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ACLU/SC Board Endorses Impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney for High Crimes

Thursday, January 24, 2008

LOS ANGELES – The board of directors of the ACLU of Southern California has passed a resolution calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for their abuses of basic civil liberties.

“President Bush has violated his oath of office to ‘protect, preserve, and defend the Constitution,’ has subverted the system and structure of democratic government, and has otherwise engaged in a course of conduct that warrants removal from office,” the board’s resolution states.

The ACLU/SC board urges the House of Representatives to investigate impeachable offenses by the President and Vice President, including:

• Manipulating intelligence before the Iraq War and deceiving the American people about imminent threats they faced. • Authorizing the torture of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other military prisons and handing over suspects to other nations who tortured them (a practice known as "extraordinary rendition"). • Authorizing the firing of federal prosecutors for political reasons and obstructing justice by defying Congressional subpoenas investigating the firing. • Authorizing wiretaps on U.S. citizens without warrants and in violation of the Constitution, and concealing the program from Congress and the public. • Conspiring to disclose the name of Valerie Plame, a covert agent in the Central Intelligence Agency. This action risked her life and the lives of her intelligence contacts.

"This White House has broken American law and deceived the American people, not just once but again and again," said ACLU/SC board president Alan Toy. "Congress has a duty to hold President Bush and Vice President Cheney responsible for their actions, and history certainly will."

The ACLU of Southern California is one of the nation's largest ACLU affiliates, with more than 50,000 members. The ACLU board of directors guides the ACLU's work to safeguard civil liberties and civil rights for residents in the seven-county Southern California area.

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