Kucinich calls for impeachment of Bush
ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT OF PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
Video
Washington, Jun 10 -
Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio
In the United States House of Representatives
Monday, June 9th, 2008
A Resolution
INDEX
Article I
Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for
War Against Iraq.
Article II
Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks
of September 11, 2001, With Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security
Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of Aggression.
Article III
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq
Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War.
Article IV
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq
Posed an Imminent Threat to the United States.
Article V
Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression.
Article VI
Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of H. J. Res114.
Article VII
Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.
Article VIII
Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter.
Article IX
Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor.
Article X
Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes.
Article XI
Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq.
Article XII
Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation's Natural
Resources.
Article XIIII
Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies
With Respect to Iraq and Other Countries.
Article XIV
Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information
And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson,
Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Article XV
Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq.
Article XVI
Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in Connection With
Iraq and US Contractors.
Article XVII
Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons
Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives.
Article XVIII
Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture
Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of
Official Policy.
Article XIX
Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to
"Black Sites" Located in Other Nations, Including Nations Known to
Practice Torture.
Article XX
Imprisoning Children.
Article XXI
Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and
Supporting Terrorist Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of
Overthrowing the Iranian Government.
Article XXII
Creating Secret Laws.
Article XXIII
Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act.
Article XXIV
Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in
Violation of the Law and the Fourth Amendment.
Article XXV
Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and
Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of
American Citizens.
Article XXVI
Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements.
Article XXVII
Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former
Employees Not to Comply.
Article XXVIII
Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration
of Justice.
Article XXIX
Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Article XXX
Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy
Medicare.
Article XXXI
Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane
Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency.
Article XXXII
Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining
Efforts to Address Global Climate Change.
Article XXXIII
Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level Intelligence
Warnings of Planned Terrorist Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.
Article XXXIV
Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001.
Article XXXV
Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders.
____________
ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT FOR PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
Resolved, that President George W. Bush be impeached for high crimes and
misdemeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment be
exhibited to the United States Senate:
Articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives of the
United States of America in the name of itself and of the people of the
United States of America, in maintenance and support of its impeachment
against President George W. Bush for high crimes and misdemeanors.
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in
violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of
President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and
in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be
faithfully executed, has committed the following abuses of power.
_____________
ARTICLE I
CREATING A SECRET PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN TO MANUFACTURE A FALSE CASE FOR
WAR AGAINST IRAQ
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in
violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of
President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and
in violation of his constitutional duty under Article II, Section 3 of
the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,"
has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates,
together with the Vice President, illegally spent public dollars on a
secret propaganda program to manufacture a false cause for war against Iraq.
The Department of Defense (DOD) has engaged in a years-long secret
domestic propaganda campaign to promote the invasion and occupation of
Iraq. This secret program was defended by the White House Press
Secretary following its exposure. This program follows the pattern of
crimes detailed in Article I, II, IV and VIII. The mission of this
program placed it within the field controlled by the White House Iraq
Group (WHIG), a White House task force formed in August 2002 to market
an invasion of Iraq to the American people. The group included Karl
Rove, I. Lewis Libby, Condoleezza Rice, Karen Hughes, Mary Matalin,
Stephen Hadley, Nicholas E. Calio, and James R. Wilkinson.
The WHIG produced white papers detailing so-called intelligence of
Iraq’s nuclear threat that later proved to be false. This supposed
intelligence included the claim that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger
as well as the claim that the high strength aluminum tubes Iraq
purchased from China were to be used for the sole purpose of building
centrifuges to enrich uranium. Unlike the National Intelligence Estimate
of 2002, the WHIG's white papers provided "gripping images and stories"
and used "literary license" with intelligence. The WHIG's white papers
were written at the same time and by the same people as speeches and
talking points prepared for President Bush and some of his top officials.
The WHIG also organized a media blitz in which, between September 7-8,
2002, President Bush and his top advisers appeared on numerous
interviews and all provided similarly gripping images about the
possibility of nuclear attack by Iraq. The timing was no coincidence, as
Andrew Card explained in an interview regarding waiting until after
Labor Day to try to sell the American people on military action against
Iraq, "From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products
in August."
September 7-8, 2002:
NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Vice President Cheney accused Saddam of moving
aggressively to develop nuclear weapons over the past 14 months to add
to his stockpile of chemical and biological arms.
CNN: Then-National Security Adviser Rice said, regarding the likelihood
of Iraq obtaining a nuclear weapon, "We don't want the smoking gun to be
a mushroom cloud."
CBS: President Bush declared that Saddam was "six months away from
developing a weapon," and cited satellite photos of construction in Iraq
where weapons inspectors once visited as evidence that Saddam was trying
to develop nuclear arms.
The Pentagon military analyst propaganda program was revealed in an
April 20, 2002, New York Times article. The program illegally involved
"covert attempts to mold opinion through the undisclosed use of third
parties.” Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recruited 75 retired
military officers and gave them talking points to deliver on Fox, CNN,
ABC, NBC, CBS, and MSNBC, and according to the New York Times report,
which has not been disputed by the Pentagon or the White House,
"Participants were instructed not to quote their briefers directly or
otherwise describe their contacts with the Pentagon."
According to the Pentagon's own internal documents, the military
analysts were considered "message force multipliers" or "surrogates" who
would deliver administration "themes and messages" to millions of
Americans "in the form of their own opinions.” In fact, they did deliver
the themes and the messages but did not reveal that the Pentagon had
provided them with their talking points. Robert S. Bevelacqua, a retired
Green Beret and Fox News military analyst described this as follows: "It
was them saying, 'We need to stick our hands up your back and move your
mouth for you.'"
Congress has restricted annual appropriations bills since 1951 with this
language: "No part of any appropriation contained in this or any other
Act shall be used for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United
States not heretofore authorized by the Congress."
A March 21, 2005, report by the Congressional Research Service states
that "publicity or propaganda" is defined by the U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO) to mean either (1) self-aggrandizement by
public officials, (2) purely partisan activity, or (3) "covert propaganda."
These concerns about "covert propaganda" were also the basis for the
GAO's standard for determining when government-funded video news
releases are illegal:
"The failure of an agency to identify itself as the source of a
prepackaged news story misleads the viewing public by encouraging the
viewing audience to believe that the broadcasting news organization
developed the information. The prepackaged news stories are purposefully
designed to be indistinguishable from news segments broadcast to the
public. When the television viewing public does not know that the
stories they watched on television news programs about the government
were in fact prepared by the government, the stories are, in this sense,
no longer purely factual -- the essential fact of attribution is missing."
The White House's own Office of Legal Council stated in a memorandum
written in 2005 following the controversy over the Armstrong Williams
scandal:
"Over the years, GAO has interpreted 'publicity or propaganda'
restrictions to preclude use of appropriated funds for, among other
things, so-called 'covert propaganda.' ... Consistent with that view,
the OLC determined in 1988 that a statutory prohibition on using
appropriated funds for 'publicity or propaganda' precluded undisclosed
agency funding of advocacy by third-party groups. We stated that 'covert
attempts to mold opinion through the undisclosed use of third parties'
would run afoul of restrictions on using appropriated funds for
'propaganda.'"
Asked about the Pentagon's propaganda program at White House press
briefing in April 2008, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino defended
it, not by arguing that it was legal but by suggesting that it "should"
be: "Look, I didn't know look, I think that you guys should take a step
back and look at this look, DOD has made a decision, they've decided to
stop this program. But I would say that one of the things that we try to
do in the administration is get information out to a variety of people
so that everybody else can call them and ask their opinion about
something. And I don't think that that should be against the law. And I
think that it's absolutely appropriate to provide information to people
who are seeking it and are going to be providing their opinions on it.
It doesn't necessarily mean that all of those military analysts ever
agreed with the administration. I think you can go back and look and
think that a lot of their analysis was pretty tough on the
administration. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't talk to people."
In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has
acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and Commander in
Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of
the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of
the United States. Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct,
is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.
ARTICLE II
FALSELY, SYSTEMATICALLY, AND WITH CRIMINAL INTENT CONFLATING THE ATTACKS
OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 WITH MISREPRESENTATION OF IRAQ AS AN IMMINENT
SECURITY THREAT AS PART OF A FRAUDULENT JUSTIFICATION FOR A WAR OF
AGGRESSION.
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in
violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of
President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and
in violation of his constitutional duty under Article II, Section 3 of
the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,"
has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates,
together with the Vice President, executed a calculated and wide-ranging
strategy to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States into
believing that there was and is a connection between Iraq and Saddam
Hussein on the one hand, and the attacks of September 11, 2001 and al
Qaeda, on the other hand, so as to falsely justify the use of the United
States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner that is
damaging to the national security interests of the United States, as
well as to fraudulently obtain and maintain congressional authorization
and funding for the use of such military force against Iraq, thereby
interfering with and obstructing Congress's lawful functions of
overseeing foreign affairs and declaring war.
