2138 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Honorable Chairman Sensenbrenner:
The Santa Cruz City Council has asked me to write to convey the widespread concern in our City about President Bush's deeds leading up to and in support of the United States war on Iraq.
We have received public testimony, petitions, phone calls, emails, and letters demanding our support for an impeachment inquiry.
As local elected officials and patriots, having sworn an oath to uphold the constitution, it is our job to relay these concerns to you. By a vote of six to one, local elected officials of the City Council share these concerns. Please determine if one or more of the following represent impeachable offenses by the President:
Did President Bush violate congressionally ratified international treaties and thus
Article VI, the "supremacy clause," of our own constitution through the invasion and occupation of Iraq?
Did false or misleading information exaggerate the threat posed by Iraq, and was this part of a conscious effort to mislead the United States Congress and the American public?
Did President Bush exploit the fear generated by the 9/11 terrorist attacks to erode or compromise our constitutionally guaranteed rights and liberties?
Does the Bush Administration's plan to develop and deploy yet more nuclear weapons violate the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to which the United States is a signatory?
Did the United States' use of depleted uranium in both Iraq and Afghanistan violate the United Nations Charter?
Has the treatment of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere violated the
Geneva Convention, the Nuremburg Principles, and/or other treaties and conventions to which the United States is signatory?
We do believe that as patriots it is our job to raise these concerns to your level.
Please begin an official inquiry.
If your inquiry identifies illegal acts on the part of the leaders of our current administration, we expect that impeachment proceedings would follow immediately.
Emily Reilly
Mayor
cc: City Clerk
Members of the Committee on the Judiciary
Members of the Subcommittee on the Constitution