A Message to Impeachment Supporters from Ramsey Clark : Miami IMC

The new tragedy of Lebanon has brought death to hundreds of civilians, children, women and men. Hundreds of thousands, approaching one fourth the population of four million, are fugitives from their homes within and outside of their country. Destruction of the infrastructure will require decades to rebuild if/when peace comes. And rage at Israel and the U.S. dominate all other emotions in Lebanon and throughout the Muslim world. New anger is spreading over every continent.

If the capture of two soldiers, or one in the case of Palestine, justifies assaults against whole nations and peoples, as Israel has done, then there is no law, no alternative to war, no hope for peace. Only a person with a memory no longer than three weeks could believe the capture of three Israeli soldiers began the present violence. Was not cross border violence between Israel and Lebanon commonplace for decades? Had not Israel kidnapped half the Palestinian cabinet, destroyed its Foreign Ministry offices and other government buildings and engaged in summary executions throughout Palestine, the West Bank and Gaza, since the elections this year of the Hamas majority in the Palestinian parliament? Was there not a continuum of assaults at will against the Palestinian people over decades?

We must ask whether the forced withdrawal of Syrian peace keepers from Lebanon earlier this year by U.S. and Israeli political pressure after the murder of former Lebanon Prime Minister Harari was the prelude of a plan for Israel to assault Lebanon and reoccupy territories up to the Litani river in Southern Lebanon. While Syrian forces were present in Lebanon, such an assault did not occur.

And we must ask whether the fierce assault on Lebanon and Palestine are the prelude to broader actions against Syria and Iran. President Bush has made it abundantly clear that he would like nothing better than regime change in Iran and Syria and has attempted to lay responsibility for violence in Lebanon and Palestine at their door.

As Iraq descends into uncontrollable sectarian war, President Bush needs new threats to distract Americans attention from what his Shock and Awe policy has brought for Iraq, for us, and for the world. War in Lebanon helps divert attention temporarily and may serve to widen the conflict to include Syria, or Iran.

If not, there are always Cuba, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Venezuela and others to act against.

With only three months to the mid term Congressional election, we must make every effort to achieve support for impeachment in the new Congress. The two most important ways are first, to demonstrate widespread national support for impeachment by multiplying to millions the hundreds of thousands who have voted for impeachment. This will require grass roots efforts and a nationwide newspaper ad campaign beginning in September. And second, district by district, direct contact with House candidates of all parties urging them to be prepared to do their Constitutional duty and vote for impeachment.

As with Iraq, in Lebanon we have seen a war of aggression, the supreme international crime; an attack on the equal sovereignty of Lebanon, violating the First Principle of the United Nations Charter; excessive force of a major magnitude with as many as sixty Israeli planes over the Mediterranean waiting their turn to strike a nation defenseless against aerial assaults; indiscriminate bombing; targeting civilians; collective punishment, everyone in Lebanon suffers.

The future of Palestine remains the central issue for peace in the Middle East. That future is more endangered than at any time since the Oslo Accords. Everyone in Palestine suffers from the violence unleashed on its people by Israel’s renewed Roadmap to War.

President George Bush supports every act of Israel, alone among international heads of government, supporting every strike against Lebanon and Palestine. Nothing could endanger Israel more. And Condoleezza Rice congratulates the Prime Minister of Lebanon for his courage while telling him there must be further destruction of his nation and government — an insult to every human being who cares about peace and understands the world cannot be made safe for hypocrisy.

I urge you to help organize support to secure votes for impeachment and communicate with candidates in the House to urge impeachment, especially during this coming week when Congressional representatives are back in their home states. We've placed ads in the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Boston Globe, USA Today and other papers, and each time we do we bring thousands of new people into the impeachment movement who become a growing force putting pressure on their Congressional representatives to introduce articles of impeachment. Help finance a fall nationwide newspaper campaign for impeachment, including your local paper.

There will be national peace demonstrations on August 12 calling for an end to the war against the Lebanese and Palestinian people. Impeachment contingents are forming for these actions in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. Please come out to these activities and bring the impeachment message. If you can't come yourself you can help pay for transportation so that others can come. Each bus from New York to Washington, for example, costs $1,700. Your contribution can help make the impeachment message resonate at the White House on August 12.

Sincerely,

Ramsey Clark
Former US Attorney General

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