The means used to implement this deception were and continue to be,
first, allowing, authorizing and sanctioning the manipulation of
intelligence analysis by those under his direction and control,
including the Vice President and the Vice President's agents, and
second, personally making, or causing, authorizing and allowing to be
made through highly-placed subordinates, including the President's Chief
of Staff, the White House Press Secretary and other White House
spokespersons, the Secretaries of State and Defense, the National
Security Advisor, and their deputies and spokespersons, false and
fraudulent representations to the citizens of the United States and
Congress regarding an alleged connection between Saddam Hussein and
Iraq, on the one hand, and the September 11th attacks and al Qaeda, on
the other hand, that were half-true, literally true but misleading,
and/or made without a reasonable basis and with reckless indifference to
their truth, as well as omitting to state facts necessary to present an
accurate picture of the truth as follows:
(A) On or about September 12, 2001, former terrorism advisor Richard
Clarke personally informed the President that neither Saddam Hussein nor
Iraq was responsible for the September 11th attacks. On September 18,
Clarke submitted to the President's National Security Adviser
Condoleezza Rice a memo he had written in response to George W. Bush's
specific request that stated: (1) the case for linking Hussein to the
September 11th attacks was weak; (2) only anecdotal evidence linked
Hussein to al Qaeda; (3) Osama Bin Laden resented the secularism of
Saddam Hussein; and (4) there was no confirmed reporting of Saddam
Hussein cooperating with Bin Laden on unconventional weapons.
(B) Ten days after the September 11th attacks the President received a
President's Daily Briefing which indicated that the U.S. intelligence
community had no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the September 11th
attacks and that there was "scant credible evidence that Iraq had any
significant collaborative ties with Al Qaeda."
(C) In Defense Intelligence Terrorism Summary No. 044-02, issued in
February 2002, the United States Defense Intelligence Agency cast
significant doubt on the possibility of a Saddam Hussein- Al Qaeda
conspiracy: "Saddam's regime is intensely secular and is wary of Islamic
revolutionary movements. Moreover, Baghdad is unlikely to provide
assistance to a group it cannot control."
(D) The October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate gave a "Low
Confidence" rating to the notion of whether "in desperation Saddam would
share chemical or biological weapons with Al Qaeda.” The CIA never
informed the President that there was an operational relationship
between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein; on the contrary, its most
"aggressive" analysis contained in Iraq and al-Qaeda-Interpreting a
Murky Relationship" dated June 21, 2002 was that Iraq had had "sporadic,
wary contacts with al Qaeda since the mid-1990s rather than a
relationship with al Qaeda that has developed over time." (E)
Notwithstanding his knowledge that neither Saddam Hussein nor Iraq was
in any way connected to the September 11th attacks, the President
allowed and authorized those acting under his direction and control,
including Vice President Richard B. Cheney and Lewis Libby, who reported
directly to both the President and the Vice President, and Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld, among others, to pressure intelligence analysts
to alter their assessments and to create special units outside of, and
unknown to, the intelligence community in order to secretly obtain
unreliable information, to manufacture intelligence or reinterpret raw
data in ways that would further the Bush administration's goal of
fraudulently establishing a relationship not only between Iraq and al
Qaeda, but between Iraq and the attacks of September 11th.
(F) Further, despite his full awareness that Iraq and Saddam Hussein had
no relationship to the September 11th attacks, the President, and those
acting under his direction and control have, since at least 2002 and
continuing to the present, repeatedly issued public statements
deliberately worded to mislead, words calculated in their implication to
bring unrelated actors and circumstances into an artificially contrived
reality thereby facilitating the systematic deception of Congress and
the American people. Thus the public and some members of Congress came
to believe, falsely, that there was a connection between Iraq and the
attacks of 911. This was accomplished through well-publicized statements
by the Bush Administration which contrived to continually tie Iraq and
911 in the same statements of grave concern without making an explicit
charge:
(1) “[If] Iraq regimes [sic] continues to defy us, and the world, we
will move deliberately, yet decisively, to hold Iraq to account…It's a
new world we're in. We used to think two oceans could separate us from
an enemy. On that tragic day, September the 11th, 2001, we found out
that's not the case. We found out this great land of liberty and of
freedom and of justice is vulnerable. And therefore we must do
everything we can -- everything we can -- to secure the homeland, to
make us safe." Speech of President Bush in Iowa on September 16, 2002.
(2) "With every step the Iraqi regime takes toward gaining and deploying
the most terrible weapons, our own options to confront that regime will
narrow. And if an emboldened regime were to supply these weapons to
terrorist allies, then the attacks of September 11th would be a prelude
to far greater horrors.” March 6, 2003, Statement of President Bush in
National Press Conference.
(3) "The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on
September the 11, 2001 -- and still goes on. That terrible morning, 19
evil men -- the shock troops of a hateful ideology -- gave America and
the civilized world a glimpse of their ambitions. They imagined, in the
words of one terrorist, that September the 11th would be the 'beginning
of the end of America.' By seeking to turn our cities into killing
fields, terrorists and their allies believed that they could destroy
this nation's resolve, and force our retreat from the world. They have
failed." May 1, 2003, Speech of President Bush on U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln.
(4) "Now we're in a new and unprecedented war against violent Islamic
extremists. This is an ideological conflict we face against murderers
and killers who try to impose their will. These are the people that
attacked us on September the 11th and killed nearly 3,000 people. The
stakes are high, and once again, we have had to change our strategic
thinking. The major battleground in this war is Iraq.” June 28, 2007,
Speech of President Bush at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.
(G) Notwithstanding his knowledge that there was no credible evidence of
a working relationship between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda and that the
intelligence community had specifically assessed that there was no such
operational relationship, the President, both personally and through his
subordinates and agents, has repeatedly falsely represented, both
explicitly and implicitly, and through the misleading use of
selectively-chosen facts, to the citizens of the United States and to
the Congress that there was and is such an ongoing operational
relationship, to wit:
(1) "We know that Iraq and al Qaeda have had high-level contacts that go
back a decade. Some al Qaeda leaders who fled Afghanistan went to Iraq.
These include one very senior al Qaeda leader who received medical
treatment in Baghdad this year, and who has been associated with
planning for chemical and biological attacks. We've learned that Iraq
has trained al Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly
gases." September 28, 2002, Weekly Radio Address of President Bush to
the Nation.
(2) "[W]e we need to think about Saddam Hussein using al Qaeda to do his
dirty work, to not leave fingerprints behind." October 14, 2002, Remarks
by President Bush in Michigan.
(3) "We know he's got ties with al Qaeda.” November 1, 2002, Speech of
President Bush in New Hampshire.
(4) "Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and
statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and
protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda. Secretly, and
without fingerprints, he could provide one of his hidden weapons to
terrorists, or help them develop their own.” January 28, 2003, President
Bush's State of the Union Address.
(5) "[W]hat I want to bring to your attention today is the potentially
much more sinister nexus between Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist
network, a nexus that combines classic terrorist organizations and
modern methods of murder. Iraq today harbors a deadly terrorist
network…” February 5, 2003, Speech of Former Secretary of State Colin
Powell to the United Nations.
(6) "The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on
September the 11, 2001 — and still goes on. . . . [T]he liberation of
Iraq . . . removed an ally of al Qaeda.” May 1, 2003, Speech of
President Bush on U.S. S. Abraham Lincoln.
(H) The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence “Report on Whether
Public Statements Regarding Iraq By U.S. Government Officials Were
Substantiated By Intelligence Information,” which was released on June
5, 2008, concluded that:
(1) "Statements and implications by the President and Secretary of State
suggesting that Iraq and al-Qa'ida had a partnership, or that Iraq had
provided al-Qa'ida with weapons training, were not substantiated by the
intelligence."
(2) "The Intelligence Community did not confirm that Muhammad Atta met
an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in 2001 as the Vice President
repeatedly claimed."
Through his participation and instance in the breathtaking scope of this
deception, the President has used the highest office of trust to wage of
campaign of deception of such sophistication as to deliberately subvert
the national security interests of the United States. His dishonesty set
the stage for the loss of more than 4000 United States service members;
injuries to tens of thousands of soldiers, the loss of more than
1,000,000 innocent Iraqi citizens since the United States invasion; the
loss of approximately $527 billion in war costs which has increased our
Federal debt and the ultimate expenditure of three to five trillion
dollars for all costs covering the war; the loss of military readiness
within the United States Armed Services due to overextension, the lack
of training and lack of equipment; the loss of United States credibility
in world affairs; and the decades of likely blowback created by the
invasion of Iraq.
In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has
acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and Commander in
Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of
the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of
the United States. Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct,
is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.
