Progressives Back Kucinich On Impeachment

An organization of progressive Democrats is urging its supporters to rally behind Rep. Dennis Kucinich today, as the Ohio Democrat plans to present petitions supporting impeachment of President Bush at a news conference this afternoon.

A two-time contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, Kucinich has introduced H Res 1258, which would initiative impeachment proceedings against Bush.

In its email to supporters, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) asks supporters to contact their congressional representatives to get them to support H Res 1258. PDA also asks supporters to sign an online petition supporting impeachment.

PDA says Kucinich laid out the case for impeachment at a meeting with its members at the Democratic National Convention in Denver last month.

PDA is one of several groups supporting today's impeachment news conference. David Swanson, cofounder of AfterDowningStreet.org and Washington director of Democrats.com will join Kucinich at the event, according to a statement from Democrats.com.

"Bush and Cheney should be impeached now, or even after they are out of office, or even after they are dead," says Swanson. "The point is not to remove them from office or to strip them of their pensions or to deny them the right to hold public office in the future. The point is to communicate to future administrations, even in the distant future, that they must obey the law. Even electing a saint president for a term, even legislating new checks and balances, even amending the Constitution, would not deter future abuses of presidential power as well as impeachment and prosecution.

"Impeachment is only a lengthy process when you don't already have the evidence," Swanson adds. "President Andrew Johnson was impeached three days after the offense for which he was impeached. Senator William Blount was impeached four days after the offense for which he was impeached. The Senate expelled Blount the day after he was impeached. Judge Halsted Ritter's Senate trial took 11 days. Judge John Pickering's trial took nine days. Judge James Peck's trial took three days. Judge West Humphreys' trial took one day. Bush and Cheney could be impeached, tried, and convicted in a week."

Chairman of the domestic policy subcommittee of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, Kucinich has long championed impeachment.

Kucinich spoke in favor of impeachment this summer at a House Judiciary Committee hearing. Kucinich also circulated a letter in July to colleagues seeking their support for impeachment. He ties his case to the war in Iraq.

"At President Bush’s request, Congress passed an authorization for the use of military force against Iraq on October 16, 2002. At least a dozen key material representations made to Congress by the President in that authorization, in furtherance of Congressional action, were false at the time they were made," Kucinich says in his letter. "The breadth and depth of the President’s misrepresentations do not argue for incompetency as a defense, but for deceit as an impeachable offense.

"We have arrived at a teachable moment in our Constitutional history. Congress must insist on accountability. We must regain our rightful role as a co-equal branch of government charged with providing a check and balance to Executive abuse of power," Kucinich adds. "In Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, our Founders placed the war power in the hands of the House of Representatives. This separation of powers was expressly intended to prevent a President from unilaterally summoning troops to war in the manner of a king."

At the Judiciary hearing, Kucinich specifically spelled out the following which were points forming the basis for the invasion of Iraq that have been proven untrue:

determined conclusively to be untrue:

* Iraq was not “continuing to threaten the national security interests of the United States”
* Iraq was not “continuing to possess and develop a significant chemical and biological weapons capability. . .”
* Iraq was not “actively seeking a nuclear weapons capability”
* Iraq did not have the “willingness to attack, the United States”
* Members of Al Qaeda were not “known to be in Iraq”
* Iraq had not “demonstrated capability and willingness to use weapons of mass destruction. . .”
* Iraq could not “launch a surprise attack against the United States or its Armed Forces”
* Therefore there was not an “extreme magnitude of harm that would result to the United States and its citizens from such an attack”
* The aforementioned did not “justify the use of force by the United States to defend itself”
* Iraq had no connection with the attacks of 9/11 or with al Qaeda's role in 9/11
* Iraq possessed no weapons of mass destruction to transfer to anyone
* Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction and therefore had no capability of launching a surprise attack against the United States or its Armed Forces and no capability to provide them to international terrorists who would do so

Democratic leaders in charge of Congress have sought to tamp down impeachment talk since they took control of Congress last year. Kucinich thus far has attracted just seven co-sponsors for H Res 1258.

Kucinich's news conference will be at 1 p.m. in room 2456 of the Rayburn House Office Building, according to PDA.

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