"The degree to which this President continues to take steps to go to war against Iran without consulting with the full Congress is the degree to which he is increasingly putting himself in jeopardy of an impeachment proceeding." - Dennis Kucinich
Kucinich: The White House Is Up To Its Old Tricks; Is Preparing the United States for an Attack on Iran : President's Actions Could Lead to Impeachment
Washington, Jan 26 - WASHINGTON, D.C. (Jan. 26) - Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) accused the White House of mounting a media blitz to prepare the U.S. public for an eventual attack on Iran. Today The Washington Post reported the Bush administration has authorized the U.S. military to kill or capture Iranian operatives inside Iraq as part of an aggressive new strategy to weaken Tehran's influence across the Middle East.
"The White House is up to its old tricks again: Providing information by anonymous sources and portraying Iran as an aggressor in Iraq," Kucinich said.
"The President is mischaracterizing U.S. action vis à vis Iran. In fact, the U.S. is already engaged in offensive and provocative acts against Iran. The President's strategy, by portraying our involvement as only being on the defensive, is laying out the groundwork for him to attack Iran and bypass authorization by Congress," Kucinich said.
The Washington Post article stated: "A senior intelligence officer was more wary of the ambitions of the strategy. 'This has little to do with Iraq. It's all about pushing Iran's buttons. It is purely political.' The official expressed similar views about other new efforts aimed at Iran, suggesting that the United States is escalating toward an unnecessary conflict to shift attention away from Iraq and to blame Iran for the United States' increasing inability to stanch the violence there."
Kucinich said, "The White House spin machine is at it again: this time providing justification for a new war - a war against Iran." Kucinich pointed out that while the term 'officials' is mentioned 21 times in the Post article - not once are the officials identified by name.
In his January 10 address to the nation, President Bush asserted that succeeding in Iraq begins with addressing Iran and Syria. "Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We'll interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq," Bush said.
"The Washington Post is quoting strategically placed Administration sources who are providing justification for an attack against Iran," Kucinich said. "This new twist on Iran, a country this Administration refuses to have free and open diplomatic talks with, is stating the Administration's case for war."
"The degree to which this President continues to take steps to go to war against Iran without consulting with the full Congress is the degree to which he is increasingly putting himself in jeopardy of an impeachment proceeding," Kucinich said.
DAVID SWANSON is a co-founder of After Downing Street, a writer and activist, and the Washington Director of Democrats.com. He is a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, and serves on the Executive Council of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, Media Coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as Communications Coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Swanson obtained a Master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia in 1997.
The Speaker said no impeachment. Her tour of Baghdad is her way of emphazing that there will be no impeachment on her watch.
Good luck Rep Kucinich, but no consulation prize.
It's way past time to discard the so called 2 party system which produces ditto heads of the ilk of Speaker Pelosi.
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larry278 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 47 comments)
on Friday, January 26, 2007 at 6:31:36 PM
Kucinich - No Campaigning - Until filing Impeachment
I like Dennis Kucinich. He will not be the DNC poster boy though. He needs to stop worrying about campaigning for now and push the drive for articles of impeachment to be filed. IF he does that the PEOPLE will draft him as their candidate of choice. Otherwise forgetta bout it.
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JohnNmissouri (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 40 comments)
on Saturday, January 27, 2007 at 4:07:54 PM
http://kucinich.us I stand by my original comment on this article. He must PUSH for articles of impeachment to be filed and lobby Congress to vote for impeachment. Did you see the tens of thousands of protesters today? THEY ALL DEMAND IMPEACHMENT! IMPEACH, INDICT, IMPRISON! Start with Cheney. The Libby case will hand them Rove and Cheney on a silver platter. THEN BUSH!
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JohnNmissouri (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 40 comments)
on Saturday, January 27, 2007 at 7:56:50 PM
Upon reading this article and the posts below it, it becomes apparent how little we have going for us and how little it takes to restore optimism.
Maybe that's a good thing, a useful adaptation to despair. But I can't help thinking that the story for America is over (the good part, anyway), and that living in this ersatz republic will become increasingly undesirable, and that the longer it takes to realize this, to accept this (assuming it is correct), and then to begin making the plans necessary for transition to a safer, happier and healthier place to be.
What does it say that we are so excited about only one candidate who would make a fine statesman, and that he is unelectable? It says that we, the American left, have nothing to fight with and aren't very close to turning that around. It says that the left has collapsed and left a sinkhole filled by the Democrats and Dennis Kucinich. It's been dead since the assassinations of the sixties. For thirty plus years, the conservatives have been plotting, funding, think-tanking, policy writing, school board infesting, media crippling, court stacking, constitution flaunting and election tampering - unchecked and unopposed. Nobody noticed. Complete failure of vigilance as a democracy.
The fact that the American people can no longer understand their situation or recognize help for it when it arrives – in fact, you can be sure that they would revile Kucinich after the neocons had him in the spin cycle for a few weeks - says that the American people are no longer fit to participate in their government. What legitimate reason for not allowing minors to vote does not also apply to the American people, who, collectively, with their childlike naivety and almost complete ignorance of political reality, still trust in and can be tricked at will by malevolent forces? The American people behave like children, and they not only don't respect liberalism - the foundations of such concepts as limited and divided government, liberty, democracy – but they revile it.
There is no national liberal infrastructure, just isolated, uncoordinated and sparse cells of liberal activity. And it will not appear over night if at all. It's like a coral reef, one that grows organically from the first spicule up. Currently, you have Dennis Kucinich. One spicule. Even Pelosi and Reid are functioning like lawyers for the administration, and Clinton is a conservative. One spicule.
So good luck with that, but shouldn't we all be thinking about a better life that doesn't require dragging the American people uphill against their will with the neocons firing in our faces and the Democrats who we thought would cover us being unwilling to shoot back? Just asking.
So, let's do what we can. But let's recognize that that may be too little too late, and if so, not recognizing that could be costly. Keep a current passport and remain relatively liquid. And if you had to leave home tonight with what you can carry, what would it be and where would you go? I just fear for anybody who is relying on the intelligence and character of the American people after generations of dumbing down and deliberate neglect.
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Yaybob (10 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 164 comments)
on Sunday, January 28, 2007 at 2:51:10 AM