ARTICLE III
MISLEADING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO BELIEVE IRAQ
POSSESSED WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, SO AS TO MANUFACTURE A FALSE CASE
FOR WAR
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in
violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of
President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and
in violation of his constitutional duty under Article II, Section 3 of
the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,"
has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates,
together with the Vice President, executed instead a calculated and
wide-ranging strategy to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United
States into believing that the nation of Iraq possessed weapons of mass
destruction in order to justify the use of the United States Armed
Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national
security interests, thereby interfering with and obstructing Congress's
lawful functions of overseeing foreign affairs and declaring war.
The means used to implement this deception were and continue to be
personally making, or causing, authorizing and allowing to be made
through highly-placed subordinates, including the President's Chief of
Staff, the White House Press Secretary and other White House
spokespersons, the Secretaries of State and Defense, the National
Security Advisor, and their deputies and spokespersons, false and
fraudulent representations to the citizens of the United States and
Congress regarding Iraq's alleged possession of biological, chemical and
nuclear weapons that were half-true, literally true but misleading,
and/or made without a reasonable basis and with reckless indifference to
their truth, as well as omitting to state facts necessary to present an
accurate picture of the truth as follows:
(A) Long before the March 19, 2003 invasion of Iraq, a wealth of
intelligence informed the President and those under his direction and
control that Iraq's stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons had
been destroyed well before 1998 and that there was little, if any,
credible intelligence that showed otherwise. As reported in the
Washington Post in March of 2003, in 1995, Saddam Hussein's son-in-law
Hussein Kamel had informed U.S. and British intelligence officers that
"all weapons—biological, chemical, missile, nuclear were destroyed.” In
September 2002, the Defense Intelligence Agency issued a report that
concluded: "A substantial amount of Iraq's chemical warfare agents,
precursors, munitions and production equipment were destroyed between
1991 and 1998 as a result of Operation Desert Storm and UNSCOM actions…
[T]here is no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing and
stockpiling chemical weapons or whether Iraq has-or will-establish its
chemical warfare agent production facilities.” Notwithstanding the
absence of evidence proving that such stockpiles existed and in direct
contradiction to substantial evidence that showed they did not exist,
the President and his subordinates and agents made numerous false
representations claiming with certainty that Iraq possessed chemical and
biological weapons that it was developing to use to attack the United
States, to wit:
(1) "[T]he notion of a Saddam Hussein with his great oil wealth, with
his inventory that he already has of biological and chemical weapons . .
. is, I think, a frightening proposition for anybody who thinks about
it." Statement of Vice President Cheney on CBS's Face the Nation, March
24, 2002.
(2) "In defiance of the United Nations, Iraq has stockpiled biological
and chemical weapons, and is rebuilding the facilities used to make more
of those weapons." Speech of President Bush, October 5, 2002.
(3) "All the world has now seen the footage of an Iraqi Mirage aircraft
with a fuel tank modified to spray biological agents over wide areas.
Iraq has developed spray devices that could be used on unmanned aerial
vehicles with ranges far beyond what is permitted by the Security
Council. A UAV launched from a vessel off the American coast could reach
hundreds of miles inland.” Statement by President Bush from the White
House, February 6, 2003.
(B) Despite overwhelming intelligence in the form of statements and
reports filed by and on behalf of the CIA, the State Department and the
IAEA, among others, which indicated that the claim was untrue, the
President, and those under his direction and control, made numerous
representations claiming and implying through misleading language that
Iraq was attempting to purchase uranium from Niger in order to falsely
buttress its argument that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear weapons
program, including:
(1) ""The regime has the scientists and facilities to build nuclear
weapons, and is seeking the materials needed to do so." Statement of
President Bush from White House, October 2, 2002.
(2) "The [Iraqi] report also failed to deal with issues which have
arisen since 1998, including: . . . attempts to acquire uranium and the
means to enrich it." Letter from President Bush to Vice President Cheney
and the Senate, January 20, 2003.
(3) "The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently
sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." President Bush
Delivers State of the Union Address, January 28, 2003.
(C) Despite overwhelming evidence in the form of reports by nuclear
weapons experts from the Energy, the Defense and State Departments, as
well from outside and international agencies which assessed that
aluminum tubes the Iraqis were purchasing were not suitable for nuclear
centrifuge use and were, on the contrary, identical to ones used in
rockets already being manufactured by the Iraqis, the President, and
those under his direction and control, persisted in making numerous
false and fraudulent representations implying and stating explicitly
that the Iraqis were purchasing the tubes for use in a nuclear weapons
program, to wit:
(1) "We do know that there have been shipments going . . . into Iraq . .
. of aluminum tubes that really are only suited to -- high-quality
aluminum tools [sic] that are only really suited for nuclear weapons
programs, centrifuge programs." Statement of then National Security
Advisor Condoleezza Rice on CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer,
September 8, 2002.
(2) "Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase
high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production.”
President Bush's State of the Union Address, January 28, 2003.
(3) "[H]e has made repeated covert attempts to acquire
high-specification aluminum tubes from 11 different countries, even
after inspections resumed. …By now, just about everyone has heard of
these tubes and we all know that there are differences of opinion. There
is controversy about what these tubes are for. Most US experts think
they are intended to serve as rotors in centrifuges used to enrich
uranium." Speech of Former Secretary of State Colin Powell to the United
Nations, February 5, 2003.
(D) The President, both personally and acting through those under his
direction and control, suppressed material information, selectively
declassified information for the improper purposes of retaliating
against a whistleblower and presenting a misleading picture of the
alleged threat from Iraq, facilitated the exposure of the identity of a
covert CIA operative and thereafter not only failed to investigate the
improper leaks of classified information from within his administration,
but also failed to cooperate with an investigation into possible federal
violations resulting from this activity and, finally, entirely
undermined the prosecution by commuting the sentence of Lewis Libby
citing false and insubstantial grounds, all in an effort to prevent
Congress and the citizens of the United States from discovering the
fraudulent nature of the President's claimed justifications for the
invasion of Iraq.
(E) The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence “Report on Whether
Public Statements Regarding Iraq By U.S. Government Officials Were
Substantiated By Intelligence Information,” which was released on June
5, 2008, concluded that:
(1) "Statements by the President and Vice President prior to the October
2002 National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraq's chemical weapons
production capability and activities did not reflect the intelligence
community's uncertainties as to whether such production was ongoing."
(2) "The Secretary of Defense's statement that the Iraqi government
operated underground WMD facilities that were not vulnerable to
conventional airstrikes because they were underground and deeply buried
was not substantiated by available intelligence information."
(3) Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Jay Rockefeller
concluded: "In making the case for war, the Administration repeatedly
presented intelligence as fact when in reality it was unsubstantiated,
contradicted, or even non-existent. As a result, the American people
were led to believe that the threat from Iraq was much greater than
actually existed."
The President has subverted the national security interests of the
United States by setting the stage for the loss of more than 4000 United
States service members and the injury to tens of thousands of US
soldiers; the loss of more than 1,000,000 innocent Iraqi citizens since
the United States invasion; the loss of approximately $500 billion in
war costs which has increased our Federal debt with a long term
financial cost of between three and five trillion dollars; the loss of
military readiness within the United States Armed Services due to
overextension, the lack of training and lack of equipment; the loss of
United States credibility in world affairs; and the decades of likely
blowback created by the invasion of Iraq.
In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has
acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and Commander in
Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of
the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of
the United States. Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct,
is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.
ARTICLE IV
MISLEADING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO BELIEVE IRAQ
POSED AN IMMINENT THREAT TO THE UNITED STATES
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in
violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of
President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and
in violation of his constitutional duty under Article II, Section 3 of
the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,”
has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates,
together with the Vice President, executed a calculated and wide-ranging
strategy to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States into
believing that the nation of Iraq posed an imminent threat to the United
States in order to justify the use of the United States Armed Forces
against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security
interests, thereby interfering with and obstructing Congress's lawful
functions of overseeing foreign affairs and declaring war.
The means used to implement this deception were and continue to be,
first, allowing, authorizing and sanctioning the manipulation of
intelligence analysis by those under his direction and control,
including the Vice President and the Vice President's agents, and
second, personally making, or causing, authorizing and allowing to be
made through highly-placed subordinates, including the President's Chief
of Staff, the White House Press Secretary and other White House
spokespersons, the Secretaries of State and Defense, the National
Security Advisor, and their deputies and spokespersons, false and
fraudulent representations to the citizens of the United States and
Congress regarding an alleged urgent threat posed by Iraq, statements
that were half-true, literally true but misleading, and/or made without
a reasonable basis and with reckless indifference to their truth, as
well as omitting to state facts necessary to present an accurate picture
of the truth as follows:
(A) Notwithstanding the complete absence of intelligence analysis to
support a claim that Iraq posed an imminent or urgent threat to the
United States and the intelligence community's assessment that Iraq was
in fact not likely to attack the United States unless it was itself
attacked, President Bush, both personally and through his agents and
subordinates, made, allowed and caused to be made repeated false
representations to the citizens and Congress of the United States
implying and explicitly stating that such a dire threat existed,
including the following:
(1) "States such as these [Iraq, Iran and North Korea] and their
terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the
peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these
regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms
to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred. They could
attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States. In any of
these cases, the price of indifference would be catastrophic.” President
Bush's State of the Union Address, January 29, 2002.
