We used to impeach liars

"We used to impeach liars," writes William Rivers Pitt. Not in 2003, and certainly not with a Republican Congress. Pitt runs a lengthy list of proclamations by Bush and his advisors on Iraq's alleged weapons programs, from Dick Cheney's August 26, 2002, declaration that "there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction" to Bush's own State of the Union address in late January, during which he got pretty detailed:

Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent.

Five. Hundred. Tons!? Whether a vial of sarin is uncovered or a nuclear warhead is dug up or a mobile lab possibly used for the production of biological agents is found, it's clear: this guy's been lying to us. Through his teeth. And the scale is collossal.

Pardon my French, friends, but a stain on Monica Lewinsky's dress--a thousand stains--is nowhere near the scale of this deception. Do the math: between 5,430 and 7,046 civilians, maybe more, were killed in a war over "weapons of mass destruction" of which the administration had "no doubt." Add the Iraqi soldiers and paramilitaries that were killed, as many as 45,000 lives, according to The Guardian. How much will it cost in dollars? No one seems to be keeping track, but a study in February estimated the cost of war and reconstruction of Iraq at a trillion dollars. And don't forget the incalculable costs: the effects of depleted uranium on our troops and their children, the lasting environmental effects in Iraq, the skyrocketing costs of occupying a country less and less fond of our presence there, the mushrooming costs of defending the nation againsts terrorists who've grown more pissed off--not less--from our little war.

As the bumpersticker says: If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention. But what to do? Join the thousands who are calling for a vote on Bush's impeachment. Or, more realistically, pressure your Congressional representative. Urge them to reconvene the Office of the Independent Counsel and call on the administration to appoint a special prosecutor. Then get all your friends to do the same. It's about time Bush gets the Ken Starr treatment.