To the editor:

Back in the ’70s Gerald Ford was credited for “saving” the presidency by stopping the investigations into the crimes of the Nixon administration. More recently, the Supreme Court did us a similar service by stopping the recount in the presidential election in Florida and awarding the presidency to George Bush.

I submit that these actions did irreparable harm to the office of the president and to the country as a whole. In preventing the country from understanding the criminal acts of our leaders and in failing to hold those wrongdoers accountable – in fact, in allowing them to profit unimpeded from their crimes – those in Congress who failed to prosecute these crimes became complicit in them.

I’d be happy to list the crimes of the Bush conspiracy, though I’m certain my list would be sadly incomplete. Many are the accounts of impeachable and treasonous offenses done by the current administration, such as lying to Congress and the American people in order to invade Iraq, condoning torture and wiretapping citizens.

As long as we see our leaders taking part in crimes against our own and other nations’ citizens, how can we expect our citizens to obey laws that sometimes ask them to act against their own immediate self-interest?

In short, Congress must impeach George Bush and his co-conspirators, prosecute them for their crimes and apply the punishment they so richly deserve. Our Constitution demands action and will not survive long without it.

Bob Gent,
Lawrence