(2) "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein has weapons of
mass destruction. He is amassing them to use against our friends our
enemies and against us.” Speech of Vice President Cheney at VFW 103rd
National Convention, August 26, 2002.
(3) "The history, the logic, and the facts lead to one conclusion:
Saddam Hussein's regime is a grave and gathering danger. To suggest
otherwise is to hope against the evidence. To assume this regime's good
faith is to bet the lives of millions and the peace of the world in a
reckless gamble. And this is a risk we must not take." Address of
President Bush to the United Nations General Assembly, September 12, 2002.
(4) "[N]o terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to
the security of our people than the regime of Saddam Hussein and Iraq."
Statement of Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to Congress,
September 19, 2002.
(5) "On its present course, the Iraqi regime is a threat of unique
urgency. . . . it has developed weapons of mass death." Statement of
President Bush at White House, October 2, 2002.
(6) "But the President also believes that this problem has to be dealt
with, and if the United Nations won't deal with it, then the United
States, with other likeminded nations, may have to deal with it. We
would prefer not to go that route, but the danger is so great, with
respect to Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction, and
perhaps even terrorists getting hold of such weapons, that it is time
for the international community to act, and if it doesn't act, the
President is prepared to act with likeminded nations." Statement of
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell in interview with Ellen Ratner of
Talk Radio News, October 30, 2002.
(7) "Today the world is also uniting to answer the unique and urgent
threat posed by Iraq. A dictator who has used weapons of mass
destruction on his own people must not be allowed to produce or possess
those weapons. We will not permit Saddam Hussein to blackmail and/or
terrorize nations which love freedom.” Speech by President Bush to
Prague Atlantic Student Summit, November 20, 2002.
(8) "But the risk of doing nothing, the risk of the security of this
country being jeopardized at the hands of a madman with weapons of mass
destruction far exceeds the risk of any action we may be forced to
take." President Bush Meets with National Economic Council at White
House, February 25, 2003.
(B) In furtherance of his fraudulent effort to deceive Congress and the
citizens of the United States into believing that Iraq and Saddam
Hussein posed an imminent threat to the United States, the President
allowed and authorized those acting under his direction and control,
including Vice President Richard B. Cheney, former Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld, and Lewis Libby, who reportedly directly to both the
President and the Vice President, among others, to pressure intelligence
analysts to tailor their assessments and to create special units outside
of, and unknown to, the intelligence community in order to secretly
obtain unreliable information, to manufacture intelligence, or to
reinterpret raw data in ways that would support the Bush
administration's plan to invade Iraq based on a false claim of urgency
despite the lack of justification for such a preemptive action.
(C) The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence “Report on Whether
Public Statements Regarding Iraq By U.S. Government Officials Were
Substantiated By Intelligence Information,” which was released on June
5, 2008, concluded that:
(1) "Statements by the President and the Vice President indicating that
Saddam Hussein was prepared to give weapons of mass destruction to
terrorist groups for attacks against the United States were contradicted
by available intelligence information."
Thus the President willfully and falsely misrepresented Iraq as an
urgent threat requiring immediate action thereby subverting the national
security interests of the United States by setting the stage for the
loss of more than 4000 United States service members; the injuries to
tens of thousands of US soldiers; the deaths of more than 1,000,000
Iraqi citizens since the United States invasion; the loss of
approximately $527 billion in war costs which has increased our Federal
debt and the ultimate costs of the war between three trillion and five
trillion dollars; the loss of military readiness within the United
States Armed Services due to overextension, the lack of training and
lack of equipment; the loss of United States credibility in world
affairs; and the decades of likely blowback created by the invasion of Iraq.
In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has
acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and Commander in
Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of
the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of
the United States. Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct,
is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.
ARTICLE V
ILLEGALLY MISSPENDING FUNDS TO SECRETLY BEGIN A WAR OF AGGRESSION
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in
violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of
President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and
in violation of his constitutional duty under Article II, Section 3 of
the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,”
has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates,
together with the Vice President, illegally misspent funds to begin a
war in secret prior to any Congressional authorization.
The president used over $2 billion in the summer of 2002 to prepare for
the invasion of Iraq. First reported in Bob Woodward's book, Plan of
Attack, and later confirmed by the Congressional Research Service, Bush
took money appropriated by Congress for Afghanistan and other programs
and—with no Congressional notification -- used it to build airfields in
Qatar and to make other preparations for the invasion of Iraq. This
constituted a violation of Article I, Section 9 of the U.S.
Constitution, as well as a violation of the War Powers Act of 1973.
In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has
acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and Commander in
Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of
the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of
the United States. Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct,
is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.
ARTICLE VI
INVADING IRAQ IN VIOLATION OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF HJRes114.
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in
violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of
President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and
in violation of his constitutional duty under Article II, Section 3 of
the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,”
exceeded his Constitutional authority to wage war by invading Iraq in
2003 without meeting the requirements of HJRes 114, the "Authorization
for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002" to wit:
(1) HJRes 114 contains several 'Whereas' clauses consistent with
statements being made by the White House at the time regarding the
threat from Iraq as evidenced by the following:
(A) HJRes 114 states "Whereas Iraq both poses a continuing threat to the
national security of the United States and international peace and
security in the Persian Gulf region and remains in material and
unacceptable breach of its international obligations by, among other
things, continuing to possess and develop a significant chemical and
biological weapons capability, actively seeking a nuclear weapons
capability, and supporting and harboring terrorist organizations;"; and
(B) HJRes 114 states, "Whereas members of Al Qaeda, an organization
bearing responsibility for attacks on the United States, its citizens,
and interests, including the attacks that occurred on September 11,
2001, are known to be in Iraq;”
(2) HJRes 114 states that the President must provide a determination,
the truthfulness of which is implied, that military force is necessary
in order to use the authorization, as evidenced by the following:
(A) Section 3 of HJRes 114 states:
"(b) PRESIDENTIAL DETERMINATION.-In connection with the exercise of the
authority granted in subsection (a) to use force the President shall,
prior to such exercise or as soon thereafter as may be feasible, but no
later than 48 hours after exercising such authority, make available to
the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro
tempore of the Senate his determination that—
(1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic or other
peaceful means alone either (A) will not adequately protect the national
security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by
Iraq or (B) is not likely to lead to enforcement of all relevant United
Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq; and
(2) acting pursuant to this joint resolution is consistent with the
United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary
actions against international terrorist and terrorist organizations,
including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned,
authorized, committed or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on
September 11, 2001."
(3) On March 18, 2003, President George Bush sent a letter to Congress
stating that he had made that determination as evidenced by the following:
(A) March 18th, 2003 Letter to Congress stating:
Consistent with section 3(b) of the Authorization for Use of Military
Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public Law 107-243), and based on
information available to me, including that in the enclosed document, I
determine that:
(1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic and other
peaceful means alone will neither (A) adequately protect the national
security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by
Iraq nor (B) likely lead to enforcement of all relevant United Nations
Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq; and
(2) acting pursuant to the Constitution and Public Law 107-243 is
consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take
the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist
organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who
planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that
occurred on September 11, 2001.
(4) President George Bush knew that these statements were false as
evidenced by:
(A) Information provided with Article I, II, III, IV and V.
(B) A statement by President George Bush in an interview with Tony Blair
on January 31st 2003: [WH]
Reporter: "One question for you both. Do you believe that there is a
link between Saddam Hussein, a direct link, and the men who attacked on
September the 11th?"
President Bush: "I can't make that claim"
(C) An article on February 19th by Terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna
states, "I could find no evidence of links between Iraq and Al Qaeda.
The documentation and interviews indicated that Al Qaeda regarded
Saddam, a secular leader, as an infidel." [International Herald Tribune]
(D) According to a February 2nd, 2003 article in the New York Times: [NYT]
At the Federal Bureau of Investigation, some investigators said they
were baffled by the Bush administration's insistence on a solid link
between Iraq and Osama bin Laden's network. "We've been looking at this
hard for more than a year and you know what, we just don't think it's
there," a government official said.
(5) Section 3C of HJRes 114 states that "Nothing in this joint
resolution supersedes any requirement of the War Powers Resolution."
(6) The War Powers Resolution Section 9(d)(1) states:
(d) Nothing in this joint resolution--
(1) is intended to alter the constitutional authority of the Congress or
of the President, or the provision of existing treaties; or
(7) The United Nations Charter was an existing treaty and, as shown in
Article VIII, the invasion of Iraq violated that treaty
Categories: impeach, bush, impeach-bush, iraq, war
Video
Washington, Jun 10 -
Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio
In the United States House of Representatives
Monday, June 9th, 2008
A Resolution
INDEX
Article I
Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for
War Against Iraq.
