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Thursday, March 13, 2003 Move underway to impeach Bush Conyers, anti-war activists charge 'high crimes and misdemeanors' Posted: March 13, 2003 5:00 p.m. Eastern By Sherrie Gossett © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com Formal efforts are now underway to impeach President Bush over allegations that a pre-emptive strike against Iraq constitutes "high crimes and misdemeanors," Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill, reported today. A meeting Tuesday reportedly assembled more than two dozen prominent liberal attorneys and legal scholars who mulled over articles of impeachment drafted against President Bush by activists. The two- hour session was said to feature former attorney general-turned-activist Ramsey Clark and took place in the downtown office of a prominent Washington tort lawyer. Participants said Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., who hosted the meeting, was the only member of Congress to attend. "We had a pretty frank discussion about putting in a bill of impeachment against President Bush," said Francis Boyle, an Illinois law professor who has been working on the impeachment language with Clark. In November of 2002, WND reported that former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark had been retained by Iraq to represent that regime's legal interests. Clark first called for impeachment publicly at anti-war demonstrations in Washington, D.C., and later in San Francisco. He subsequently created the Vote To Impeach website, which warns, "Each of us must take a stand on impeachment now, or bear the burden of having failed to speak in this hour of maximum peril." Ramsey Clark donning judicial robe to defend Rwadan Pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana against charges of genocide. On Jan. 18, WND was the only news organization to report that the groundwork was being laid to impeach the president. At that time, WND reported on statements made by Clark, former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter and lawyer-activists Mara Verheyden-Hilliard and Carl Messineo. Verheyden-Hilliard, who was the M.C. at the Washington, D.C., anti-war protest last year, and Messineo were the first to post legal arguments on the Internet, accusing Bush of high crimes and misdemeanors. That was followed by the release of a book by the two lawyers, "Empire at home: George W. Bush and John Ashcroft v. the Bill of Rights," accusing the administration of a deliberate and systematic erosion of civil rights. At that time, the author told WND that many were raising questions about impeachment of Bush and said, "many more are seriously evaluating it and discussing what mechanisms are appropriate to it." "We need to fight by being in the streets," Verheyden-Hilliard said, "by educating our neighbors, and taking appropriate legal action. We can't sit back and wait for government to do the right thing." In addition, in a previous interview with WorldNetDaily, Scott Ritter, former U.N. weapons inspector, said the following: "I would be in favor of the impeachment of President Bush for high crimes and misdemeanors. Murder is a high crime and misdemeanor, and I can't think of any better definition than murder when he talks about American service members and putting them in a war which is not only illegal but is based on a foundation of lies." He added, "What I would find to be grounds of impeachment is the president lying to the American people. I believe the president has lied to the American people. I believe the vice president has lied to the American people. And if we go to war where American service members are killed, I think the president should be held accountable for this judicially." The day after the WND report, details of a former arrest for allegedly soliciting an underage girl, although under seal, were leaked to the press. Ritter supporters called it a political hit, while detractors called it proof of his duplicitous and untrustworthy character. Anti-war activists recently have been emboldened by what some held were an embarrassing series of revelations that some documents and claims referred to by politicians as supporting the war were not what they first were made out to be. These included the following: Almost half of the most recent Blair "intelligence report" was revealed to have significant portions plagiarized from a university student's work. Recent revelations of the text of the 1995 initial de-briefing of defector Hussein Kamal revealed he claimed that all weapons of mass destruction had been destroyed, and no nuclear program was underway. In addition he claimed "Saddam's Bombmaker," Dr. Khidir Hamza, was a "professional liar" who was so "useless" he was allowed to defect. Iraqi workers displayed a controversial drone to the public. Labeled a threat and "a smoking gun" by Secretary of State Colin Powell, The Washington Post reported the drone was held together by duct tape and rubber bands and was powered by a "weed-wacker" motor. Ramsey Clark, the key mover behind the impeachment drive, may have his own PR uphill battle due to his controversial past. He has been called "the war criminal's best friend" and a tool of left-wing cultists who defend Slobodan Milosevic, Saddam Hussein and Rwandan torturers as anti- imperialist heroes. Ironically, according the same writer, "The social and cultural rights claimed by [Ramsey Clark's] Iraqi hosts include the right to hang opponents in public." Manny Goldstein of New York City's underground