Republicans refuse to relent

Democrats fought every inch of the way, railing about the war against Iraq, peace in the Middle East, the unfairness of the whole process, and the hypocrisy of theRepublicans. They begged for a middle course of censure or censure-plus with a financial penalty on the President, but the GOP leadership stubbornly rejected their plea.

8220;We strongly object to this matter coming up tomorrow or the next day or any day in which our young men and women in the military are in harm8217;s way,8221; Democratic leader Richard Gephardt said in his opening statement, likening the impeachment move to a runaway train heading for a cliff.8217;

But Republican leaders argued that their resolve to impeach the President in the midst of a foreign policy crisis reflected the strength, maturity and resilience of the American political system.

US Cruise missiles meanwhile were hammering Iraqi installations for a third night in a bid to decimate Saddam Hussein8217;s infrastructure before the start of the holy month of Ramzan on Sunday. The Iraqi dictator too hunkered in, determined to outlast the bombing campaign that is expected to end before Sunday.

The surreal, one-sided war, captured bystationary rooftop cameras of American television networks, spoke only of the power and destruction of US Cruise missiles and not of the suffering of the Iraqi people.

Wow!8217; Holy Cow!8217; reporters exclaimed, as 2000lbs Tomahawk Cruise missiles slammed into Baghdad in the early hours of Friday. The bombing increased in intensity after day one because US and British forces began using air power in the form of B-52s from the Diego Garcia base.

This allowed them to get closer to Baghdad before unleashing the Cruise missiles, ensuring shorter distance, higher payload and greater devastation.

Feeble Iraqi anti-aircraft and tracer fire did little to dampen the highflying and distant B-52 as US politicians praised the bravery and courage of their armed forces.

In Washington, US Generals and officials revealed satellite pictures showing Iraqi structures decimated and conceded that some collateral damage8217; 8212; euphemism for death of innocent civilians 8212; may be inevitable. Officials said they had targeted some75 sites on the second day and the bombing campaign now exceeded what was undertaken during Operation Desert Storm.

US officials also responded sharply to Saddam Hussein8217;s taunts that Americans were cowards hiding behind their superior technology.

8220;He should look in the mirror,8221; the Joint Chief of Staff Hugh Shelton suggested. Defence Secretary William Cohen invoked the 1991 Gulf War which Saddam had promised would be the mother of all battles, and said in the brief time the two armies were face to face 8220;it was obvious which side the courage lay in.8221;

But the US also remained deaf to international protest against the attack, the acme of which was the wthdrawal by Russia of its Ambassador in Washington. He was recalled home for consultation, the first time Moscow has shown such displeasure since the end of the Cold War.

Other US allies, particularly in the Gulf, remained strangely quiet, fearful of the wrath of their people over what many see as provocative American actions on the eve of Ramzan. TheUS State Department meanwhile issued travel advisories to its citizens in many parts of the world and even scaled down of some of its embassies.

Back in Washington, it was war of another kind. Republicans and Democrats were poised for an ugly bout of mud-wrestling after a top Republican, Speaker-elect Bob Livingstone, was forced to disclose that he too had had extra-marital affairs, but that would not deflect him from pursuing the impeachment course because he had not lied or perjured like President Clinton is said to have done. Livingstone faced exposure from the porn magazine Hustler. The two cataclysmic 8212; the bombing of Iraq and the impeachment of the President 8212; stories ran parallel, and often overlapped, on a bizarre day which opened new envelopes in politics and history.

Because the Republicans have a majority 228 to 206 Democrats in the outgoing Congress whose term expires next week, President Clinton is almost certain to be impeached.

The vote is expected to come up on Saturday thoughDemocrats are fighting pitched verbal battles to delay the inevitable.

In sheer numbers, the White House needs about 15 Republicans to vote against the impeachment because at least 3 Democrats have said they will vote for impeachment.

But Clinton8217;s advisers are conceding that they don8217;t have those numbers. What some Republicans describe as the administration8217;s scorched earth policy raking up Republican sex scandals and using foreign policy distractions has only served to close ranks among the conservatives.

Clinton is thus poised to become only the second President in the history of the United States to be impeached, after Lincoln successor Andrew Johnson in 1868. President Nixon resigned in 1974 before Congress took up the impeachment process.

The President is said to have braced himself for the impeachment and an upcoming trial in the Senate. There is no talk of his resignation, yet.

As the constitution goes, after a President is impeached by the House, the matter goes up to the Senate for atrial and possible conviction.

The Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court will preside over the Senate and the Senators will be the jury. A two-thirds vote in the 100-member Senate 67 votes is needed for a conviction.

Even Andrew Johnson escaped conviction by a solitary vote, the move to sentence him getting only 66 votes. President Clinton will most certainly escape that ignominy because the Republicans have only 55 votes in the Senate and will need 12 Democratic votes to nail him.

But there is pressure on the President to quit if he is impeached by the House, instead of putting the country through a wrenching Senate trial starting January. Senate Republican leaders have said they will force a trial and not concede demands for any deal.