Wednesday, April 07, 2004

Misleading Congress during war debate is an impeachable offense

Your better class of attorneys tend to carry a copy of the US Constitution in their back pockets. I was talking to one such attorney today. "Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war," he told me. "However, Congress does not maintain the necessary intelligence-gathering mechanisms to obtain the knowledge they must have in order to make an informed decision on whether or not to declare war. For their actual on-the-ground information therefore, Congress must rely on the intelligence-gathering capabilities of the executive branch. To be mis-lead or misinformed regarding such crucial information is an impeachable offense."

"You mean that Congress has legal grounds to impeach George W. Bush because he withheld vital information regarding North Korea?"

"That is correct."

So. Congress. Let's roll.