FRANK P. BELCASTRO Dubuque, IA

A bipartisan Senate report named former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top officials directly responsible for sanctioning torture. Rumors in D.C. are that President Bush
will pardon Rumsfeld and others for these abuses. International law prohibits the issuing of pardons, amnesties and similar measures designed to prevent accountability for abuses such as torture, war crimes and enforced disappearance.

If Bush grants these amnesties, which are illegal, he should be impeached. We have been down this road before:  in 1973, Articles of Impeachment were introduced against President Nixon after he illegally tried to use Executive Privilege to bury evidence of his wrongdoings. When the President of the United States takes actions that amount to high crimes, we are left with no other option than to seek his impeachment and removal from office.

Our government was founded upon a delicate balance of powers – whereby one branch carefully checks the other branches to prevent a dangerous consolidation of power. President Bush’s actions have totally destroyed this careful balance.

Without these checks and balances, the President has run roughshod over any law and turned us into a nation where wars are waged based on lies and laws are rewritten without the input of Congress or the American people.

Congress must end this disturbing pattern of behavior, and in these circumstances, the only option left is impeachment.