After seeing the Jan. 10 editorial “Leaving Iraq not an option,” I decided to comment on Iraq. So, let’s take a minute to look at history. When President Nixon committed crimes that rendered him unfit to be a leader of our great nation, there was a process that followed which laid out facts to the people of the United States, which enabled a committee to impeach President Nixon, causing his fall from power. Nixon never killed or harmed any individual. He did not oppress or impoverish any nation; neither did he gain any great financial wealth from his actions. Nixon was considered a disgrace as a leader because of his actions.

Then in the 1990s our president was found to have committed a crime again, and he was internationally disgraced for his actions. The world was bombarded by coverage of the “Clinton Scandal,” which in turn became President Bill Clinton’s punishment: shame. Clinton’s actions physically harmed no one.

Now lets look at our current president: George W. Bush. He has committed international war crimes by allowing the torture of captured enemy combatants, which is a serious violation of the Geneva Convention.

Bush, whether intentionally or not, has forced the United States into a war based on fabricated information that has resulted in the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians and thousands of soldiers. He personally disregarded the situation, which was thoroughly laid out in front of him, that thousands of Americans would be dead or displaced due to Hurricane Katrina. He has yet to fix the desperate situation of these displaced peoples. Instead, he passed the buck off to good-hearted citizens to pick up the pieces and make right what the Bush administration let go wrong.

What does that say about American society – when we impeach a president for lying under oath but turn a blind eye to international war crimes and the deaths of our own people?

Regime change is in no way a prerequisite for military action. I don’t care who thinks I’m weak or cowardly. I want my brother and sister to come home now, along with all soldiers who are in Iraq.

Are we scared to acknowledge what we as American citizens have allowed to happen? I’ll take weakness over pride any day if it means that this death march ends. Sacrifice your pride for the sake of innocent lives and prosecute the current administration for crimes against humanity and international war crimes. Do Americans honestly believe that adultery and perjury are worse than murder and crimes against humanity? I hope not.

Chrissy L. Hensley Junior Sociology