America at War

Eager to be loved by Republicans as much as he is by Democrats, Ralph Nader claims his BushHate is bigger than all of John and Teresa Heinz-Kerry's mansions put together:

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader called Tuesday for President Bush to be impeached for "deceiving the American people night after night after night" about U.S. involvement in Iraq.

"When you plunge our country into war on a platform of fabrications and deceptions, and you bring back thousands of American soldiers who are sick, injured or dead, and that war is unconstitutionally authorized to begin with, Mr. Bush's behavior qualifies for the high crimes and misdemeanor impeachment clause of the Constitution," the 2000 Green Party presidential nominee said to applause from about 200 students at Columbia College Chicago.

Nader said President Clinton was impeached for "far less of an offense."

"Lying under oath is not a trivial offense, but it cannot compare with deceiving the American people night after night after night on national television, staging untruths and rejecting the advice of his advisers," he said.

Meanwhile, in Fallujah, US Marines used combat in an attempt to beat President Bush in those highly prestigious nightly TV ratings:

U.S. forces faced a tough urban battle yesterday in their drive to pacify one of Iraq's most dangerous cities. Block by block, they fought their way into Fallujah, where Iraqi guerrillas killed four American civilians and a mob mutilated their bodies last week.

After nightfall, troops held a swath several blocks deep in one corner of the city of 200,000, Marine Maj. Briandon McGolwan said.

U.S. forces called out a weapon rarely used against the Iraqi guerrillas: the AC-130 gunship, a warplane that circles over a target, laying down a devastating barrage of heavy machine-gun fire.

Meanwhile, in Washington, leading Senate Democrats offered their encouragement to the troops:

Mr. Byrd, the chamber's senior Democrat, said yesterday that the Bush administration has "blundered" and that the United States should not be trying to increase troop strength. "We should instead be working toward an exit strategy," he said.

"Surely, I am not the only one who hears echoes of Vietnam in this development. Surely, the administration recognizes that increasing the U.S. troop presence in Iraq will only suck us deeper into the maelstrom of violence that has become the hallmark of that unfortunate country," the West Virginian said on the Senate floor.

His criticism follows that by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, who on Monday called Iraq "George Bush's Vietnam" and said the situation has created a credibility gap between the president and Americans.

Byrd was recently praised for his longevity by fellow Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), who said the West Virginia Democrat, member of the Ku Klux Klan before taking office and opponent of the 1964 Civil Right Act, "would have been right during the great conflict of Civil War in this nation."

Back in Iraq, Kennedy's claim won support from Iraqi Shi'ite leader Moqtada al-Sadr, who took time out from leading his fanatical band of insurgents in combat with American soldiers to echo the comparison:

"I call upon the American people to stand beside their brethren, the Iraqi people, who are suffering an injustice by your rulers and the occupying army, to help them in the transfer of power to honest Iraqis," Sadr said in a statement issued by his office in the southern city of Najaf.

"Otherwise, Iraq will be another Vietnam for America and the occupiers."

In a bizarre coincidence, in addition to the anti-US position, both Kennedy and Sadr have had older brothers killed by fanatics who had hijacked the religion of peace.

Troops of the Kennedy/Sadr Axis have taken full control of the southern Iraqi city of Kut and partial control of Najaf, but American forces intend to retake the cities.

Meanwhile, the junior Senator from Kennedy's home state of Massachusetts toyed with declaring Sadr a "legitimate voice" in Iraq, then satisfied himself with merely agreeing with the cleric's position on the handover of Iraqi sovereignty.

To the north, even in the face of sustained armed resistance and perhaps as yet without knowledge of the battle on the home front, US Marines still must fight for control of three-quarters of Fallujah, a city of 300,000 people.

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