Group seeks Bush’s impeachment

BANGOR – A statewide lawyers group is teaming up with the Maine Campaign to Impeach in an effort to oust President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for their handling of the war in Iraq.

Maine Lawyers for Democracy, which has 65 members, has reviewed the Bush administration’s actions in Iraq and has concluded that an investigation and impeachment are needed to hold the administration accountable, according to member Lynne Williams, a Bar Harbor attorney.

Williams and Dud Hendrick from Maine Campaign to Impeach held a joint news conference Friday at the Peace and Justice Center on Park Street in Bangor to ask Mainers to sign a petition supporting their impeachment efforts. A copy is available for signing at the center. The petition also can be signed online at www.maineimpeach.org.

The group has prepared a detailed position paper setting forth what it has deemed grounds for impeachment and putting it in the context of historical precedents, according to a news release.

“The administration’s actions in deceiving Congress and the nation about the threat posed by Iraq to illegally justify starting the war are particularly outrageous and just the start,” Williams said. She alleged that the administration violated the United Nations charter to which the United States is a party and by lying, violated the trust of the American people.

The lawyers’ group is calling upon U.S. Reps. Tom Allen and Michael Michaud, both of whom are Democrats, to initiate impeachment proceedings – and urging the Maine Legislature to pass a resolve calling for impeachment under a little-used mechanism that enables a state legislature to initiate impeachment proceedings.

As Williams sees it, a petition signed by 10,000 people would be enough to get the attention of the Maine lawmakers and congressmen. Hendrick said about 9,000 have signed on so far.

In early April, the group made a call for impeachment during a news conference in Portland.

Now the group is working to spread its message to Penobscot and Hancock counties.