If Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) is looking for a way to distinguish himself from the pack of candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for president in the 2008 election, he need look no further than impeachment.
While Kucinich can justifiably and proudly claim ownership of the anti-war position, having been there from the get-go, everyone else in the field has piled on—even Hillary Clinton—at least to the point that the average voter would have a hard time distinguishing their positions regarding the war in Iraq.
But calling for impeachment of the president is something else.
So far impeachment is a verboten word among Democrats in Congress, where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and the party leadership have made it clear that anyone who steps out of line and submits a bill of impeachment will be punished. The leadership has even gone so far as to attempt—with considerable success—to crush grassroots efforts to introduce impeachment resolutions in state legislatures (such pressure on key Democrats killed such a measure in New Mexico, and derailed another in the state of Washington, and is being used now to attempt to block a third effort in Vermont).
Pelosi’s unconscionable strong-arm tactics to keep impeachment “off the table” in the 110th Congress have even cowed House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers (D-MI), who in the 109th Congress had been leading calls for an investigation into impeachable crimes by the administration, and had submitted bills calling for formation of a special committee to investigate such crimes. Since Pelosi began her campaign to protect the president from impeachment, Conyers has been silent on the issue, though his discomfort has been obvious.
Enter Dennis Kucinich.
Kucinich, on March 15, after watching Democratic efforts to block Bush from going to war against Iran without Congressional approval get unceremoniously scrapped, announced that it looks like “impeachment may well be the only remedy which remains to stop a war of aggression against Iran.” Warning that “the administration has been preparing for an aggressive war against Iran,” despite “no solid, direct evidence that Iran has the intention of attacking the United States or its allies,” Kucinich noted that under international law and US law it is illegal to initiate a war of aggression, and that it is also illegal to threaten a war of aggression against another state that does not pose an immediate threat.
It is now widely rumored that Kucinich is planning to act on his belief that Bush has committed crimes and that he may soon file a bill of impeachment in the House--a move that would certainly seem to follow logically from his latest statement.
If he does so, here’s hoping he will not limit his bill to just the president’s Iran war threats. As serious as that charge is, it is important that Congress initiate impeachment hearings into the many other crimes and abuses of power that this administration has engaged in over the course of the last six years.
In particular, Kucinich should call for impeachment hearings into Bush’s authorization of torture, his willful felonious violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, his evident involvement in the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson and the obstruction of justice in the investigation of that incident, his willful abuse of power in invalidating over 1200 acts or portions of acts passed by the Congress through the misuse of so-called “signing statements,” his and his subordinates’ lies to Congress and the 9-11 Commission, his criminal negligence in the Katrina disaster and in failing to provide adequate armor for troops in Iraq and to plan for the Iraq occupation that would follow toppling of the Saddam regime, his lies leading up to the Iraq invasion, and his administration’s corruption of the nation’s electoral system, most recently evidenced in some of the politically-motivated firings of federal prosecutors. Kucinich should also include a call for an impeachment hearing into claims, made by investigative reporter Sy Hersh, that the administration used some of the “missing” Iraq reconstruction money to fund Al-Qaeda-linked groups to have them secretly attack targets in Iran.
The mountain of evidence of this administration’s crimes against the Constitution, the Republic, and the People of the United States has been growing by the month, and Speaker Pelosi’s and the DNC’s position—that it is better to simply run out the clock to 2008 and let the administration continue to mess up—is looking increasingly craven, calculating and unconscionable.
Kucinich has long shown himself to be that rare thing—a politician of conscience.
He now has the chance to prove it, by standing up to Pelosi and the do-nothing Democratic leadership. As Kucinich said in his statement on the floor of Congress, “This House cannot avoid its constitutionally authorized responsibility to restrain the abuse of Executive power.”
If Kucinich acts on those words and puts impeachment back on the House table, he will deserve to move to the head of the table in the Democratic presidential race.
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net
Dave Lindorff, a columnist for Counterpunch, is author of several recent books ("This Can't Be Happening! Resisting the Disintegration of American Democracy" and "Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Penalty Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal"). His (more...)
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Pelosi belongs in jail for obstruction of impeachment.
She's protecting Bush, & for this, deserves a cell right next to his. As the article makes clear, Bush is a dangerous criminal, and if the "opposition" leader won't permit action to remove him, she's throwing accountable government out the window. She has no more right to do this, than Bush does, to commit all the crimes enumerated in Lindorff's article.
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Richard Mynick (2 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 1552 comments [255 recommended, 5 rejected]) on Friday, Mar 16, 2007 at 12:26:11 PM
And I agree with it completely (though the list of crimes may be longer). I also wonder why he can't be locked up like any other criminal running around--cuffed and thrown in jail without bond. Maybe a little waterboarding will help bring out the truth quickly.
Of course, if DK doesn't act now, it is hard to imagine why he would consider himself presidential material (it's time I have to say that, even though I have been one of his most dedicated advocates).
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Daniel Geery (26 articles, 95 quicklinks, 126 diaries, 912 comments [27 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Mar 16, 2007 at 12:55:27 PM
Kucinich advocating stongly for impeachment would be good for him and the country. I doubt very much it would make him a serious contender for the nomination -- maybe he would recieve a small two or three percentage point bounce -- but it would help to expand the debate and bring up crucial issues that others will not touch.
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Michael Corcoran (8 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 10 comments) on Friday, Mar 16, 2007 at 1:20:04 PM
I liked seeing Dennia today with the charts while he questioned Valarie Plame. Show the coordinated facts as to how this administration advances its policy. Watch as similar methods become apparent in most every deception. The evidence is there and our Congress needs to go on record.
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Sleeper (1 articles, 1 quicklinks, 15 diaries, 312 comments [6 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Mar 16, 2007 at 3:47:11 PM
That's right. A Newsweek poll in October of 2006 showed that 28% said that impeachment of Bush was their most important issue. A further 24% said it was their second most important.
That was 5 months ago. Sentiment for impeachment could be over 60% by now. What a powerful force against Bush would be a headline in Time or Newsweek or the New York Times "58% favor impeachment of President Bush" Think of the impetus that would give not only to the nascent impeachment effort but perhaps more importantly a powerful blow to all of Bush's policies. I have written to Zogby twice to urge him to conduct an impeachment poll. He has replied "Soon" one time and "Maybe" in the next one. If enough people wrote to Zogby (just go to his website to get his address), he might actully defie Nancy Pelosi and put impeachment back on the table.
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Deano (2 articles, 1 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 18 comments) on Friday, Mar 16, 2007 at 11:33:39 PM
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