Article II
Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks
of September 11, 2001, With Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security
Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of Aggression.
Article III
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq
Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War.
Article IV
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq
Posed an Imminent Threat to the United States.
Article V
Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression.
Article VI
Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of H. J. Res114.
Article VII
Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.
Article VIII
Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter.
Article IX
Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor.
Article X
Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes.
Article XI
Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq.
Article XII
Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation's Natural
Resources.
Article XIIII
Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies
With Respect to Iraq and Other Countries.
Article XIV
Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information
And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson,
Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Article XV
Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq.
Article XVI
Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in Connection With
Iraq and US Contractors.
Article XVII
Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons
Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives.
Article XVIII
Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture
Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of
Official Policy.
Article XIX
Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to
"Black Sites" Located in Other Nations, Including Nations Known to
Practice Torture.
Article XX
Imprisoning Children.
Article XXI
Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and
Supporting Terrorist Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of
Overthrowing the Iranian Government.
Article XXII
Creating Secret Laws.
Article XXIII
Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act.
Article XXIV
Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in
Violation of the Law and the Fourth Amendment.
Article XXV
Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and
Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of
American Citizens.
Article XXVI
Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements.
Article XXVII
Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former
Employees Not to Comply.
Article XXVIII
Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration
of Justice.
Article XXIX
Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Article XXX
Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy
Medicare.
Article XXXI
Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane
Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency.
Article XXXII
Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining
Efforts to Address Global Climate Change.
Article XXXIII
Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level Intelligence
Warnings of Planned Terrorist Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.
Article XXXIV
Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001.
Article XXXV
Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders.
____________
ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT FOR PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
Resolved, that President George W. Bush be impeached for high crimes and
misdemeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment be
exhibited to the United States Senate:
Articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives of the
United States of America in the name of itself and of the people of the
United States of America, in maintenance and support of its impeachment
against President George W. Bush for high crimes and misdemeanors.
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in
violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of
President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and
in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be
faithfully executed, has committed the following abuses of power.
_____________
ARTICLE I
CREATING A SECRET PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN TO MANUFACTURE A FALSE CASE FOR
WAR AGAINST IRAQ
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in
violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of
President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and
in violation of his constitutional duty under Article II, Section 3 of
the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,"
has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates,
together with the Vice President, illegally spent public dollars on a
secret propaganda program to manufacture a false cause for war against Iraq.
The Department of Defense (DOD) has engaged in a years-long secret
domestic propaganda campaign to promote the invasion and occupation of
Iraq. This secret program was defended by the White House Press
Secretary following its exposure. This program follows the pattern of
crimes detailed in Article I, II, IV and VIII. The mission of this
program placed it within the field controlled by the White House Iraq
Group (WHIG), a White House task force formed in August 2002 to market
an invasion of Iraq to the American people. The group included Karl
Rove, I. Lewis Libby, Condoleezza Rice, Karen Hughes, Mary Matalin,
Stephen Hadley, Nicholas E. Calio, and James R. Wilkinson.
The WHIG produced white papers detailing so-called intelligence of
Iraq’s nuclear threat that later proved to be false. This supposed
intelligence included the claim that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger
as well as the claim that the high strength aluminum tubes Iraq
purchased from China were to be used for the sole purpose of building
centrifuges to enrich uranium. Unlike the National Intelligence Estimate
of 2002, the WHIG's white papers provided "gripping images and stories"
and used "literary license" with intelligence. The WHIG's white papers
were written at the same time and by the same people as speeches and
talking points prepared for President Bush and some of his top officials.
The WHIG also organized a media blitz in which, between September 7-8,
2002, President Bush and his top advisers appeared on numerous
interviews and all provided similarly gripping images about the
possibility of nuclear attack by Iraq. The timing was no coincidence, as
Andrew Card explained in an interview regarding waiting until after
Labor Day to try to sell the American people on military action against
Iraq, "From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products
in August."
September 7-8, 2002:
NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Vice President Cheney accused Saddam of moving
aggressively to develop nuclear weapons over the past 14 months to add
to his stockpile of chemical and biological arms.
CNN: Then-National Security Adviser Rice said, regarding the likelihood
of Iraq obtaining a nuclear weapon, "We don't want the smoking gun to be
a mushroom cloud."
CBS: President Bush declared that Saddam was "six months away from
developing a weapon," and cited satellite photos of construction in Iraq
where weapons inspectors once visited as evidence that Saddam was trying
to develop nuclear arms.
The Pentagon military analyst propaganda program was revealed in an
April 20, 2002, New York Times article. The program illegally involved
"covert attempts to mold opinion through the undisclosed use of third
parties.” Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recruited 75 retired
military officers and gave them talking points to deliver on Fox, CNN,
ABC, NBC, CBS, and MSNBC, and according to the New York Times report,
which has not been disputed by the Pentagon or the White House,
"Participants were instructed not to quote their briefers directly or
otherwise describe their contacts with the Pentagon."
According to the Pentagon's own internal documents, the military
analysts were considered "message force multipliers" or "surrogates" who
would deliver administration "themes and messages" to millions of
Americans "in the form of their own opinions.” In fact, they did deliver
the themes and the messages but did not reveal that the Pentagon had
provided them with their talking points. Robert S. Bevelacqua, a retired
Green Beret and Fox News military analyst described this as follows: "It
was them saying, 'We need to stick our hands up your back and move your
mouth for you.'"
Congress has restricted annual appropriations bills since 1951 with this
language: "No part of any appropriation contained in this or any other
Act shall be used for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United
States not heretofore authorized by the Congress."
A March 21, 2005, report by the Congressional Research Service states
that "publicity or propaganda" is defined by the U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO) to mean either (1) self-aggrandizement by
public officials, (2) purely partisan activity, or (3) "covert propaganda."
These concerns about "covert propaganda" were also the basis for the
GAO's standard for determining when government-funded video news
releases are illegal:
"The failure of an agency to identify itself as the source of a
prepackaged news story misleads the viewing public by encouraging the
viewing audience to believe that the broadcasting news organization
developed the information. The prepackaged news stories are purposefully
designed to be indistinguishable from news segments broadcast to the
public. When the television viewing public does not know that the
stories they watched on television news programs about the government
were in fact prepared by the government, the stories are, in this sense,
no longer purely factual -- the essential fact of attribution is missing."
The White House's own Office of Legal Council stated in a memorandum
written in 2005 following the controversy over the Armstrong Williams
scandal:
"Over the years, GAO has interpreted 'publicity or propaganda'
restrictions to preclude use of appropriated funds for, among other
things, so-called 'covert propaganda.' ... Consistent with that view,
the OLC determined in 1988 that a statutory prohibition on using
appropriated funds for 'publicity or propaganda' precluded undisclosed
agency funding of advocacy by third-party groups. We stated that 'covert
attempts to mold opinion through the undisclosed use of third parties'
would run afoul of restrictions on using appropriated funds for
'propaganda.'"
Asked about the Pentagon's propaganda program at White House press
briefing in April 2008, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino defended
it, not by arguing that it was legal but by suggesting that it "should"
be: "Look, I didn't know look, I think that you guys should take a step
back and look at this look, DOD has made a decision, they've decided to
stop this program. But I would say that one of the things that we try to
do in the administration is get information out to a variety of people
so that everybody else can call them and ask their opinion about
something. And I don't think that that should be against the law. And I
think that it's absolutely appropriate to provide information to people
who are seeking it and are going to be providing their opinions on it.
It doesn't necessarily mean that all of those military analysts ever
agreed with the administration. I think you can go back and look and
think that a lot of their analysis was pretty tough on the
administration. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't talk to people."
In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has
acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and Commander in
Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of
the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of
the United States. Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct,
is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.
ARTICLE II
FALSELY, SYSTEMATICALLY, AND WITH CRIMINAL INTENT CONFLATING THE ATTACKS
OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 WITH MISREPRESENTATION OF IRAQ AS AN IMMINENT
SECURITY THREAT AS PART OF A FRAUDULENT JUSTIFICATION FOR A WAR OF
AGGRESSION.
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in
violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of
President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and
in violation of his constitutional duty under Article II, Section 3 of
the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,"
has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates,
together with the Vice President, executed a calculated and wide-ranging
strategy to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States into
believing that there was and is a connection between Iraq and Saddam
Hussein on the one hand, and the attacks of September 11, 2001 and al
Qaeda, on the other hand, so as to falsely justify the use of the United
States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner that is
damaging to the national security interests of the United States, as
well as to fraudulently obtain and maintain congressional authorization
and funding for the use of such military force against Iraq, thereby
interfering with and obstructing Congress's lawful functions of
overseeing foreign affairs and declaring war.
