Washington Post Reports 26 U.S. Attorneys Considered for Firing

At first it was eight, then nine, then ten, and now the figure is at 26. That's the number of U.S. Attorneys considered for firing by Ol' Alberto and his gang of radical, religious right conservatives at the U.S. Department of Justice. That number, by the way, is being reported by the Washington Post in a story that is linked to this entry's title.

Of course, no one claims to know how the names of any U.S. Attorneys got on the list. Gonzales claims that he didn't put the names on the list, his former chief of staff claims not to remember how names got on the list, and his former second in command claims not to know how names got on the list. So what we have is a Department of Justice in which over 25% of the total numer of U.S. Attorneys in the whole country were being considered for termination and no one supposedly knows how or why their names were selected.

People talk about impeaching Bush and/or Cheney. Actually Gonzales would be a much better target. He is demonstratably incompetent, he is not an elected official, so you don't have the argument about undoing the result of an election, and the mainstream media is inclined to believe that he should go. In short, impeaching Gonzales doesn't have the downside of impeaching either Bubble-Boy or Shotgun Cheney.

Should Congress Impeach Gonzales?

The Boston Globe ran an opinion piece on Sunday that called for the House of Representatives to begin impeachment proceedings against Attorney General Gonzales. The piece was written by Robert Kuttner and you can read it by clicking on the link in this entry's title. Kuttner points out that impeachment is not just limited to presidents and was used once before to impeach a cabinet official, Secretary of War Belknap in the Grant administration. It is an interesting suggestion and we are interested in what you think. Please read the article and then give us your thoughts in the comments section of this entry.

Reader Submission: The Case for Impeachment

Ignoring warnings for months by terrorism czar and Presidential Daily Briefings of a pending attack against America. Lying about and possibly commissioning the forging of documents about Iraq acquiring yellow cake uranium. Cherry-picking intelligence and pressuring CIA analysts in the lead-up to the war.

Preemptively invading a sovereign nation that they knew had nothing to do with 9/11 and was not a threat to US. Lying about not having committed to war before the congressional vote to authorize force. Taking fighting forces and intelligence resources away from the pursuit of Osama bin Laden.

Outing a CIA covert agent and destroying her network in counter-proliferation of WMDs for political revenge against her husband.

Making soldiers buy own body armor or dig through trash dumps to ‘up-armor’ their vehicles. Having America’s bravest heroes wallow in the squalor of Walter Reed Army
Hospital.

Authorizing torture at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib resulting in the maiming and killing innocent citizens of Iraq and rendering and torturing an innocent citizen of Canada. Authorizing imprisonment without representation. Abuse of signing statements to circumvent the legislative branch. Firing US Attorneys who don’t pursue Democrats before an election or who bring down corrupt Republicans.

Leaving American citizens fate in the flood waters in New Orleans to a political crony. Illegal surveillance of US citizens. Circumventing and weakening the Constitution. Violating dozens of international treaties.

What does a guy have to do to get impeached? Do you remember when it was as simple as lying about an affair under oath? Tell Congress to remove this administration
before they drag us into a war with Iran.

John Pardee