how else are these public officials to be held accountable for irrefutable high crimes? [View All]

from the newspaper
http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061204/NEWS/612040328/1037/OPINION02

An Open Letter to Representative-elect Peter Welch:

Congratulations on your decisive election to the U.S. House. You and many other Democrats were swept into office on a national tidal wave of anger and frustration not only over the current administration's disastrous and totally inept handling of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also over their systematic shredding of our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

With the Democratic Party leadership declaring impeachment "off the table," I ask you, how else are these public officials to be held accountable for irrefutable high crimes of (1) lying to the American public about faked intelligence to start a war on Iraq, (2) for authorizing torture of prisoners, secretly transferring them to third countries, denying them habeas corpus or access to lawyers and holding them for years without being charged — all of which is in contravention of the Geneva Conventions, which the US pledged to uphold, and finally, (3) for authorizing warrantless wiretapping of and spying on any and all American citizens.

Citizens who commit much less serious crimes are by law held accountable and not given a pass in this country. As a lawyer yourself, surely you'd agree that when a president and vice-president are alleged to have committed high crimes and misdemeanors such as these, it is the duty of Congress to investigate and possibly institute impeachment proceedings. It is not an option. I urge you to speak up for Vermonters and due process of law when you take your seat in January.

FLETCHER DEAN

E. Calais