Monday, June 9, 2008 was an astoundingly historic night for the United States of America. In the evening a mild mannered Congressman named Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) took to the floor of the House of Representatives and began to read a startling document, a document laying out 35 articles of impeachment against George W. Bush.
For five hours Congressman Kucinich read clearly and concisely each of the 35 counts against President Bush. Occasionally taking sips from a cup, Kucinich didn’t falter, didn’t take a break, and didn’t seem to tire with the long reading, in fact right up to the last article Kucinich, with unwavering passion, said for the 35th time that evening:
“In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and Commander in Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States. Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.”
These 35 astounding, criminal, impeachable, and in many cases monstrous offenses were spoken out loud for all to hear and watch on CSPAN. So where was the rest of the media, the supposed fourth estate? Where’s the in-depth public reporting on this occasion? Where’s Nancy Pelosi who has said all along that impeachment was “off the table” because she had seen no evidence for any criminal wrongdoing by the president and if anyone had such evidence could they “please let her know”. The evidence was read for the world to hear last night, it is now a matter of public record, and it couldn’t be more obvious that George W. Bush has committed an incredible amount of high crimes and misdemeanors.
Two Articles That Could be the Undoing of a President
Let’s focus on 2 key articles presented yesterday.
Article XIV states: “Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency.”
Article XVIII states: “Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy.”
Above all the other crimes committed by George Bush, these Articles could hold the key to waking up the members of the House Judiciary Committee who have been staunchly following the line of the House Speaker by not pursuing impeachment investigations.
Interestingly enough, yesterday just a short time prior to Kucinich making his historic presentation, the House Judiciary Committee, specifically John Conyers (D-Illinois), and Jerrold Nadler (D-New York), officially “invited” Scott McClellan to testify under oath, and be subject to perjury charges should he lie, to be asked about the following matters:
(1) What role did Bush, Cheney and key administration officials take in the effort to reveal the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson – thus destroying her network and putting lives in jeopardy?
(2) What role did Bush, Cheney and key administration officials take regarding the firing of U.S. Attorneys for political reasons?
(3) What role did Bush, Cheney and key administration officials take in conspiring to blatantly break U.S. and International laws prohibiting the use of torture?
Congressman Robert Wexler (D-Florida), a co-sponsor of these articles of impeachment, has been demanding that the Judiciary Committee subpoena McClellan, as well as Rove, Rice and Powell. McClellan’s testimony in conjunction with what this resolution is presenting in Articles XIV and XVII (see background information at http://www.wexlerforcongress.com/news.asp?ItemID=255), could rip open a gaping hole in this administration's armor that will ultimately result in its destruction.
Will the media be silent then? Why aren’t these articles of impeachment making their way right now into the public arena to assure that investigations into these articles begin immediately? Former president Bill Clinton was investigated and impeached in the House for perjury and obstruction of justice over lying about an illicit sexual affair, and then later was cleared in the Senate of the charges in only 21 days. There wasn’t a paper, tabloid, or TV station in this country that didn’t cover every sordid detail of the investigation that led up to those “high crimes and misdemeanors” – what is the explanation for the echoing silence in the face of the astounding and mountainous amount of evidence of the bloody crimes of George W. Bush?
Why does Bush get a free ride in the media – a media that has so obviously silenced this story, for such heinous crimes as torture, falsely leading a nation to war, rendition, imprisoning children as young as ten years old, spying on American citizens without a warrant, obliterating the Posse Comitatus act, etc. What has changed in the media from non-stop coverage of the impeachment proceedings of a president in 1999, to the resounding silence we hear in 2008? Will our ‘leaders’ in D.C. take the reading of these charges seriously and begin impeachment hearings now?
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