Congress Begins Impeachment Process of Vice President Dick Cheney

[Guest LAW]

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) offered a privileged resolution on the House floor that will bring articles of impeachment against the Vice President, Richard B. Cheney. Following the introduction of the privileged resolution, Kucinich will hold a news conference in 2456 Rayburn at 3 p.m.

 

 

"The Vice President is cherry picking intelligence and selectively using facts in a manner that does not portray the complete picture," Kucinich said.

 

"The best option to prevent an unnecessary war with Iran is to impeach the Vice President, the lead cheerleader of the war. The Constitution gave Congress the power to impeach. Congress must use its power to restrain the Administration and impeach the Vice President before he prods the United States into another war."

 

On April 24, 2007, Kucinich introduced H. Res. 333, the Articles of Impeachment against the Vice President. The first two charges focus on the Vice President's successful effort to mislead the Congress and American public into a war against Iraq. The last charge focuses upon the Vice President's determination to again mislead the Congress and American public into a war, this one against Iran.

 

"H. Res. 333 has been before the House of Representatives for half a year and has 21 cosponsors. At the same time, the Vice President has escalated his belligerence towards Iran. Thus, I believe it is now urgent to move the impeachment resolution," Kucinich concluded.

 

The 21 cosponsors of H. Res. 333 are: Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Robert Brady (D-PA), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-MO), Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA), Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), Rep. Henry Johnson (D-GA), Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), Rep. James Moran (D-VA), Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ), Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rep. Diane Watson (D-CA), Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) and Rep. Albert Wynn (D-MD).

[Guest LAW]

Synopsis of Articles of Impeachment Against Vice President Richard B. Cheney

 

Articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives of the United States of America in the name of itself and of the people of the United States of America in the name of itself and of the people of the United States of America, against Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States of America, in maintenance and support of its impeachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors.

 

Article I

 

The Vice President of the United States, Richard B. Cheney, has purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States by fabricating a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to justify the use of the U.S. Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security interests.

 

( 1 ) Despite all evidence to the contrary, the Vice President actively and systematically sought to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States about an alleged threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

 

( 2 ) Preceding the March 2003 invasion of Iraq the Vice President was fully informed that no legitimate evidence existed of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The Vice President pressured the intelligence community to change their findings to enable the deception of the citizens and Congress of the United States.

 

( 3 ) The Vice President's actions corrupted or attempted to corrupt the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, and intelligence document issued on October 1, 2002 vote to authorize the use of force. The Vice President's actions prevented the necessary reconciliation of facts for the National Intelligence Estimate which resulted in a high number of dissenting opinions from technical experts in two federal agencies.

 

The Vice President subverted the national security interests of the United States by setting the stage of the loss of more than 3,300 United States service members; the loss of 650,000 Iraqi citizens since the U.S. invasion; the loss of approximately $500 billion in war costs which has increased our federal debt; the loss of military readiness within the United States Armed Services due to over extension, lack of training and lack of equipment; the loss of United States credibility in world affairs; and the decades of likely blowback created by the Invasion of Iraq.

[Guest Lyndon LaRouche PAC]

Kucinich has explained that he decided to bring the resolution now, because of the danger that Cheney, who got the U.S. into Iraq through lies, is now using similar lies to justify a preemptive war against Iran. He read the full text of the resolution on the House floor. The resolution is similar to HR 333, which Kucinich introduced in April, but has languished in the Judiciary Committee, headed by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) until now. The HR333 now has 22 cosponsors, the latest Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL). The resolution introduced today by Kucinich indicts Cheney for having lied that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and that the Iraq government worked closely with Al Qaeda, both of which accusations he knew to be false. The resolution also accuses Cheney of violating the Constitution by threatening to use force against Iran, when Iran poses no threat to the U.S.

[Luke_Wilbur]

1. H.CON.RES.23 : Expressing the sense of Congress that the President should not order an escalation in the total number of members of the United States Armed Forces serving in Iraq.

Sponsor: Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. [OH-10] (introduced 1/10/2007) Cosponsors (35)

Committees: House Armed Services

Latest Major Action: 1/10/2007 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.

2. H.RES.333 : Impeaching Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Sponsor: Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. [OH-10] (introduced 4/24/2007) Cosponsors (22)

Committees: House Judiciary

Latest Major Action: 5/4/2007 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.

