Impeach Bush!

The Democrats are starting to show their hand in the upcoming presidential political poker game. We'll be hearing a lot more talk about pre-war intelligence regarding Iraq's weapons programs, with pointed questions about how that intelligence was used by the Bush administration to rally support for the war.

In the manner of politicians of all parties and persuasions, the Dems will be beating their breasts over their concern that intelligence was misused for political purposes, using the term in such a way as to curl the lip in contempt. This will be cynical speech for political purposes itself, of course. It was clear to me from early on that the WMD concerns were a smoke-screen for the real reasons Bush committed us to war with Iraq. And I suppose it's simple justice that his feet be held to the political fire because of it.

However talk of impeachment by John Dean and others crosses a line for me. If the Democrats are smart, they will keep such talk at arms-length. I suspect many Americans would regard such a move as disloyal, without any spin from the Bush administration. The right wing would surely call it treasonous, and a lot of political face time would be burned up trying to explain why it wasn't, if indeed it isn't. Then too, a move to impeach Bush would just perpetuate the nasty, low-down "cycle of violence" that has existed between the major parties since Watergate, and significantly worsened in recent years.

I regarded the successful Republican attempt to impeach Clinton as reckless because of two factors. First, there was no real prospect of getting a conviction in the Senate of the United States, so it was all just distracting political theater. Second, we were facing a decision to commit American forces in Kosovo at the time. The distraction was therefore interfering with the Executive branch's decision making at a time of national risk. In the current situation, getting impeachment of Bush through the House of Representatives is laughably unlikely, so the political theater objection counts in spades. And still graver is the military situation facing our country now than in 1998. Making the WMD intelligence an issue in next year's political campaign is both justified and politically advantageous for the Democrats. Trying to whip the hobby horse of impeachment over the issue is both wrong and politically dangerous.