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Bush faces impeachment threat
25/03/2007 23:09 - (SA)
Washington - With his go-it-alone approach on Iraq, President George W Bush is flouting congress and the public, so angering lawmakers that some consider impeachment an option to his war policy, said a senator from Bush's own party on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Senate's No 2 Republican leader harshly criticised house Democrats for setting an "artificial date" for withdrawing troops from Iraq and said he believed Republicans had enough votes to prevent passage of a similar bill in the senate.
"We need to put that kind of decision in the hands of our commanders who are there on the ground with the men and women," said senator Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican. "For congress to impose an artificial date of any kind is totally irresponsible."
Impeachment 'an option'
Republican senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a member of the senate foreign relations committee and a frequent critic of the war, stopped short of calling for Bush's impeachment.
But, he made clear that some lawmakers viewed that as an option should Bush choose to push ahead, despite public sentiment against the war.
"Any president who says, I don't care, or I will not respond to what the people of this country are saying about Iraq or anything else... "Or I don't care what the congress does, I am going to proceed... then there are ... ways to deal with that," said Hagel, who is considering a 2008 presidential run.
The senate planned to begin debate on Monday on a war spending bill that would set a non-binding goal of March 31 2008 for the removal of combat troops.
That comes after the house narrowly passed a bill on Friday that would pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year, but would require that combat troops come home from Iraq before September 2008 - or earlier if the Iraqi government did not meet certain requirements.
In the April edition of Esquire magazine, Hagel described Bush as someone who did not believe he was accountable to anyone. "He's not accountable anymore, which isn't totally true. You can impeach him, and before this is over, you might see calls for his impeachment.
"I don't know. It depends on how this goes," Hagel told the magazine.
Message to terrorists
In his weekly radio address on Saturday, Bush accused Democrats of partisanship in the house vote and said it would cut the number of troops below a level that US military commanders said they needed.
Vice-president Dick Cheney also accused Democrats of undermining US troops in Iraq and of sending a message to terrorists that America would retreat in the face of danger.
"We have clearly a situation where the president has lost the confidence of the American people in his war effort," said Hagel. "It is now time, going into the fifth year of that effort, for the congress to step forward and be part of setting some boundaries and some conditions as to our involvement."
"This is not a monarchy," he added, referring to the possibility that some lawmakers may seek impeachment. "There are ways to deal with it. And I would hope the president understands that."
- AP
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