Sarasota Herald Tribune
4/26/07
Cheney should quit or be impeached
In his articles of impeachment introduced Tuesday, Dennis Kucinich has correctly identified the biggest current threat to our democracy and to the possibility of world peace: Dick Cheney.
Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld were the primary proponents of the war in Iraq. They are guilty of outright deceit of the American people.
Cheney, to this day, repeats unfounded and discredited intelligence as if it is pure fact. Some examples? Hijacker Atta met with Iraqi officials in Prague five months before 9/11; Saddam Hussein sought to buy yellowcake uranium in Niger; Iraq purchased aluminum tubes which could only be used for enriching uranium. The full list is much longer.
And where did these falsehoods originate? Who was employed to vet this intelligence? The CIA, United Nations weapons inspectors and the International Atomic Energy Agency would not support these allegations, so Cheney formed his own intelligence office at Rumsfeld’s Pentagon, the Office of Special Plans.
Unfortunately, our national media were all too ready to beat their drums of war, and the American people were, for the most part, fooled.
Four years of hindsight and mountains of transcripts, e-mails, memos and video now show us how we were deliberately misled.
It is unacceptable for Cheney to continue to occupy any seat of power in our democratic government.
Like Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, Colin Powell and John Ashcroft, Cheney should resign, or face impeachment.
Kathleen Schmitz
Sarasota