The means used to implement this deception were and continue to be,
first, allowing, authorizing and sanctioning the manipulation of
intelligence analysis by those under his direction and control,
including the Vice President and the Vice President's agents, and
second, personally making, or causing, authorizing and allowing to be
made through highly-placed subordinates, including the President's Chief
of Staff, the White House Press Secretary and other White House
spokespersons, the Secretaries of State and Defense, the National
Security Advisor, and their deputies and spokespersons, false and
fraudulent representations to the citizens of the United States and
Congress regarding an alleged connection between Saddam Hussein and
Iraq, on the one hand, and the September 11th attacks and al Qaeda, on
the other hand, that were half-true, literally true but misleading,
and/or made without a reasonable basis and with reckless indifference to
their truth, as well as omitting to state facts necessary to present an
accurate picture of the truth as follows:
(A) On or about September 12, 2001, former terrorism advisor Richard
Clarke personally informed the President that neither Saddam Hussein nor
Iraq was responsible for the September 11th attacks. On September 18,
Clarke submitted to the President's National Security Adviser
Condoleezza Rice a memo he had written in response to George W. Bush's
specific request that stated: (1) the case for linking Hussein to the
September 11th attacks was weak; (2) only anecdotal evidence linked
Hussein to al Qaeda; (3) Osama Bin Laden resented the secularism of
Saddam Hussein; and (4) there was no confirmed reporting of Saddam
Hussein cooperating with Bin Laden on unconventional weapons.
(B) Ten days after the September 11th attacks the President received a
President's Daily Briefing which indicated that the U.S. intelligence
community had no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the September 11th
attacks and that there was "scant credible evidence that Iraq had any
significant collaborative ties with Al Qaeda."
(C) In Defense Intelligence Terrorism Summary No. 044-02, issued in
February 2002, the United States Defense Intelligence Agency cast
significant doubt on the possibility of a Saddam Hussein- Al Qaeda
conspiracy: "Saddam's regime is intensely secular and is wary of Islamic
revolutionary movements. Moreover, Baghdad is unlikely to provide
assistance to a group it cannot control."
(D) The October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate gave a "Low
Confidence" rating to the notion of whether "in desperation Saddam would
share chemical or biological weapons with Al Qaeda.” The CIA never
informed the President that there was an operational relationship
between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein; on the contrary, its most
"aggressive" analysis contained in Iraq and al-Qaeda-Interpreting a
Murky Relationship" dated June 21, 2002 was that Iraq had had "sporadic,
wary contacts with al Qaeda since the mid-1990s rather than a
relationship with al Qaeda that has developed over time." (E)
Notwithstanding his knowledge that neither Saddam Hussein nor Iraq was
in any way connected to the September 11th attacks, the President
allowed and authorized those acting under his direction and control,
including Vice President Richard B. Cheney and Lewis Libby, who reported
directly to both the President and the Vice President, and Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld, among others, to pressure intelligence analysts
to alter their assessments and to create special units outside of, and
unknown to, the intelligence community in order to secretly obtain
unreliable information, to manufacture intelligence or reinterpret raw
data in ways that would further the Bush administration's goal of
fraudulently establishing a relationship not only between Iraq and al
Qaeda, but between Iraq and the attacks of September 11th.
(F) Further, despite his full awareness that Iraq and Saddam Hussein had
no relationship to the September 11th attacks, the President, and those
acting under his direction and control have, since at least 2002 and
continuing to the present, repeatedly issued public statements
deliberately worded to mislead, words calculated in their implication to
bring unrelated actors and circumstances into an artificially contrived
reality thereby facilitating the systematic deception of Congress and
the American people. Thus the public and some members of Congress came
to believe, falsely, that there was a connection between Iraq and the
attacks of 911. This was accomplished through well-publicized statements
by the Bush Administration which contrived to continually tie Iraq and
911 in the same statements of grave concern without making an explicit
charge:
(1) “[If] Iraq regimes [sic] continues to defy us, and the world, we
will move deliberately, yet decisively, to hold Iraq to account…It's a
new world we're in. We used to think two oceans could separate us from
an enemy. On that tragic day, September the 11th, 2001, we found out
that's not the case. We found out this great land of liberty and of
freedom and of justice is vulnerable. And therefore we must do
everything we can -- everything we can -- to secure the homeland, to
make us safe." Speech of President Bush in Iowa on September 16, 2002.
(2) "With every step the Iraqi regime takes toward gaining and deploying
the most terrible weapons, our own options to confront that regime will
narrow. And if an emboldened regime were to supply these weapons to
terrorist allies, then the attacks of September 11th would be a prelude
to far greater horrors.” March 6, 2003, Statement of President Bush in
National Press Conference.
(3) "The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on
September the 11, 2001 -- and still goes on. That terrible morning, 19
evil men -- the shock troops of a hateful ideology -- gave America and
the civilized world a glimpse of their ambitions. They imagined, in the
words of one terrorist, that September the 11th would be the 'beginning
of the end of America.' By seeking to turn our cities into killing
fields, terrorists and their allies believed that they could destroy
this nation's resolve, and force our retreat from the world. They have
failed." May 1, 2003, Speech of President Bush on U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln.
(4) "Now we're in a new and unprecedented war against violent Islamic
extremists. This is an ideological conflict we face against murderers
and killers who try to impose their will. These are the people that
attacked us on September the 11th and killed nearly 3,000 people. The
stakes are high, and once again, we have had to change our strategic
thinking. The major battleground in this war is Iraq.” June 28, 2007,
Speech of President Bush at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.
(G) Notwithstanding his knowledge that there was no credible evidence of
a working relationship between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda and that the
intelligence community had specifically assessed that there was no such
operational relationship, the President, both personally and through his
subordinates and agents, has repeatedly falsely represented, both
explicitly and implicitly, and through the misleading use of
selectively-chosen facts, to the citizens of the United States and to
the Congress that there was and is such an ongoing operational
relationship, to wit:
(1) "We know that Iraq and al Qaeda have had high-level contacts that go
back a decade. Some al Qaeda leaders who fled Afghanistan went to Iraq.
These include one very senior al Qaeda leader who received medical
treatment in Baghdad this year, and who has been associated with
planning for chemical and biological attacks. We've learned that Iraq
has trained al Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly
gases." September 28, 2002, Weekly Radio Address of President Bush to
the Nation.
(2) "[W]e we need to think about Saddam Hussein using al Qaeda to do his
dirty work, to not leave fingerprints behind." October 14, 2002, Remarks
by President Bush in Michigan.
(3) "We know he's got ties with al Qaeda.” November 1, 2002, Speech of
President Bush in New Hampshire.
(4) "Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and
statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and
protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda. Secretly, and
without fingerprints, he could provide one of his hidden weapons to
terrorists, or help them develop their own.” January 28, 2003, President
Bush's State of the Union Address.
(5) "[W]hat I want to bring to your attention today is the potentially
much more sinister nexus between Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist
network, a nexus that combines classic terrorist organizations and
modern methods of murder. Iraq today harbors a deadly terrorist
network…” February 5, 2003, Speech of Former Secretary of State Colin
Powell to the United Nations.
(6) "The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on
September the 11, 2001 — and still goes on. . . . [T]he liberation of
Iraq . . . removed an ally of al Qaeda.” May 1, 2003, Speech of
President Bush on U.S. S. Abraham Lincoln.
(H) The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence “Report on Whether
Public Statements Regarding Iraq By U.S. Government Officials Were
Substantiated By Intelligence Information,” which was released on June
5, 2008, concluded that:
(1) "Statements and implications by the President and Secretary of State
suggesting that Iraq and al-Qa'ida had a partnership, or that Iraq had
provided al-Qa'ida with weapons training, were not substantiated by the
intelligence."
(2) "The Intelligence Community did not confirm that Muhammad Atta met
an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in 2001 as the Vice President
repeatedly claimed."
Through his participation and instance in the breathtaking scope of this
deception, the President has used the highest office of trust to wage of
campaign of deception of such sophistication as to deliberately subvert
the national security interests of the United States. His dishonesty set
the stage for the loss of more than 4000 United States service members;
injuries to tens of thousands of soldiers, the loss of more than
1,000,000 innocent Iraqi citizens since the United States invasion; the
loss of approximately $527 billion in war costs which has increased our
Federal debt and the ultimate expenditure of three to five trillion
dollars for all costs covering the war; the loss of military readiness
within the United States Armed Services due to overextension, the lack
of training and lack of equipment; the loss of United States credibility
in world affairs; and the decades of likely blowback created by the
invasion of Iraq.
In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has
acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and Commander in
Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of
the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of
the United States. Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct,
is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.
