Posted by Jed Lewison on Wed May 28, 2008 at 4:59 PM Pacific

McClellan's book and impeachment

Andrew Sullivan highlights some of the key passages relating to the Iraq War from Scott McClellans' new book. McClellan's basic points:

  1. He says Bush's real motivation for the war in Iraq was the desire to transform the Middle East -- not to protect America from Iraqi WMD
  2. He claims Bush was guilty of "intentionally ignoring" data that did not support the case for WMD
  3. He concludes: "President Bush managed the crisis in a way that almost guaranteed that the use of force would become the only feasible option."

Sullivan notes an important implication:

If this is true, if the president intentionally ignored data refuting the existence of Saddam's WMDs, he should be impeached.

I agree with Sullivan, though I think if any of the three points are true, Bush should be impeached. Practically, however, the "deliberate deception" standard is the probably the only one that could muster the political support an impeachment proceeding would require.

McClellan's claims certainly demand further investigation by Congress, a point made today by Robert Wexler. I know that impeachment would be political tricky, but if that investigation results in hard, irrefutable evidence that Bush intentionally deceived the country into war, we have an obligation to impeach him, no matter political consequences.

McClellan's book and impeachment

Andrew Sullivan highlights some of the key passages relating to the Iraq War from Scott McClellans' new book. McClellan's basic points:

  1. He says Bush's real motivation for the war in Iraq was the desire to transform the Middle East -- not to protect America from Iraqi WMD
  2. He claims Bush was guilty of "intentionally ignoring" data that did not support the case for WMD
  3. He concludes: "President Bush managed the crisis in a way that almost guaranteed that the use of force would become the only feasible option."

Sullivan notes an important implication:

If this is true, if the president intentionally ignored data refuting the existence of Saddam's WMDs, he should be impeached.

I agree with Sullivan, though I think if any of the three points are true, Bush should be impeached. Practically, however, the "deliberate deception" standard is the probably the only one that could muster the political support an impeachment proceeding would require.

McClellan's claims certainly demand further investigation by Congress, a point made today by Robert Wexler. I know that impeachment would be political tricky, but if that investigation results in hard, irrefutable evidence that Bush intentionally deceived the country into war, we have an obligation to impeach him, no matter political consequences.

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