Kennedy won't back Bush impeachment

updated 9:38 a.m. ET June 17, 2004

WASHINGTON - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., appearing with law professors who want Congress to consider impeaching President Bush over the Iraqi prisoner abuse, declined to endorse the idea himself.

Instead, Kennedy opted for a political plug.

The best way to solve things “is to elect John Kerry,” said Kennedy, appearing beside two Harvard professors at a news conference upstairs from his Senate office.

The professors presented a letter signed by more than 400 legal scholars urging members of the House and Senate to consider impeaching the president and any high level administration officials who approved the Iraqi prisoner abuses.

Kennedy said the administration must be held accountable for the abuses and any policies that condoned them, and no one — including the president — should be immune to answering questions about the abuse. But asked by reporters about impeachment, Kennedy referred the question to the professors, Henry J. Steiner and Christine Desan.

Among those signing the letter were former O.J. Simpson defender Alan Dershowitz and the Rev. Robert F. Drinan, a former Massachusetts congressman who teaches at Georgetown University.

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