ARTICLE III
MISLEADING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO BELIEVE IRAQ
POSSESSED WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, SO AS TO MANUFACTURE A FALSE CASE
FOR WAR
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in
violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of
President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and
in violation of his constitutional duty under Article II, Section 3 of
the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,"
has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates,
together with the Vice President, executed instead a calculated and
wide-ranging strategy to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United
States into believing that the nation of Iraq possessed weapons of mass
destruction in order to justify the use of the United States Armed
Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national
security interests, thereby interfering with and obstructing Congress's
lawful functions of overseeing foreign affairs and declaring war.
The means used to implement this deception were and continue to be
personally making, or causing, authorizing and allowing to be made
through highly-placed subordinates, including the President's Chief of
Staff, the White House Press Secretary and other White House
spokespersons, the Secretaries of State and Defense, the National
Security Advisor, and their deputies and spokespersons, false and
fraudulent representations to the citizens of the United States and
Congress regarding Iraq's alleged possession of biological, chemical and
nuclear weapons that were half-true, literally true but misleading,
and/or made without a reasonable basis and with reckless indifference to
their truth, as well as omitting to state facts necessary to present an
accurate picture of the truth as follows:
(A) Long before the March 19, 2003 invasion of Iraq, a wealth of
intelligence informed the President and those under his direction and
control that Iraq's stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons had
been destroyed well before 1998 and that there was little, if any,
credible intelligence that showed otherwise. As reported in the
Washington Post in March of 2003, in 1995, Saddam Hussein's son-in-law
Hussein Kamel had informed U.S. and British intelligence officers that
"all weapons—biological, chemical, missile, nuclear were destroyed.” In
September 2002, the Defense Intelligence Agency issued a report that
concluded: "A substantial amount of Iraq's chemical warfare agents,
precursors, munitions and production equipment were destroyed between
1991 and 1998 as a result of Operation Desert Storm and UNSCOM actions…
[T]here is no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing and
stockpiling chemical weapons or whether Iraq has-or will-establish its
chemical warfare agent production facilities.” Notwithstanding the
absence of evidence proving that such stockpiles existed and in direct
contradiction to substantial evidence that showed they did not exist,
the President and his subordinates and agents made numerous false
representations claiming with certainty that Iraq possessed chemical and
biological weapons that it was developing to use to attack the United
States, to wit:
(1) "[T]he notion of a Saddam Hussein with his great oil wealth, with
his inventory that he already has of biological and chemical weapons . .
. is, I think, a frightening proposition for anybody who thinks about
it." Statement of Vice President Cheney on CBS's Face the Nation, March
24, 2002.
(2) "In defiance of the United Nations, Iraq has stockpiled biological
and chemical weapons, and is rebuilding the facilities used to make more
of those weapons." Speech of President Bush, October 5, 2002.
(3) "All the world has now seen the footage of an Iraqi Mirage aircraft
with a fuel tank modified to spray biological agents over wide areas.
Iraq has developed spray devices that could be used on unmanned aerial
vehicles with ranges far beyond what is permitted by the Security
Council. A UAV launched from a vessel off the American coast could reach
hundreds of miles inland.” Statement by President Bush from the White
House, February 6, 2003.
(B) Despite overwhelming intelligence in the form of statements and
reports filed by and on behalf of the CIA, the State Department and the
IAEA, among others, which indicated that the claim was untrue, the
President, and those under his direction and control, made numerous
representations claiming and implying through misleading language that
Iraq was attempting to purchase uranium from Niger in order to falsely
buttress its argument that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear weapons
program, including:
(1) ""The regime has the scientists and facilities to build nuclear
weapons, and is seeking the materials needed to do so." Statement of
President Bush from White House, October 2, 2002.
(2) "The [Iraqi] report also failed to deal with issues which have
arisen since 1998, including: . . . attempts to acquire uranium and the
means to enrich it." Letter from President Bush to Vice President Cheney
and the Senate, January 20, 2003.
(3) "The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently
sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." President Bush
Delivers State of the Union Address, January 28, 2003.
(C) Despite overwhelming evidence in the form of reports by nuclear
weapons experts from the Energy, the Defense and State Departments, as
well from outside and international agencies which assessed that
aluminum tubes the Iraqis were purchasing were not suitable for nuclear
centrifuge use and were, on the contrary, identical to ones used in
rockets already being manufactured by the Iraqis, the President, and
those under his direction and control, persisted in making numerous
false and fraudulent representations implying and stating explicitly
that the Iraqis were purchasing the tubes for use in a nuclear weapons
program, to wit:
(1) "We do know that there have been shipments going . . . into Iraq . .
. of aluminum tubes that really are only suited to -- high-quality
aluminum tools [sic] that are only really suited for nuclear weapons
programs, centrifuge programs." Statement of then National Security
Advisor Condoleezza Rice on CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer,
September 8, 2002.
(2) "Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase
high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production.”
President Bush's State of the Union Address, January 28, 2003.
(3) "[H]e has made repeated covert attempts to acquire
high-specification aluminum tubes from 11 different countries, even
after inspections resumed. …By now, just about everyone has heard of
these tubes and we all know that there are differences of opinion. There
is controversy about what these tubes are for. Most US experts think
they are intended to serve as rotors in centrifuges used to enrich
uranium." Speech of Former Secretary of State Colin Powell to the United
Nations, February 5, 2003.
(D) The President, both personally and acting through those under his
direction and control, suppressed material information, selectively
declassified information for the improper purposes of retaliating
against a whistleblower and presenting a misleading picture of the
alleged threat from Iraq, facilitated the exposure of the identity of a
covert CIA operative and thereafter not only failed to investigate the
improper leaks of classified information from within his administration,
but also failed to cooperate with an investigation into possible federal
violations resulting from this activity and, finally, entirely
undermined the prosecution by commuting the sentence of Lewis Libby
citing false and insubstantial grounds, all in an effort to prevent
Congress and the citizens of the United States from discovering the
fraudulent nature of the President's claimed justifications for the
invasion of Iraq.
(E) The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence “Report on Whether
Public Statements Regarding Iraq By U.S. Government Officials Were
Substantiated By Intelligence Information,” which was released on June
5, 2008, concluded that:
(1) "Statements by the President and Vice President prior to the October
2002 National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraq's chemical weapons
production capability and activities did not reflect the intelligence
community's uncertainties as to whether such production was ongoing."
(2) "The Secretary of Defense's statement that the Iraqi government
operated underground WMD facilities that were not vulnerable to
conventional airstrikes because they were underground and deeply buried
was not substantiated by available intelligence information."
(3) Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Jay Rockefeller
concluded: "In making the case for war, the Administration repeatedly
presented intelligence as fact when in reality it was unsubstantiated,
contradicted, or even non-existent. As a result, the American people
were led to believe that the threat from Iraq was much greater than
actually existed."
The President has subverted the national security interests of the
United States by setting the stage for the loss of more than 4000 United
States service members and the injury to tens of thousands of US
soldiers; the loss of more than 1,000,000 innocent Iraqi citizens since
the United States invasion; the loss of approximately $500 billion in
war costs which has increased our Federal debt with a long term
financial cost of between three and five trillion dollars; the loss of
military readiness within the United States Armed Services due to
overextension, the lack of training and lack of equipment; the loss of
United States credibility in world affairs; and the decades of likely
blowback created by the invasion of Iraq.
In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has
acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and Commander in
Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of
the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of
the United States. Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct,
is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.
ARTICLE IV
MISLEADING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO BELIEVE IRAQ
POSED AN IMMINENT THREAT TO THE UNITED STATES
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in
violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of
President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and
in violation of his constitutional duty under Article II, Section 3 of
the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,”
has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates,
together with the Vice President, executed a calculated and wide-ranging
strategy to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States into
believing that the nation of Iraq posed an imminent threat to the United
States in order to justify the use of the United States Armed Forces
against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security
interests, thereby interfering with and obstructing Congress's lawful
functions of overseeing foreign affairs and declaring war.
The means used to implement this deception were and continue to be,
first, allowing, authorizing and sanctioning the manipulation of
intelligence analysis by those under his direction and control,
including the Vice President and the Vice President's agents, and
second, personally making, or causing, authorizing and allowing to be
made through highly-placed subordinates, including the President's Chief
of Staff, the White House Press Secretary and other White House
spokespersons, the Secretaries of State and Defense, the National
Security Advisor, and their deputies and spokespersons, false and
fraudulent representations to the citizens of the United States and
Congress regarding an alleged urgent threat posed by Iraq, statements
that were half-true, literally true but misleading, and/or made without
a reasonable basis and with reckless indifference to their truth, as
well as omitting to state facts necessary to present an accurate picture
of the truth as follows:
(A) Notwithstanding the complete absence of intelligence analysis to
support a claim that Iraq posed an imminent or urgent threat to the
United States and the intelligence community's assessment that Iraq was
in fact not likely to attack the United States unless it was itself
attacked, President Bush, both personally and through his agents and
subordinates, made, allowed and caused to be made repeated false
representations to the citizens and Congress of the United States
implying and explicitly stating that such a dire threat existed,
including the following:
(1) "States such as these [Iraq, Iran and North Korea] and their
terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the
peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these
regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms
to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred. They could
attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States. In any of
these cases, the price of indifference would be catastrophic.” President
Bush's State of the Union Address, January 29, 2002.
