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Videos by William Hughes
WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 13, 2007) – Below is Congressman Dennis Kucinich’s (D-OH) statement:
“Over a month ago, I stood up on behalf of the America people who
were expressing concern about whether or not Congress was going to
respond to the trampling of our Constitution that was going on.
“And the Articles of Impeachment that I introduced against the Vice
President represented a response to the concerns of millions of
Americans who have felt that the Vice President must be accountable for
his false statements which accelerate the United States toward war by
false claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, of false claims of
Iraq’s connection to al Qaeda and 9/11 and false claims of Iraq’s
intention to attack the United States.
“The Vice President’s statements with respect to beating the drums of war against Iran were also in the Articles of Impeachment.
“Since the introduction of the resolution the Vice President has
continued along the path of conduct that led me to file the articles of
Impeachment.
“The Vice President actively and systematically sought to deceive
the citizens and Congress about an alleged threat of Iraqi weapons of
mass destruction. He has purposely manipulated the intelligence process
to deceive us about the relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda. And he
openly lied to the America people and has publicly threatened
aggression against Iran.
“Since the introduction, seven Members of Congress have signed on as
co-sponsors of the resolution. They are Albert Wynn (D-MD), Barbara Lee
(D-CA), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), William Lacy Clay
(D-MO), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Maxine Waters (D-CA). Congresswomen
Lee and Woolsey are co-chairs of the Progressive Caucus, the largest
caucus in the Democratic Party.
“And with me now is the most recent cosponsor of H.Res. 333 – a
woman who’s the driving force in organizing Democrats to try to come up
with a strategy to try and take this country out of Iraq – Maxine
Waters.
“Congresswoman Maxine Waters’ support on this issue is of national
significance. She has demonstrated a capacity for courage and
determination that everyone knows and everyone respects. And I’m proud
to have her join this effort.
“I believe this is another milestone. With the support of the
leaders of the Progressive Caucus and the leader of the Out of Iraq
Caucus we will see more and more Members of Congress signing on in this
effort to save our Constitution and protect the very values that bind
us as a nation.”
__________
Ms. Waters: Thank you, thank you, thank you very much. I come this
morning to join with my friend and colleague and presidential candidate
Dennis Kucinich in calling for the impeachment of Vice President
Cheney. I believe that that he has been extremely courageous in
focusing on the fact that the Vice President of the United States has
been one of the main architects of the war in Iraq. Not only has he
been one of the main architects of this war, he continues day in and
day out, whenever he has the opportunity so speak about why we are in
Iraq, to mislead the American public about why we are there.
As I have gathered some of his statements I would like to indicate
that on September 8, 2002 he said: “We do know, with absolute
certainty, that he (Saddam Hussein, that is) is using his procurement
system to acquire the equipment he needs to build a nuclear weapon.”
His statement on March 16, 2003, that “we believe he has, in fact,
reconstituted nuclear weapons.” And, his statement on October 10, 2003
that “Saddam Hussein had an established relationship with AlQaeda.”
Vice President Dick Cheney is truly the poster boy for what is wrong
this administration. He is truly the poster child for the preemptive
strike that was taken against Iraq. And truly no matter what evidence
is presented to him and this administration, he continues to weave the
web of lies, the web of mismanagement and the web of misdirecting this
country and keeping us in that occupation in Iraq.
And so, the American people are not happy. In November, we had an
election. And for those of us who happen to be Democrats, we got a
message from the American people that said: “Bring our soldiers home!
Stop the occupation! Re-deploy! Come up with the strategy that will end
this war!” And I believe that many of us have constituents who are
disappointed, unhappy, and can’t understand why the Democrats don’t
have more courage, and why we have not been able to use our power to
discontinue funding this illegal and this immoral war.
