Brattleboro, Vermont to Neo-Cons: "Enough Is Enough"

Brattleboro, Vt. will, as a result of a petition, hold a vote in
March on whether or not to indict Bush and Cheney for war crimes and perjury.

The organizer of the petition, Mr. Daims, “said the most grievous crime committed by Bush and Cheney was perjury — lying to Congress and U.S. citizens about the basis of a war in Iraq. He said the latest count showed a total of 600,000 people have died in the war. Daims also said he believed Bush and Cheney were also guilty of espionage for spying on American people and obstruction of justice, for the politically generated firings of U.S. attorneys.”

Given the spinelessness of the Democratic Party toward Bush-Cheney efforts to undermine Constitutional rights and international law as well as the pathetic lack of public support so far for any candidate who truly offers ideas for new policies (e.g., Kucinich, Richardson, Gravel, Paul), one might consider this a rather courageous stance.

Brattleboro should be careful – all options may well be on the table. We wait breathlessly to see if Washington demands that Vermont turn over every last quart of maple syrup as a precondition to negotiations. Daim risks being held without charge as an enemy combatant – one can hardly deny that he is combative and since he does not wear the uniform of a recognized army, we certainly would not want to treat him as a soldier!

This is of course a small splash in a small pond and yet…someone has to be the first to stand up.