Friday, July 01, 2005

PRESS RELEASE: "DECLARATION OF IMPEACHMENT" Veterans For Peace

  • VETERANS GROUP ISSUES DECLARATION OF IMPEACHMENT
    AND ANNOUNCES PETITION TO REMOVE PRESIDENT BUSH
    St. Louis A national veterans organization today issued a Declaration of Impeachment and announced
    it is beginning an online petition to remove President Bush from office for crimes committed during the
    invasion and occupation of Iraq.
    Using the same language as the original “Declaration of Independence, Veterans For Peace cited many
    of the same reasons to remove George Bush that Thomas Jefferson cited to separate from King George of
    England. And in a modern version of the signing of the Declaration, VFP announced the posting of its
    online impeachment petition.
    The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all
    having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny, Jefferson wrote, and then added the
    famous litany of abuses charged against the king that VFP said is unchanged today:
  • ?? He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
  • ?? He has deprive(ed) us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury transport(ed)
    us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
  • ?? He has constrained our fellow Citizens to become the executioners of their friends
    and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands
  • ?? He is at this time transporting large Armie to compleat the works of death,
    desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy
    scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a
    civilized nation.
    A (President) whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit
    to be the ruler of a free people.
  • VETERANS FOR PEACE, INC.
    216 S. Meramec Avenue St. Louis, MO 63105
  • (314) 725-6005
  • vfp@igc.org
  • www.veteransforpeace.org
  • The veterans Declaration of Impeachment came to the same conclusion as Jeffersons Declaration of
    Independence, when it declared it is the Right of the People it is their duty, to throw off such
    Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
    VFP President, Dave Cline, a decorated Vietnam combat veteran, said, You bet it's our right and our
    duty! Today's tyrant named George may have little regard for the Constitution, but as members of the
    military we took an oath to uphold that document. George Bush has repeatedly violated not only the
    Constitution but federal law, by invading and occupying Iraq. In our system the remedy for such high
    crimes is clear: he must be impeached.
    Emphasizing the gravity with which Veterans for Peace takes the impeachment of George Bush,
    Cline concluded by quoting the final sentence of the Declaration of Independence: And for the support of
    this Declaration we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
    To sign the online petition, or to read the Declaration of Impeachmentand VFP's documented
    case for removing George Bush, go to:
  • http://www.veteransforpeace.org
  • Veterans For Peace is a national organization founded in 1985, with 123 chapters across the
    country.
    ####
    Below is the text of the VFP impeachment petition that will be posted online
    www.veteransforpeace.org and circulated in person
    I want my representative in the U.S. House of Representatives to vote to impeach President Bush for the
    high crimes listed on the reverse of this signature page, and have the case prosecuted and tried in the U.S.
    Senate. Signatures on this petition will be delivered to the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee and to
    the ranking Democrat on the Committee.
    Name Address City State Zip
    ******************************************************
    http://www.veteransforpeace.org
    Declaration of Impeachment
    Issued by
    Veterans For Peace
    July 4, 2005
    Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and are
    instituted to secure the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But
    “…whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the
    Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its
    foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall
    seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
    …all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are
    sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are
    accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations…design(s) to reduce
    them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such
    Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
    …The history of the present King (George) of Great Britain is a history of repeated
    injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute
    Tyranny…To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
    § He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to
    harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
    § He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
    § He has…deprive(ed) us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury…transport(ed)
    us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
    § He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging
    War against us…
    § He is at this time transporting large Armies…to compleat the works of death,
    desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely
    paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
    § He has constrained our fellow Citizens…to become the executioners of their friends
    and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
    A (President) whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant,
    is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
    We, therefore…do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People…solemnly
    publish and declare, That these…Free and Independent (People)…are Absolved from
    all Allegiance to the (Bush Administration), and that all political connection between
    them and (this Administration), is and ought to be totally dissolved…And for the
    support of this Declaration…we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes
    and our sacred Honor.”
    (Note: Except for the first two lines above and words in parentheses, this Declaration is quoted directly from the
    original Declaration of Independence.)
  • www.veteransforpeace.org
  • ******************
  • James Starowicz
  • USN '67-'71 GMG3 Vietnam In-Country '70-'71 COMNAVFORV
  • "We, having dutifully served our nation, do hereby
    affirm our greater responsibility to serve the cause
    of world peace by applying the concept of engaging
    conflict peacefully, without violence."
    Veterans for Peace, Inc.

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