Why Bush must be removed from office

Reader Commentary

“The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them.” – Book of Timothy 5:24

Never in the history of the United States have we the people been subjected to as much corruption as we have experienced under the regime of George W. Bush.

Due to his arrogance and disdain for working people Bush will go down in U.S. history as one of the worst, if not the worst president ever.

Under Bush we have seen the following:

* Tax relief for the wealthy has destroyed the economic stability left by Clinton.

* Four years after an attack on U.S. civilians by alleged Islamic terrorists led by the son of a very close business friend of the Bush family, Osama Bin Laden remains a free man with no progress in even detecting his whereabouts.

* Despite the fact that there is no connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, 9/11/01 led to the unjustified invasion of Iraq, resulting in unknown thousands of dead and maimed Iraqis, and over 1,900 U.S. soldiers dead and thousands more with physical and mental injuries. This immoral war has cost the economy $8 billion a month, much of it going into the coffers of Halliburton. Prisoners of war continue to be abused and killed. * Bush has attacked environmental regulations, allowing corporations to further pollute our atmosphere, soil and water.

* Bush has also targeted labor laws, denying workers overtime pay after 40 hours, making it more difficult for them to organize unions on their jobs, and taking the side of employers in strikes by longshoremen, rail workers and airline workers.

* Bush has allowed religious fanatics to determine official U.S. policy, especially in wholesale attacks against immigrants, women’s reproductive rights and gay people! While these hypocrites claim to be Christian, their hatred and violence suggest that they know nothing of the true teachings of Jesus Christ.

* Bush and his cronies have strongly supported the so-called No Child Left Behind law, which does anything but help children in public school systems, especially inner city children of color. Bush has encountered much opposition to this lame program even from within the Republican Party.

* Bush continues to attack our civil liberties with his “ Patriot Act.” This legislation has eroded our Constitutional rights and virtually makes the U.S. a police state.

* Since Bush took office (and he literally did take it), the poverty rate has risen, putting more of our children and aged in jeopardy for malnutrition, unsafe housing, and lack of health care. His cuts in veterans’ services is a slap in the face to the young men and women who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq, especially those with serious mental illnesses. Under Bush the number of Americans without health care has risen to over 48 million.

* The icing on the Bush cake is his incompetent, racist and insensitive handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. The federal government has known for years that New Orleans was at high risk for serious flooding because of the condition of the levees, along with the well known fact that the city is below sea level! Rather than fund repair of the levees and other preventive measures, Bush gives tax breaks to the rich and squanders billions on an unjustified war in Iraq. This latest escapade by the Mad Cowboy has raised concern even among Republicans. Bush’s favorable ratings are now at an all time low of 38 percent.

Recently a former senior Clinton White House official, Gordon Adams, called for Bush’s resignation in a scathing op ed article in the Baltimore Sun, in which he chastised Bush for the grossly incompetent handling of disaster relief in New Orleans.

The Not In Our Name group is raising money to bring criminal charges against Bush, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. While some may feel that these charges will not materialize into anything, the fact remains that Bush is a dangerous criminal and the entire planet is watching and waiting to see what kind of movement develops to respond to his crimes.

History shows us that the most powerful despots fall due to their own arrogance and corruption. The nation’s tolerance of Bush lessens by the day. He can no longer convince most people to support his imperialist war, and he certainly has proven that he is //no// leader when the nation needs him most. Across the nation more and more people are calling for Bush’s removal from his job. I strongly concur. And he should be indicted and tried for lying to Congress, for treason in his violation of the basic principles of our Constitution, and for crimes against humanity in his war with the peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan.

It can be done, but it will not happen by itself. We the people can make it happen. We must put the pressure on the politicians to remove Bush! We deserve better.

Frank Valdez (mentalhealthjustice@yahoo.com), a 36-year veteran of the social justice movement, serves on the board of the San Antonio affiliate of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.