And so, I believe that Dick Cheney is guilty of high crimes and
misdemeanors and that our friend and colleague who is here today and
who has been there on the cutting edge of this issue is absolutely
correct in calling for the impeachment and for those of us who have
signed on, we have waited long enough to amass the power to get rid of
this war and to stop this occupation – and it’s time now to step out of
the box and to move forward – and I join with Dennis Kucinich in doing
just that. We are calling for this impeachment and we want our
constituents and the citizens of this country to know we are not going
to take a back seat any longer. We are going to do what is necessary to
organize, to bring to the forefront, this issue.
Q: John Conyers, is he getting on this issue at all?
A, DK: Each member of congress will make up their own mind on this.
There’s never been any pressure applied. But the people across the
United States are engaged with their individual members and I fully
expect that there will be more members joining us. I think I could just
say that when we reach the number 25 we will be here again to have
another meeting to access the momentum. But we are gaining momentum and
before it was speculated that no one else would support the impeachment
and today we know that the leaders of the Progressive Caucus, and
Maxine Waters, leader of the Out of Iraq Caucus, have come on board.
This is quite significant, quite significant.
Q: Mr. Congressman, how important is the conviction of Irvin
“Scooter” Libby, who was a top aide to the Vice President on perjury
and obstruction of justice charges to your campaign to bring
impeachment charges against Mr. Cheney? Especially in light of the fact
that the special prosecutor, Mr. Fitzgerald, said there was “a cloud”
over the Vice President.
A, DK: I think that all Americans are concerned about the Libby case
in as much as the relationship between his actions and what it says
about the Vice President. But even without the evidence on the Libby
case, we have enough on record to go forward with impeachment. The
other concern I would express is, that is, apart from this gathering,
is whether or not this administration is lining things up to pardon Mr.
Libby. I’d be concerned about that. But, we have enough evidence right
now to go forward with an impeachment of the Vice President. And as
Congresswoman Waters stated, this isn’t a case of just his lies that
took us into war but he continues to lie to the American people. He
continues to try to present Iran as having nuclear weapons capability.
In a rally with troops on May the 11th, he said: “We’ll stand with
others to prevent Iran gaining nuclear weapons and dominating this
region.” He’s putting the same specter out there that he put of Iraq,
and this is another reason why there needs to be a response from the
Congress. Ms. Waters?
A, MW: I would like to just continue this line of discussion that
was just initiated by Mr. Kucinich about Iran. It is so important that
the American people understand that if we’re not careful, if we’re not
vigilant, if we’re not consistent, this Vice President and others,
including Senator Lieberman, will march us right into Iran and a war.
We need to stop them before they fool and trick the American people one
more time and tell them that Iran, in some way, is putting us at great
risk, and that we’ve got to have a preemptive strike and spread us even
thinner and get us into a war that will cause us to be engaged not only
in Iraq and Afghanistan but than Iran. And what’s next? Syria? Where
does this all go? I think it’s very, very important for people to
understand we have the power to stop this march to expanding this war
into Iran, and what we are doing today, hopefully, will help people to
understand that we have the courage to do what is necessary to help
organize and rally the people around the effort to discontinue not only
this war, but to make sure that we don’t expand it into Iran.
Q: Have you talked to the leadership about this, or have they talked to you about this?
A, DK: The leadership has been very engaged with the Democratic
agenda. Congresswoman Waters and I, and the others, are determined to
continue to cause the impeachment to be brought before the Congress and
the American people. The leadership has made its commitments for an
agenda; we understand impeachment is not on the leadership’s agenda.
But it is on the agenda of the American people. (Congresswoman Waters
turns to Congressman Kucinich, nods, and says “Yes.”)
And, we are going to persist in our efforts to bring this case
forward to the members of Congress, and as I indicated, I’m confident
that now, with Congresswoman Maxine Waters as part of this effort,
along with the help of Congresswomen Lee and Woolsey that our numbers
are going to continue to grow, and you will start to see that more and
more people as they see this momentum will join on. Keep in mind,
you’re talking about members of congress now who represent perhaps as
many as 5 million people in total. The voice of the American people is
starting to be heard. I want to thank all of you for being here.
(Applause)