paper The Shadow wondered if Clark might not himself be a "ruling-class spook." In November, WorldNetDaily produced a special investigative report on the controversial ties of major anti-war leadership, including some of those involved in the current push for impeachment. Anti-war activists and a handful of liberal writers complained of the "hijacking of the anti-war movement" by dangerous political extremists. The WND report told of links to Islamic extremist groups and cult-like, radical Marxist/Stalinists, some of whom are pushing for an armed overthrow of the U.S. Some leaders and speakers were shown to be have a history of being supportive of enemy regimes of the U.S., as well as terrorists. Groups mentioned in the article included the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, the International Action Center and an organizational coalition group, A.N.S.W.E.R. Fox News' Jim Pinkerton called the WND article a "terrific piece of investigative journalism," while Neil Gabler labeled it "McCarthyist." Verheyden-Hilliard labeled critical reporting "lies," charging that the media had engaged in "heavy red-baiting." While A.N.S.W.E.R. was founded by the International Action Center, a group linked to the extremist Stalinist World Workers Party, A.N.S.W.E.R. defenders say that they were an organizational umbrella group only. The statement omitted the key fact that every protest event is controlled by A.N.S.W.E.R. because of its organizational leadership, and as such, each protest event conveys the didactic stances of its parent group as it seeks to "instruct" protestors from the rally pulpit. Critics charge the key reason A.N.S.W.E.R exists as an organizational group is so that it's key leadership can achieve a large audience for propagandist reasons that extend far beyond, and may have little to do with, the anti-war argument. To this end, protesters have been told that the U.S. is the foremost terrorist threat to the world, that the U.S. must disarm completely and unilaterally, and that all present world problems are the fault of Israel and the U.S. alone. The suffering of the Iraqi people is blamed solely on the United States, just as the suffering of Palestinians is blamed solely on Israel. Stung by charges of anti-Semitism, the A.N.S.W.E.R. site now boldly proclaims that it is fighting anti-Semitism. The mainstream media have failed to report the motives and beliefs of many in the anti-war movement, including Clark. The following are points that have gone largely unreported: Clark was introduced at protest events only as a former U.S. attorney general. No mention was made of his relationship to Iraq. While accusing the Bush administration and Israel of Nazi-like war crimes, Clark failed to mention his former client Karl Linnas, an ex-concentration camp guard responsible for the murder of some 12,000 Jews. The figurehead of the U.S. anti-war, anti-violence movement, Clark previously defended Rwanda genocide indictee Pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, who was accused of telling Tutsis to hide in his church and then summoning Hutus to massacre them. The genocidal leader later led killing squads in the "hell on earth" that Rwanda quickly became. Clark accuses Bush of having hidden oil interests in Iraq. Ironically, The Shadow, revealed that Clark's father, while serving as attorney general under President Truman, was a lobbyist for Texas oil interests. Truman later told a biographer that "Tom Clark was my biggest mistake." But he insisted: "It isn't so much that he's a bad man. It's just that he's such a dumb son of a b----." It was later reported that Lyndon Johnson appointed Ramsey Clark not because he was impressed with him, but because Johnson knew that Ramsey's appointment would maneuver Tom into stepping down from the U.S. Supreme Court. Ex-professor Sami Al-Arian, currently indicted on terrorism charges, was a featured speaker at the A.N.W.E.R.-sponsored pro-Palestinian march in the capital, which falsely accused Israel of genocide. Al-Arian urged Americans to abandon Israel and told the crowd that when Israel asks the U.S. for financial aid, it should be given "the finger." Clark urged associate and A.N.S.W.E.R. speaker Lynn Stewart to provide legal defense for the "blind Sheik" Omar Abdel Kahman, later convicted as being the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombings and the planner of other bombings in the U.S. Wiretap documents show that the now-indicted Stewart aided and abetted in the passing of messages to an Egyptian terrorist organization. That information included an order to end a cease-fire and the message "to fight the Jews and kill them wherever they are." If convicted, Stewart faces 40 years in prison. WND reported on anti-war public figure C. Clark Kissinger, who writes for and is described as a key member of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. The stated goal of the RCP is the armed "destruction of the imperialist USA." Clark is the public-relations representative for the "non- violent" anti-war Not In Our Name campaign. While preaching "peace" at U.S. anti-war rallies, A.N.S.W.E.R leader Brian Becker has cheered North Korea's military buildup while the protest coalition demands that the U.S. disarm. Related story: Has anti-war movement been hijacked? Sherrie Gossett is a Florida-based researcher and writer, formerly with the South Florida Sun- Sentinel, and a contributing reporter to WorldNetDaily. Forwarded for your information. 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