planning to assemble a 'human pyramid' for impeachment on Saturday. "After public deception and manipulation of intelligence were revealed, Democratic Party leaders supported continuing the war on Iraq, and recently voted for war funding and a delayed 'timetable' for withdrawal of US troops. And even now, Democratic presidential hopefuls like Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards -- apparently reading from the same memo -- are saying that an attack on Iran isn't 'off the table.'"

The Green Party has called for immediate withdrawal of all US troops and military contractors from Iraq, condemned threats of an assault on Iran, and urged dramatic steps, including a major conservation effort, to curb global warming.

Greens supported a bill introduced by Rep. Cynthia McKinney in December, 2006, in which she filed articles of impeachment against Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld <http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2006_12_11.shtml>. 


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org 
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml 

"Kucinich: Impeachment is the Right Response"
By John Nichols, The Nation, April 25, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20070425/cm_thenation/15189758 

"George W. Bush's Proxy War Crimes in Iraq: Violations of the Nuremberg and U.N. Charters and the U.S. Constitution"
By Chuck Tripp (who will speak at the rally in Salt Lake City)
http://www.gput.org/proxywarcrimes.shtml 

"Ten Reasons to Impeach Cheney and Bush Now"
By Allen L Roland, OpEdNews.com, April 21, 2007
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_allen_l__070421_ten_reasons_to_impea.htm 

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