Reps. Waters and Kucinich Speak on Impeaching Cheney on June 13, 2007 - Parts 1 and 2

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."

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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)