Summary of Kucinich’s Impeachment Resolution

by Scott Creighton 

It is important for all of us to understand the exact crimes specified in Dennis Kucinich’s impeachment resolution that is before the Judicial Committee of the House of Representatives.

Following the break, I have taken the liberty to convert the resolution into Word format and condensed it to the core elements of the resolution. It is as it was written with only a few examples of evidence removed.

The resolution of impeachment of the Vice President is a 3 charge indictment of wrong doing. Those three charges are represented by the 3 Articles of the resolution of impeachment. Each Article is supported by strong evidence within the resolution.

The three charges against Cheney are as follows:

Article 1. Cheney purposefully manipulated intelligence and made false statements pertaining to Iraq’s possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction, in order to justify an illegal invasion of Iraq.

Article 2.Cheney purposefully manipulated intelligence and made false statements pertaining to Saddam Hussain’s connections to the terrorist organization known as al Qaeda, in order to justify an illegal invasion of Iraq.

Article 3.Cheney is intentionally making false statements and threatening a unilateral invasion of the sovereign nation of Iran, in clear violation of our agreement with the United Nations.

Please read the following summary and feel free to use it as you see fit on your sites or in discussions. The emphasis has been added.

RESOLUTION

Impeaching Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United

States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.

 

Article I

In his conduct while Vice President of the United States, Richard B. Cheney, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of Vice President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, 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 United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq.

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:

 (A) ‘‘We know they have biological and chemical weapons.” March 17, 2002, Press Conference by Vice President Dick Cheney

(B) ‘‘…and we know they are pursuing nuclear weapons.” March 19, 2002, Press Briefing by Vice President Dick Cheney and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem.

(C) ‘‘And he is actively pursuing nuclear weapons at this time…” March 24, 2002, CNN Late Edition interview with Vice President Cheney.

(D) ‘‘We know he’s got chemicals and biological and we know he’s working on nuclear.” May 19, 2002, NBC Meet the Press interview with Vice President Cheney.

(E) ‘‘But we now know that Saddam has resumed his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons… Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt that he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies,  and against us.” August 26, 2002, Speech of Vice President Cheney at VFW

(F) ‘‘Based on intelligence that’s becoming available, some of it has been made public, more of it hopefully will be, that he has indeed stepped up his capacity to produce and deliver biological weapons, that he has reconstituted his nuclear program to develop a nuclear weapon, that there are efforts under way inside Iraq to significantly expand his capability.” September 8, 2002 NBC Meet the Press interview with Vice President Cheney.

(G) ‘‘He is, in fact, actively and aggressively seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.” September 8, 2002 NBC Meet the Press interview with Vice President Cheney.

(H) ‘‘And we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.” March 16, 2003, NBC Meet the Press interview with Vice President Cheney.

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.

(A) Vice President Cheney and his Chief of Staff, Lewis Libby, made multiple trips to the CIA in 2002 to question analysts studying Iraq’s weapons programs and alleged links to al Qaeda, creating an environment in which analysts felt they were being pressured to make their assessments fit with the Bush administration’s  policy objectives accounts.

(B) Vice President Cheney sought out unverified and ultimately inaccurate raw intelligence to prove his preconceived beliefs. This strategy of cherry picking was employed to influence the interpretation of the intelligence.

The Vice President subverted the national security interests of the United Statesby setting the stage for the loss of more than 3300 United States service members; the loss of 650,000 Iraqi citizens since the United States 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 overextension, 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.

In all of this, Vice President Richard B. Cheney has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as Vice President, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of the cause of law and justice and the manifest injury of the people of the United States.Wherefore, Vice President Richard B. Cheney, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.

Article II

In his conduct while Vice President of the United States, Richard B. Cheney, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of Vice President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States about an alleged relationship  between Iraqand al Qaeda in order to justify the use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security interests, to wit:

1.) Despite all evidence to the contrary, the Vice President actively and systematically sought to deceive the citizens and the Congress of the United States about an alleged relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda:

(A) ‘‘His regime has had high-level contacts with Al Qaeda going back a decade and has provided training to Al Qaeda terrorists.” December 2, 2002, Speech of Vice President Cheney at the Air National Guard Senior Leadership Conference.

(B) ‘‘His regime aids and protects terrorists, including members of Al Qaeda. He could decide secretly to provide weapons of mass destruction to terrorists for use against us.” January 30, 2003, Speech of Vice President Cheney to 30th Political Action Conference in Arlington, Virginia.

(C) ‘‘We know he’s out trying once again to produce nuclear weapons and we know that he has a long-standing relationship with various terrorist groups, including the Al Qaeda organization.” March 16, 2003, NBC Meet the Press interview with Vice President Cheney.

(D) ‘‘We learned more and more that there was a relationship between Iraqand Al Qaeda that stretched back through most of the decade of the ’90s, that it involved training, for example, on biological weapons and chemical weapons…” September 14, 2003, NBC Meet the Press interview with Vice President Cheney.

