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by Marjorie Cohn
Nine out of 23 Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee favor starting impeachment hearings against Vice-President Dick Cheney. Six of the nine are co-sponsors of H.R. 799, which contains three articles of impeachment.
Articles I and II of H.R. 799 accuse Cheney of purposely manipulating intelligence to deceive Congress and the American people about a fabricated threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, and about an alleged relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda, respectively. Article III charges Cheney with openly threatening aggression against Iran absent any real threat to the United States. All three articles say Cheney’s actions have damaged our national security interests.
Three of the nine Judiciary Committee Democrats who advocate launching impeachment hearings against Cheney, Reps. Robert Wexler (D., Fla.), Luis Gutierrez (D., Ill.) and Tammy Baldwin (D., Wis.), co-authored an op-ed that appeared on December 27 in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
They wrote, “The issues at hand are too serious to ignore, including credible allegations of abuse of power that, if proven, may well constitute high crimes and misdemeanors under the Constitution. The allegations against Cheney relate to his deceptive actions leading up to the Iraq war, the revelation of the identity of a covert agent for political retaliation, and the illegal wiretapping of American citizens.”
There is also credible evidence that policies set in Cheney’s office authorized the torture of prisoners in U.S. custody, in violation of three treaties the United States has ratified, as well as the U.S. Torture Statute and War Crimes Act. The policies on the treatment of prisoners emanating from Cheney’s office triggered the abuse and torture, according to Lawrence Wilkerson, former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s chief of staff.
“It was clear to me that there was a visible audit trail from the Vice President’s office through the Secretary of Defense down to the commanders in the field,” Wilkerson, a former colonel, said on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition.”
In November, the House of Representatives sent the impeachment resolution to the House Judiciary Committee for further proceedings. However many Democrats oppose impeachment, citing the year and a half of testimony about Bill Clinton’s personal relations. They think impeachment will detract from Congress’s other pressing business.
Yet, the three congresspersons noted, the Clinton impeachment “must not be the model for impeachment inquiries. A Democratic Congress can show that it takes its constitutional authority seriously and hold a sober investigation, which will stand in stark contrast to the kangaroo court convened by Republicans for Clinton.”
And, they argue, the hearings would “involve the possible impeachment of the vice president – not of our commander in chief – and the resulting impact on the nation’s business and attention would be significantly less than the Clinton presidential impeachment hearings.”
Seventy percent of American voters think Cheney has abused his powers and 43 percent say he should be removed from office, according to a Nov. 13 poll by the American Research Group. Organizations, including the National Lawyers Guild, have called for the impeachment of Dick Cheney.
Impeachment hearings against Cheney would not only fulfill the Constitution’s command that high officials who commit high crimes and misdemeanors be brought to justice. It would also deter the vice president from committing additional crimes that threaten the national security of the United States.
Any impeachment proceeding would have to start in the House Judiciary Committee. The nine Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee who favor impeachment hearings are: Robert Wexler, Fla.; Luis Gutierrez, Ill.; Anthony Weiner, N.Y.; Tammy Baldwin, Wisc.; Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas; Steve Cohen, Tenn.; Keith Ellison, Minn.; Maxine Waters, Calif.; and Hank Johnson, Ga.
Here is a list of the entire House Judiciary Committee: http://judiciary.house.gov/CommitteeMembership.aspx.
For information about the campaign to impeach Dick Cheney, see http://impeachcheney.org.
Marjorie Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and President of the National Lawyers Guild. Her new book, Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law, was just published by PoliPointPress.
Scott,
There are nine members of the House Judiciary who are ‘onboard’ for impeachment of Cheney:
1). Hon. Jackson Lee (Cosigned H. Res. 333)
2). Hon. Waters (Cosigned H. Res. 333)
3). Hon. Wexler (Authored Wexler Letter)
4). Hon. Cohen (Cosigned H. Res. 333)
5). Hon. Johnson (Cosigned H. Res. 333)
6). Hon. Gutierrez (Cosigned Wexler Letter)
7). Hon. Baldwin (Cosigned H. Res. 333), (Cosigned Wexler Letter)
8). Hon. Weiner (Cosigned Wexler Letter)
9). Hon. Ellison (Cosigned H. Res. 333)
Here are the 24 cosponsors of H. Res. 333 (re-introduced as H. Res. 799 in the 110th Congress):
Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy [MO-1] – 5/1/2007
Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. [IL-9] – 5/1/2007
Rep Wynn, Albert Russell [MD-4] – 5/10/2007
Rep Clarke, Yvette D. [NY-11] – 6/6/2007
Rep Lee, Barbara [CA-9] – 6/7/2007
Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. [CA-6] – 6/7/2007
Rep Waters, Maxine [CA-35] – 6/12/2007
Rep Johnson, Henry C. “Hank,” Jr. [GA-4] – 6/28/2007
Rep Ellison, Keith [MN-5] – 6/28/2007
Rep McDermott, Jim [WA-7] – 7/10/2007
Rep Moran, James P. [VA-8] – 7/10/2007
Rep Farr, Sam [CA-17] – 7/12/2007
Rep Filner, Bob [CA-51] – 7/12/2007
Rep Brady, Robert A. [PA-1] – 7/24/2007
Rep Baldwin, Tammy [WI-2] – 8/1/2007
Rep Payne, Donald M. [NJ-10] – 8/1/2007
Rep Cohen, Steve [TN-9] – 8/4/2007
Rep Jackson-Lee, Sheila [TX-18] – 8/4/2007
Rep Kilpatrick, Carolyn C. [MI-13] – 9/7/2007
Rep Towns, Edolphus [NY-10] – 9/27/2007
Rep Watson, Diane E. [CA-33] – 10/16/2007
Rep Davis, Danny K. [IL-7] – 11/5/2007
Rep Grijalva, Raul M. [AZ-7] – 12/5/2007
Rep Moore, Gwen [WI-4] – 12/19/2007
(Authored by Rep Kucinich, Dennis [OH])
If everyone who comes to our site and agrees would begin systematically pressuring their own Representatives as well as those as-of-yet not committed to impeachment members of the House Judiciary, impeachment would move forward much more quickly.
Re: the first line- I count 8 our of 23, not 9. And 6 of them are co-sponsors of HR 333 (not HR 799, which is just a copy that was re-introduced later on the floor by Kucinich)
Keep up the good work!
RE: #2,
Don’t Worry.
In the time it took to compose your entry to this post you could have signed your name to the Wexler petition or called your Representative or started a letter to the editor of your paper.
Instead you criticize those who are doing what every citizen should be doing?
Get off your ass and make a difference!
Mikael
The truth is, if they impeach Cheney, they’ll have to impeach Bush too. He’s in this WAY over his head. But then My Pet Goat was way over his head too.
This is a brilliant idea. Unfortunately, it will never come to fruition.
LITTLE BIRD CROUCHED ALL DAY
HIGHER AND HIGHER HE GETS
PEOPLE’S LIVES HE’LL WISH AWAY
THE HIGHER THE BIRD
THE DEEPER THE SHIT