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Veterans Group
Issues "Declaration of Impeachment"
Veterans for Peace
Monday 04 July
2005
Group also
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.
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| 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.
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| He has constrained
our fellow Citizens - to become the executioners of their friends and
Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
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| 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.
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| 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." |
The veterans'
Declaration of Impeachment came to the same conclusion as Jefferson's
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:
VeteransForPeace.org
Veterans For Peace
is a national organization founded in 1985, with 123 chapters across the
country.
Declaration of
Impeachment
Issued by Veterans For Peace
Monday 04 July
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.)
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