This is a time to be brutally honest. Within a week, all likelihood is that the ‘War of Iraqi Conquest’ will begin in earnest. At that point, George W Bush would cross the Rubicon - the political river of no return. The last vestige of the Republic will be cast aside, never to flow again, from the streams of a free people. We know you can impeach a president, but is it possible to remove one from office? As it stands today, the answer is all too stark. The commander and chief heads legions not to protect and serve, but to control and conquer. And no Court or Senate will challenge the force of Caesar.

How far has the abandonment of our national purpose fallen that most citizens are unable to understand the significance of this war. A descent from Panama “just cause” to Gulf War I through subjucation of the Balkans is nothing compared to the coming betrayal of our Constitution. All the ruling by judges and speeches by senators cannot evade the violation that WAR can only be declared by Congress. What is at stake is the total and complete renunciation of all legitimacy for the State. By ignoring the clearest of all conditions, the final check of limited government ceases. Least we forget for all times, our hope and desire for self governance once was noble and pure.

Republic. I like the sound of the word. It means people can live free, talk free, go or come, buy or sell, be drunk or sober, however they choose. Some words give you a feeling. Republic is one of those words that makes me tight in the throat. The same tightness a man gets when his baby takes his first step, or his first baby shaves, and makes his first sound like a man. Some words can give you a feeling that make your heart warm. Republic is one of those words.

 - John Wayne

Words from a movie script, but so true. Have we all lost from memory the aspiration of the defenders at the Alamo? The actual Crockett may not have spoke those exact words, but his deeds and dreams certainly exemplified an understanding and appreciation of self government. Today, the entire class of political elites reflects the malaise of betrayal. The public is no longer willing to defend their heritage or honor, and seek only to serve in el ejército of Santa Anna. Bush like the Mexican general was elevated to presidency through the appearance of a democratic election. Antonio López de Santa Anna repudiated Mexico's 1824 constitution and substituted a much more centralized and less democratic form of government and later led a military coup against his own government. Bush is yet to be viewed in a similar light. Now, the populous stampede like a herd of wild bulls to arm the army and back the troops. However, the irony of his efforts to interject Anglo colonists and establish an Iraqi, la colonia should not escape a reversal of historic roles.

When fabrications are presented as evidence to vindicate pre-empted first strike, we have all the ingredients of naked aggression. We continually hear from the Bush administration that eliminating weapons of mass destruction is the justification for intervention. Now it comes to public attention that intelligence documents that U.S. and British governments said were strong evidence that Iraq was developing nuclear weapons have been dismissed as forgeries. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell referred to the documents directly in his presentation to the U.N. Security Council outlining the Bush administration's case against Iraq. "It was provided in good faith to the inspectors and our agency received it in good faith, not participating ... in any way in any falsification activities." How many more lies need be documented before the deceit of official policy is acknowledged as sheer warmongering?

The war on terror originated as righteous justice for criminals behind 911. Since then it has evolved into a mantra for removing any opposing faction to American “hyperpower”. Not only is there no compelling case to link Iraq to the event of the WTC, but now we are supposed to accept that the use and might of the U.S. military be used to attack a sovereign country. The invasion that caused the conjoint effort to re-establish the territorial integrity of Kuwait in Gulf War I, now utterly ignores that an American incursion has the goal of replacing a regime that the WAR Party sees as an obstacle to their imperial plans.

And we are supposed to accept and support a campaign that would make Bomber Harris and General Curtis Le May proud?  Is another fire storm of a Desden or Tokyo the price that needs to be paid to extend rule over a Muslim country, on the road to expand command over the entire region? We all know that WMD are in the arsenal of Israel, so where is the clamor to disarm them? Did this country completely forget the lessons of Viet Nam and that futile claim to liberate? Now the Bush junta wants you to believe they have the high moral ground, as they prepare to drop their bomb load on an entire society, ostensibly because of a thug named Saddam Hussein.

If President Bush presides over this utter violation of all the sacred principles that America has historically stood for, he will violate his oath of office. That demands his impeachment and removal from office. The pragmatic circumstances surely offer few prospects that the will of Congress or the majority of Americans would support such a demand. However, the United States is not supposed to be a democracy run by elites fueled my a mob. Do you want a REPUBLIC or not? The constitutional law is certain, and no president has the authority to be a despot.

What would Crockett, Travis and Bowie say? Did they not die for the cause of a Republic? Now we have poorly educated citizens, lacking a moral compass and purpose that rally to the cries of empire. George ‘Santa Anna’ Bush’s quest is to be dictator. Let the greatest of all orators speak to the issue of the Republic.  The wisdom of Cicero rings true today and men of good will must avoid the would be Caesar’s.  Will you listen?

“The inclinations of the citizens have been very diverse, and their opinions much distracted; for we showed our variance, not only by our counsels and desires, but by arms and warlike operations. And there was no obscurity in the designs of, and contention between, the most illustrious generals: many doubted which was the best side; many, what was expedient for themselves; many, what was becoming; some even felt uncertain as to what it was in their power to do. The republic has at last come to the end of this miserable and fatal war; that man has been victorious who has not allowed his animosities to be inflamed by good fortune, but who has mitigated them by the goodness of his disposition; and who did not consider all those with whom he was displeased deserving on that account of exile or of death. Arms were laid aside by some, were wrested from the hands of others. He is an ungrateful and an unjust citizen, who, when released from the danger of arms, still retains, as it were, an armed spirit, so that that man is better who fell in battle, who spent his life in the cause. For that which seems obstinacy to some people may appear constancy in others. But now all dissension is crushed by the arms and extinguished by the justice of the conqueror; it only remains for all men for the future to be animated by one wish, all at least who have not only any wisdom at all, but who are at all in their senses.”

President George W Bush has violated our Constitution and soiled our Republic. Calls for impeachment and removal may be few, but his misdeeds deserve and demand that the multitude begin to speak out. The empire may well slay some of the vocal, but surely will crush all of the silent. The price we pay at home for the folly of foreign adventures is our LIBERTY. The War on Terror has become the War to Terrorize America by a would be emperor. The shame of Republicans is that they took a “Contract with America” and in a decade, turned it into a Homeland Gulag. As we now stand on the brink of bloodshed, hearken to Alexis de Tocqueville: “America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great”.

SARTRE - March 16, 2003