To the Point

Impeachment, Censure and Political Reality

Some grassroots Democrats are calling on Congress to punish President Bush or remove him from office. The Senate Judiciary Committee will consider Russ Feingold's (D-WI) motion to "censure" the President for allowing warrantless wiretaps of Americans. In the House, John Conyers (D-MI) has proposed a select committee to investigate the impeachment for the President's intent to make war before it was authorized by Congress; manipulating intelligence, encouraging and condoning torture and retaliating against critics. San Francisco and a few small towns in California and Vermont have officially called for impeachment, but most Democrats on Capitol Hill are dodging the issue, urging constituents to worry about this year's elections. Do they lack the courage of their own party's convictions? Will calls for Draconian actions backfire by bringing demoralized Republicans out to the polls?Making News: Situation Worse for Iraqis on Third Anniversary of US InvasionIn Cleveland today, President Bush gave another speech to rally support for the war in Iraq. It's the third anniversary of the US invasion and, months after the latest election officials still have not formed a constitutional government. In Baghdad for the Chicago Tribune, Aamer Madhani reports that a "suffocating sense of vulnerability" on the part of ordinary Iraqis.Reporter's Notebook: Election Results in Belarus Denounced by White HousePresident Alexander Lukashenko was re-elected in Belarus yesterday with 82% of the vote. Ten thousand peaceful protesters took to the streets in Minsk, and opposition candidate Alexander Kozulin is calling for more, hoping to create the kind of upheaval that brought down repressive governments in other ex-republics of the former Soviet Union. Russia, the European Union and the United States are taking sides. Masha Lipman is a political analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.