Impeach Cheney?
Published Tue, May 1 2007 12:13 AM
Technorati Tags: News and Politics, War on Terror, Democrats, Iraq
Rep. Kucinich has introduced articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney. Since this issue has been hyped so much by various "liberal" activist groups, including the Democratic Party of California and the Green Party, I thought I'd address it.
Rep. Kucinich filed three articles of impeachment. I'll refer you to the text of the resolution as it was introduced to Congress by Rep. Kucinich as we go through this post. I'm just going to hit the first one, for now. When I get time, I'll come back and address the other two.
Article I
To begin with, the first article of impeachment charges Vice President Cheney with "...fabricating a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to justify the use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq..."
As one example, the first article cites the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research as stating that it believed the claims that Iraq was attempting to obtain uranium from Africa were "highly dubious". This was not omitted from the information that Congress considered. The articles note that this was a dissenting opinion in the National Intelligence Estimate. Congress had access to this opinion as it considered the authorization to use force.
Vice President Cheney did not redact this information, which is cited in the articles of impeachment from the National Intelligence Estimate. That hardly sounds like he fabricated the threat.
At the time, the Unites States was not the only nation with intelligence that showed that Iraq was continuing to work toward the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction. In fact British Intelligence Services asserted then, as they still do today that they had determined that Iraq had sought uranium from Africa. While the President's use of this intelligence was in the 2003 State of the Union Address, the intelligence was gathered by the British in 2002, and the British concluded in September of 2002 that Iraq had been seeking uranium from Africa. (See page 122 of the Butler Report.)
It hardly seems likely that Vice President Cheney could have fabricated that bit of intelligence, and yet Rep. Kucinich's first article of impeachment mentions it specifically as evidence that the intelligence was manipulated.
Nor is it a credible charge that the October 1 National Intelligence Estimate was the sole reason that the Congress voted to authorize the war. There are 23 causes of action cited in the authorization to use force. The existence of weapons of mass destruction was not one of them.
The fact of the matter is that there was plenty of credible evidence that Iraq did pose a threat with regard to the use of weapons of mass destruction. It required no fabrication from the Vice President to assert that the threat was real.
In 1998, President Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998. This act lists the following interesting tidbits.
The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) On September 22, 1980, Iraq invaded Iran, starting an 8 year war in which Iraq employed chemical weapons against Iranian troops and ballistic missiles against Iranian Cities.
(2) In February 1988, Iraq forcibly relocated Kurdish civilians from their home villages in the Anfal campaign, killing an estimated 50,000 to 180,000 Kurds.
(3) On March 16, 1988 Iraq used chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurdish civilian opponents in the town of Halabja, killing an estimated 5,000 Kurds and causing numerous birth defects that affect the town today.
It seems to me that a nation that is known to have used weapons of mass destruction would be seen as a nation that posed a "threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction". It takes no fabrication to see this.
I submit therefore, that the first article of impeachment filed by Rep. Kucinich is without solid foundation. I doubt that the other two will stand up under scrutiny either.
The likelihood of success
Further, it is extremely unlikely that even if the House were to vote on the articles of impeachment against Vice President Cheney that the vote would carry enough votes to pass.
The even narrower Democratic margin in the Senate is insufficient to convict him. Even if Vice President Cheney is successfully impeached, a highly unlikely outcome, it would still require two thirds of the Senators present to convict him, and there aren't enough "RINOs" to support the Democratic party in this.
The articles of impeachment against Vice President Cheney are a nuisance, an annoyance, and a hindrance. They are political grandstanding without a chance of success, although they appeal to the fringe of the Democratic party's base.
It's just another example of the Democratic party doing what they've shown themselves to be so capable of so far this legislative session... Nothing.
Trackposted to The Amboy Times, Leaning Straight Up, Shadowscope, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
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