March 15, 2012
At a June 16, 2005 rally in Washington, DC calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush for an illegal war of aggression on Iraq and other related war crimes, Mike Ferner representing the national antiwar veterans organization Veterans For Peace encourages the audience to take a copy of the flyer put out by the national office of Veterans For Peace entitled "Iraq War Merits Impeachment" ... which includes a copy of the March 19, 2005 letter signed by VFP President David Cline sent to every member of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. To access and download the complete pdf file of VFP's "Iraq War Merits Impeachment" flyer, go to http://www.veteransforpeace.org/File/...
On August 6, 2011 at the national convention of Veterans For Peace, a resolution calling for the impeachment of President Barack H. Obama citing most of the same war crimes as were cited in the 2005 call for impeachment (along with Obama's own unprovoked war of aggression on Libya begun on March 19, 2011) was passed by a vote of the general membership of Veterans For Peace in the same manner all other resolutions ... to include the earlier resolution to impeach George W. Bush ... were evaluated and passed. However, the national office of Veterans For Peace refused to send a similar letter on VFP letterhead, signed by its National President Elliott Adams, to members of Congress. Finally, after being pestered enough, the same Mike Ferner now in 2011 VFP's Exectutive Director reluctantly related in an email that he had a copy of the 2011 impeachment of Obama resolution itself faxed to members of Congress. No official letter on VFP National's letterhead and signed by the VFP National President Elliott Adams was ever created nor sent. Mike Ferner went on to state that neither he or the national office of VFP would not do anything more in regards to the 2011 Obama impeachment resolution.
Over the weeks and months that followed the passage of the 2011 Obama impeachment resolution at VFP's national convention, requests for a letter to members of Congress on VFP National letterhead signed and dated by VFP's National President Elliott Adams calling for impeachment proceedings against President Obama to begin was never prepared, sent or made available for public record and as a download on the VFP National website as was done in 2005. The 2005 impeachment flyer put out by VFP's national office was never updated to reflect the 2011 impeahcment of Obama resolution.
Members of the Central Florida chapter of Veterans For Peace, along with many of the general membership of Veterans For Peace nationwide when asked, believe that VFP's national office should prepare, send out and make public for download on VFP's website the same type of letter on VFP National's letterhead and signed by the current VFP National President, just as was done with the March 19, 2005 letter to members of Congress in regards to the resolution to impeach Bush. We also believe that VFP's national office should at the very least update its 2005 impeachment flyer entitled "Iraq War Merits Impeachment" (see a yellow copy of it waved in the air by Mike Ferner, encouraging all listening to take a copy as they were being distributed to the audience by members of Veterans For Peace at the June 16, 2005 impeachment rally in the video above) so as to reflect the 2011 resolution passed calling for the impeachment of Obama. The title of the flyer could be changed to "Obama's War Crimes Merit Impeachment", and most of the violations of law cited in the flyer could remain in tact, as they are for the most part the same violations cited in VFP's prior resolution to impeach George W. Bush. Obama's attack on Libya of March 19, 2011 should however be added to the crimes cited in the flyer, along with a few more possible edits.
The 2011 resolution to impeach Obama for war crimes passed fair and square at the 2011 VFP National Convention. VFP's Board of Directors voted in favor of the Obama impeachment resolution 2011-7 in their July 2011 meeting. VFP's national office should at the very minimum provide its membership (for those of us who want to pursue the call for impeachment as a means to ending the U.S. wars abroad) the same tools it provided in 2005 after the Bush impeachment resolution had been passed at the 2004 VFP National Convention. Even if you and/or your respective chapter does not aggree with pursuing the impeachment resolution in your own efforts to bring an end to the U.S. wars, we would hope that you would aggree with having VFP National update its 2005 impeachment flyer and letter to Congress to reflect the passage of the 2011 resolution to impeach Obama for war cimres.
To contact the national office of Veterans For Peace, call (314) 725-6005.