(E) ‘‘Al Qaeda had a base of operation there up in Northeastern Iraq where they ran a large poisons factory for attacks against Europeans and U.S. forces.” October 3, 2003, Speech of Vice President Cheney at Bush-Cheney ‘04 Fundraiser in Iowa.

(F) ‘‘He also had an established relationship with Al Qaeda providing training to Al Qaeda members in areas of poisons, gases, and conventional bombs.” October 10, 2003, Speech of Vice President Cheney to the Heritage Foundation.

(G) ‘‘Al Qaeda and the Iraqi intelligence services have worked together on a number of occasions.” January 9, 2004, Rocky Mountain News interview with Vice President Cheney.

(H) ‘‘I think there’s overwhelming evidence that there was a connection between Al Qaeda and the Iraqi government” January 22, 2004, NPR: Morning Edition interview with Vice President Cheney.

(I) ‘‘First of all, on the question of-of whether or not there was any kind of relationship, there clearly was a relationship. It’s been testified to; the evidence is overwhelming.” June 17, 2004, CNBC: Capital Report interview with Vice President Cheney.

2.)  Preceding the March 2003 invasion of Iraq the Vice President was fully informed that no credible evidence existed of a working relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda, a fact articulated in several official documents, including:

(A) A classified Presidential Daily Briefing ten days after the September 11, 2001 attacks indicating that the United States intelligence community had no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the September 11th attacks and that there was ‘‘scant credible evidence that Iraqhad any significant collaborative ties with Al Qaeda’.‘

(B) Defense Intelligence Terrorism Summary No. 044-02, issued in February 2002 by the United States Defense Intelligence Agency, which challenged the credibility of information gleaned from captured al Qaeda leader al-Libi. The DIA report also cast significant doubt on the possibility of a Saddam Hussein-al-Qaeda conspiracy: ‘‘Saddam’s regime is intensely secular and is wary of Islamic revolutionary movements. Moreover, Baghdad is unlikely to provide assistance to a group it cannot control.”.

(C) A January 2003 British intelligence classified report on Iraq that concluded that ‘‘there are no current links between the Iraqi regime and the al-Qaeda network”.

Article III

In his conduct while Vice President of the United States, Richard B. Cheney, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of Vice President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has openly threatened aggression against the Republic of Iran absent any real threat to the United States, and done so with the United States proven capability to carry out such threats, thus undermining the national security of the United States, to wit:

1.)   Despite no evidence that Iran has the intention or the capability of attacking the United States and despite the turmoil created by United States invasion of Iraq, the Vice President has openly threatened aggression against Iran as evidenced by the following:

2. )   The Vice President, who repeatedly and falsely claimed to have had specific, detailed knowledge of Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction capabilities, is no doubt fully aware of evidence that demonstrates Iran poses no real threat to the United States as evidenced by the following:

(A) ‘‘I know that what we see in Iran right now is not the industrial capacity you can [use to develop a] bomb.” Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency, February 19, 2007.

(B) Iran indicated its ‘‘full readiness and willingness to negotiate on the modality for the resolution of the outstanding issues with the IAEA, subject to the assurances for dealing with the issues in the framework of the Agency, without the interference of the United Nations Security Council”. IAEA Board Report, February 22, 2007.

(C) ‘‘...so whatever they have, what we have seen today, is not the kind of capacity that would enable them to make bombs.” Mohamed El Baradei, Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency, February 19, 2007.

(3) The Vice President is fully aware of the actions taken by the United States towards Iran that are further destabilizing the world as evidenced by the following:

(A) The United States has refused to engage in meaningful diplomatic relations with Iran since 2002, rebuffing both bilateral and multilateral offers to dialogue.

(B) The United States is currently engaged in a military buildup in the Middle East that includes the increased presence of the United States Navy in the waters near Iran, significant United States Armed Forces in two nations neighboring to Iran, and the installation of anti-missile technology in the region.

(C) News accounts have indicated that military planners have considered the B61-11, a tactical nuclear weapon, as one of the options to strike underground bunkers in Iran.

(D) The United States has been linked to anti-Iranian organizations that are attempting to destabilize the Iranian government, in particular the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK), even though the state department has branded it a terrorist organization.

4.)   In the last three years the Vice President has repeatedly threatened Iran. However, the Vice President is legally bound by the U.S Constitution’s adherence to international law that prohibits threats of use of force.

(A) Article VI of the United States Constitution states;  ‘‘This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land.”

Any provision of an international treaty ratified by the United States becomes the law of the United States.

(B) The United States is a signatory to the United Nations Charter, a treaty among the nations of the world. Article II, Section 4 of the United Nations Charter states, ‘‘All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.”

The threat of force is illegal.

The Vice President’s deception upon the citizens and Congress of the United States that enabled the failed United States invasion of Iraq forcibly altered the rules of diplomacy such that the Vice President’s recent belligerent actions towards Iran are destabilizing and counter-productive to the national security of the United States.

In all of this, Vice President Richard B. Cheney has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as Vice President, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of the cause of law and justice and the manifest injury of the people of the United States.

Wherefore Richard B. Cheney, by such conduct, warrants impeachment and trial, and removal from office.