3. H.RES.799 : Impeaching Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States, of high crimes and misdemeanors.

Sponsor: Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. [OH-10] (introduced 11/6/2007) Cosponsors (None)

Committees: House Judiciary

Latest Major Action: 11/6/2007 House floor actions. Status: On motion to refer Agreed to by recorded vote: 218 - 194 (Roll no. 1039).

[Guest Human_*]

Well!! There goes the constructive part out the window again "Darn".

[Luke_Wilbur]

I think the vote stunned everyone and even the anti-war forces, the House 251-162 to keep the Cheney impeachment measure alive. The majority was formed by 165 Republicans and 86 Democrats.

 

The Vermont Senate last Friday also approved impeachment charges against Cheney on a 16-9 vote.

[Guest Always Red]

I think the vote stunned everyone and even the anti-war forces, the House 251-162 to keep the Cheney impeachment measure alive. The majority was formed by 165 Republicans and 86 Democrats.

 

The Vermont Senate last Friday also approved impeachment charges against Cheney on a 16-9 vote.

 

I'm just dissapointed that the democrats didn't let this go forward. Pelosi is a chicken liberal. I think it would change many moderate voters who are leaning left to come back to the right way of thinking.

[Guest Hokie]

Congressman Moran is sending an email survey below and better inform me on how you think Congress should approach this issue. Here are the current results reported from:

 

http://moran.congressnewsletter.net

 

Which one of these four statements do you agree with about Vice President Cheney:

 

Vice President Cheney has abused his powers as Vice President which rise to the level of impeachable offenses under the Constitution, and he should be impeached and removed from office.

57.51%

 

Vice President Cheney has abused his powers as Vice President which rise to the level of impeachable offenses under the Constitution, but he should not be impeached.

11.18%

 

Vice President Cheney has abused his powers as Vice President, but the abuses are not serious enough to warrant impeachment under the Constitution.

9.61%

 

Vice President Cheney has not abused his powers as Vice President.

21.71%

 

Regardless of whether or not you believe the Vice President should be impeached, do you think the Judiciary Committee should begin hearings to look at the evidence of possible impeachable offenses?

 

 

Yes, I think the Judiciary Committee should begin impeachment hearings.

59.33%

 

No, I think impeachment hearings would be a waste of time and a distraction from more important issues Congress should address.

40.67%

[Guest k.hawley]

The US Congress and Senate has gone along with and approved of this Presidential "Immunity" every step of the way!

 

The Bush/Cheney method of American Govt.is to instigate and quickly initiate any and all "Illegal" procedures and actions including pre emptive "oil" wars,war crimes and the shredding of the US Constitution.

 

The White House's next move then is to forestall and cancel out any liability to itself,for any of its murderous and egregious crimes by declaring that the President has the Executive "Right" to do these criminal things in the first place - or for the President to simply grant "Immunity" or a "Pardon" to the various persons,US Govt agencies and businesses who willingly aided and abetted him and Cheney in perpetrating their horrendous crimes.

 

This method is actually working fantastically well for Bush & Cheney because the US Congress and Senate has gone along with and approved of this Presidential "Immunity" every step of the way!

[Guest Robert Parry]

When senior Democrats, such as House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, explain why impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney is off the table, they cite their fears of hostility from the American news media.

 

On Amy Goodman's "Democracy Now" on Dec. 20, Conyers said the U.S. news media has become such a problem that any Democratic attempt to hold the President and Vice President accountable might end up achieving the opposite result.

 

"There is a very stark reality that with the corporatization of the media, we could end up with turning people, who should be documented in history as making many profound errors and violating the Constitution, from villains into victims," the Michigan Democrat said.

 

In Conyers's view, it's kind of Watergate in reverse. Instead of the old Washington press corps holding President Richard Nixon's feet to the fire for his Watergate abuses, today's careerist news media would treat the idea of accountability for Bush and Cheney like some kooky conspiracy theory.

 

While one can dismiss Conyers's explanation as just another lame excuse from the timid Democratic leadership, there is an underlying reality here.

 

He's probably right that the Washington press corps would hoot any serious impeachment drive against Bush and Cheney off the political stage.

 

The current right-tilted asymmetry of the American news media has made it difficult if not impossible to achieve any sustained accountability for any of the Bush-Cheney offenses. For instance, the Washington Post, which led the charge on Watergate, now leads the defense of Bush/Cheney for their role in exposing CIA officer Valerie Plame.