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'Why Impeach Now?' Community Event was Thought- Provoking
Dear Editor:
I'm writing about a recent thought-provoking community event I attended.
Ray McGovern- distinguished CIA analyst for 27 years- addressed an overflow crowd about impeachable offenses by President George Bush and Vice-President Richard Cheney at an event entitled Why Impeach Now? Our Constitution in Crisis at the Howland Cultural Center in Beacon on Oct 8. The Howland Center was filled to capacity with standing room only. Although mostly from Westchester, Putnam, Orange and Dutchess counties, audience members came from as far away as Ulster and Rockland Counties. The event lasted 2.5 hours, with the audience seemingly reluctant to leave.
McGovern made three points about the need to begin an impeachment investigation: 1) We no longer have a free press in America, and impeachment will provide the press an undeniable motive to publish the unconscionable actions of the Bush administration; 2) Impeachment investigations will give Admiral William J. "Fox" Fallon, and other military (who have personally expressed disagreement about US involvement in Iraq) a way for them to publicly break with the President's pressure to be silent ; and 3) Impeachment will repair damage done to the Constitution by the Bush policies. McGovern made the deeply moving point that our boys in World War II fought and died for the preservation of the Constitution- currently being disabled by Bush (for whom there is no record of showing up for Air National Guard duty for approximately one year in 1972-73) and Cheney (a 5 time draft deferment recipient).
McGovern questioned why the churches are not speaking out on the morality issues raised by the war in Iraq.
McGovern's talk was its most riveting when he spoke about a German professor from the University of Berlin, Albrecht Haushofer, who was executed toward the end of World War II for speaking out against the Gestapo. After his execution, a piece of paper fell out of his pocket. It was a poem entitled "Guilt." McGovern recited this poem in German, the language in which it was written. The poem was a confession of guilt by this German under Nazi rule: A confession that he was guilty, not for the deeds for which he was charged, but for not having spoken out sooner.
Upon questioning, McGovern encouraged the audience to take courageous actions now. He ended by saying that if we don't begin impeachment proceedings, "It CAN be too late."
A video "Why Impeach Now?" showed clips of various "Honk Fests for Impeachment" as well as explained that impeachment is an investigation process similar to an indictment. A petition calling for impeachment was available to sign. To see this petition online, go to: http:// www.petitiononline.com/ ImpNY19/petition.html.
Inspired by Ray McGovern and other heroic Americans, I call upon our community to support impeachment proceedings, halt the dismantling of our Bill of Rights and our Constitution, and restore our American democracy.
Imogene Drummond
Philipstown
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