(2) "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein has weapons of
mass destruction. He is amassing them to use against our friends our
enemies and against us.” Speech of Vice President Cheney at VFW 103rd
National Convention, August 26, 2002.
(3) "The history, the logic, and the facts lead to one conclusion:
Saddam Hussein's regime is a grave and gathering danger. To suggest
otherwise is to hope against the evidence. To assume this regime's good
faith is to bet the lives of millions and the peace of the world in a
reckless gamble. And this is a risk we must not take." Address of
President Bush to the United Nations General Assembly, September 12, 2002.
(4) "[N]o terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to
the security of our people than the regime of Saddam Hussein and Iraq."
Statement of Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to Congress,
September 19, 2002.
(5) "On its present course, the Iraqi regime is a threat of unique
urgency. . . . it has developed weapons of mass death." Statement of
President Bush at White House, October 2, 2002.
(6) "But the President also believes that this problem has to be dealt
with, and if the United Nations won't deal with it, then the United
States, with other likeminded nations, may have to deal with it. We
would prefer not to go that route, but the danger is so great, with
respect to Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction, and
perhaps even terrorists getting hold of such weapons, that it is time
for the international community to act, and if it doesn't act, the
President is prepared to act with likeminded nations." Statement of
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell in interview with Ellen Ratner of
Talk Radio News, October 30, 2002.
(7) "Today the world is also uniting to answer the unique and urgent
threat posed by Iraq. A dictator who has used weapons of mass
destruction on his own people must not be allowed to produce or possess
those weapons. We will not permit Saddam Hussein to blackmail and/or
terrorize nations which love freedom.” Speech by President Bush to
Prague Atlantic Student Summit, November 20, 2002.
(8) "But the risk of doing nothing, the risk of the security of this
country being jeopardized at the hands of a madman with weapons of mass
destruction far exceeds the risk of any action we may be forced to
take." President Bush Meets with National Economic Council at White
House, February 25, 2003.
(B) In furtherance of his fraudulent effort to deceive Congress and the
citizens of the United States into believing that Iraq and Saddam
Hussein posed an imminent threat to the United States, the President
allowed and authorized those acting under his direction and control,
including Vice President Richard B. Cheney, former Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld, and Lewis Libby, who reportedly directly to both the
President and the Vice President, among others, to pressure intelligence
analysts to tailor their assessments and to create special units outside
of, and unknown to, the intelligence community in order to secretly
obtain unreliable information, to manufacture intelligence, or to
reinterpret raw data in ways that would support the Bush
administration's plan to invade Iraq based on a false claim of urgency
despite the lack of justification for such a preemptive action.
(C) The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence “Report on Whether
Public Statements Regarding Iraq By U.S. Government Officials Were
Substantiated By Intelligence Information,” which was released on June
5, 2008, concluded that:
(1) "Statements by the President and the Vice President indicating that
Saddam Hussein was prepared to give weapons of mass destruction to
terrorist groups for attacks against the United States were contradicted
by available intelligence information."
Thus the President willfully and falsely misrepresented Iraq as an
urgent threat requiring immediate action thereby subverting the national
security interests of the United States by setting the stage for the
loss of more than 4000 United States service members; the injuries to
tens of thousands of US soldiers; the deaths of more than 1,000,000
Iraqi citizens since the United States invasion; the loss of
approximately $527 billion in war costs which has increased our Federal
debt and the ultimate costs of the war between three trillion and five
trillion dollars; the loss of military readiness within the United
States Armed Services due to overextension, the lack of training and
lack of equipment; the loss of United States credibility in world
affairs; and the decades of likely blowback created by the invasion of Iraq.
In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has
acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and Commander in
Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of
the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of
the United States. Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct,
is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.
ARTICLE V
ILLEGALLY MISSPENDING FUNDS TO SECRETLY BEGIN A WAR OF AGGRESSION
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in
violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of
President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and
in violation of his constitutional duty under Article II, Section 3 of
the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,”
has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates,
together with the Vice President, illegally misspent funds to begin a
war in secret prior to any Congressional authorization.
The president used over $2 billion in the summer of 2002 to prepare for
the invasion of Iraq. First reported in Bob Woodward's book, Plan of
Attack, and later confirmed by the Congressional Research Service, Bush
took money appropriated by Congress for Afghanistan and other programs
and—with no Congressional notification -- used it to build airfields in
Qatar and to make other preparations for the invasion of Iraq. This
constituted a violation of Article I, Section 9 of the U.S.
Constitution, as well as a violation of the War Powers Act of 1973.
In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has
acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and Commander in
Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of
the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of
the United States. Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct,
is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.
ARTICLE VI
INVADING IRAQ IN VIOLATION OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF HJRes114.
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in
violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of
President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and
in violation of his constitutional duty under Article II, Section 3 of
the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,”
exceeded his Constitutional authority to wage war by invading Iraq in
2003 without meeting the requirements of HJRes 114, the "Authorization
for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002" to wit:
(1) HJRes 114 contains several 'Whereas' clauses consistent with
statements being made by the White House at the time regarding the
threat from Iraq as evidenced by the following:
(A) HJRes 114 states "Whereas Iraq both poses a continuing threat to the
national security of the United States and international peace and
security in the Persian Gulf region and remains in material and
unacceptable breach of its international obligations by, among other
things, continuing to possess and develop a significant chemical and
biological weapons capability, actively seeking a nuclear weapons
capability, and supporting and harboring terrorist organizations;"; and
(B) HJRes 114 states, "Whereas members of Al Qaeda, an organization
bearing responsibility for attacks on the United States, its citizens,
and interests, including the attacks that occurred on September 11,
2001, are known to be in Iraq;”
(2) HJRes 114 states that the President must provide a determination,
the truthfulness of which is implied, that military force is necessary
in order to use the authorization, as evidenced by the following:
(A) Section 3 of HJRes 114 states:
"(b) PRESIDENTIAL DETERMINATION.-In connection with the exercise of the
authority granted in subsection (a) to use force the President shall,
prior to such exercise or as soon thereafter as may be feasible, but no
later than 48 hours after exercising such authority, make available to
the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro
tempore of the Senate his determination that—
(1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic or other
peaceful means alone either (A) will not adequately protect the national
security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by
Iraq or (B) is not likely to lead to enforcement of all relevant United
Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq; and
(2) acting pursuant to this joint resolution is consistent with the
United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary
actions against international terrorist and terrorist organizations,
including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned,
authorized, committed or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on
September 11, 2001."
(3) On March 18, 2003, President George Bush sent a letter to Congress
stating that he had made that determination as evidenced by the following:
(A) March 18th, 2003 Letter to Congress stating:
Consistent with section 3(b) of the Authorization for Use of Military
Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public Law 107-243), and based on
information available to me, including that in the enclosed document, I
determine that:
(1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic and other
peaceful means alone will neither (A) adequately protect the national
security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by
Iraq nor (B) likely lead to enforcement of all relevant United Nations
Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq; and
(2) acting pursuant to the Constitution and Public Law 107-243 is
consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take
the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist
organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who
planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that
occurred on September 11, 2001.
(4) President George Bush knew that these statements were false as
evidenced by:
(A) Information provided with Article I, II, III, IV and V.
(B) A statement by President George Bush in an interview with Tony Blair
on January 31st 2003: [WH]
Reporter: "One question for you both. Do you believe that there is a
link between Saddam Hussein, a direct link, and the men who attacked on
September the 11th?"
President Bush: "I can't make that claim"
(C) An article on February 19th by Terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna
states, "I could find no evidence of links between Iraq and Al Qaeda.
The documentation and interviews indicated that Al Qaeda regarded
Saddam, a secular leader, as an infidel." [International Herald Tribune]
(D) According to a February 2nd, 2003 article in the New York Times: [NYT]
At the Federal Bureau of Investigation, some investigators said they
were baffled by the Bush administration's insistence on a solid link
between Iraq and Osama bin Laden's network. "We've been looking at this
hard for more than a year and you know what, we just don't think it's
there," a government official said.
(5) Section 3C of HJRes 114 states that "Nothing in this joint
resolution supersedes any requirement of the War Powers Resolution."
(6) The War Powers Resolution Section 9(d)(1) states:
(d) Nothing in this joint resolution--
(1) is intended to alter the constitutional authority of the Congress or
of the President, or the provision of existing treaties; or
(7) The United Nations Charter was an existing treaty and, as shown in
Article VIII, the invasion of Iraq violated that treaty
Categories: impeach, bush, impeach-bush, iraq, war
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