Are you tired of reading about the Iraq war? I’m definitely tired of writing about it. I am tired of hearing about the incompetence of Bush and Cheney and the way that they have flouted the laws and abused the trust of the American people. I am disgusted by what these two men, as leaders of the free world, have been allowed to get away with and I am not the only one. According to some of the latest polls 54 percent of Americans want the House of Representatives to begin impeachment proceedings against Vice President Cheney and 46 percent of voters were in favor of impeachment proceedings being brought against Bush.

For those of you who still need convincing, the evidence is clear. Cheney purposely manipulated intelligence to deceive both Congress and the American public in order to justify pre-emptive war with Iraq. In 2002 he said, “Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction, there is no doubt that he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, against us.” He lied. We now know claims that Iraq had these weapons were false as were allegations of a relationship between Iraq and Al-Qaeda. Cheney has continued to undermine the security of the country by openly threatening aggression against Iran. Fifteen representatives so far support House Resolution 333, the article of impeachment against Cheney, led by Ohio representative and 2008 presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich.

The House is more reluctant to bring an article of impeachment against George Bush, even though he is just as guilty as Cheney (if not more so) of lying to the American public and misusing his position. He too intentionally misled citizens and Congress about the Iraqi threat. Remember back in 2003, when in an address to the Nation he stated “Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised”?

George W. Bush took advantage of the American public’s fear and insecurity after Sept. 11. He took advantage of the trust placed in him to protect the American people. This is a grievous offense, a “high crime and misdemeanor” to borrow the words of the Constitution. But that’s not all there is.

President Bush authorized wiretapping of thousands of American civilians without seeking warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review (FISA). This is an offence of which he has already been found guilty in a District Court.

Bush claims that there was no time to get warrants, but this is a poor excuse as the President has power to authorize wiretaps as long as he obtains a warrant within three days. Nor can he claim that this would compromise classified information as Congress has special procedures just for such cases.

FISA was enacted in 1978, after the Watergate scandal, precisely to prevent a president from authorizing wiretaps under the false pretence of national security. Illegal wiretapping was one of the grounds for the article of impeachment brought against Nixon. Why should Bush be able to get away with it? Bush thinks that he should be able to get away with this and other offenses; as a wartime president he seems to consider himself above the law. He made this clear in his executive order on terrorism after Sept. 11. In it he gave himself powers to freeze the accounts and restrict the freedom of assembly of anyone he designated a terrorist. A federal judge struck it down as unconstitutional in a District Court.

That he is above the law in wartime was also his defense for shamelessly violating the Geneva Convention. It is well known that the torture and abuse of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib detainees has been systemic and that detainees of the “war on terror”, including American citizens like General Jose Padilla, have been denied due process.

The Supreme Court ruled in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that President Bush had violated the Geneva Convention basically throwing out Bush’s argument that as Commander in Chief he had the right to override the laws in the interest of national security. According to the Convention, his role in the torture of Guantanamo detainees is punishable by death penalty should a prisoner die as a result of torture.

The 2006 decision is significant also because it punches a large hole in the administration’s legal arguments for the domestic wiretapping case.

If this is not damning enough there are more charges that have been brought against President Bush, another of which he has also been found guilty of by a District Court. These include the illegal release of classified information and the illegal use of signing statements.

By the time you get through all those shocking abuses of the Nation’s trust you should be asking yourself; why haven’t we already impeached Bush and Cheney? More than 3, 600 American soldiers have died in a war based on false pretences. An estimated 655, 000 Iraqis have died because of the war and the 4 million have been displaced. Who will be held accountable?