Cheney Impeachment Not Off the Table

You would not know it for the news blackout, but New Yorkers of Rep. Jerrold Nadler's district held a Town Hall/Impeachment Forum last Sunday to encourage Nadler, chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, to begin impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney.

Panelists included former congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman, former Reagan Justice Department attorney Bruce Fein, human rights attorney and Harper's commentator Scott Horton, and John Nirenberg, the activist who at the turn of the year walked from Boston to Washington, D.C., in a futile attempt to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on impeachment.

The organizers had asked me to be on the panel, but I had to send regrets and submitted a statement instead (see below). A video of the proceedings will be posted on afterdowningstreet.org.

Taking Stock

In a post mortem the next evening, the organizers reflected on what seemed to be a mixed picture of good and bad news.

On the positive side, Judson Memorial Church was crammed to overflowing with 300 folks. And this, despite the fact that most were already aware that Nadler had announced (late Friday afternoon) that he would be a no-show. He did not even send a representative.

The panelists' remarks were compelling. Blame for inaction on impeachment was laid squarely on our invertebrate Congress. (But ouch, that familiar whining can get a bit tiresome.)

The audience was described as well-educated, nonfringe, and polite.

On the negative side, despite Herculean efforts to interest the "mainstream media," no one showed. And the enthusiasm of those hardy souls trying to spur action on impeachment was dampened by continuing frustration at the obstacles, as politicians like Nadler continue to put political expedience above their sworn duty to protect and defend the Constitution.

Tories back in charge

It took some 230 years, but the Tories are back in charge -- I mean the Nadlers, the Conyers, the Pelosis, so bereft of the courage of our forebears to defy a new King George, preferring to let him dis us the people and trash the Constitution. Remember those stirring final words of the Declaration of Independence? "We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." We have come a long way. Surely, the Founders are rolling over in their graves.

Many of our forebears were also well-educated and nonfringe; fortunately, they were NOT polite.

Is it not clear, finally, that the time for politeness is over?

It is up to us, now, whether we shall have constitutional separation of powers or shall have kings. It is up to us whether an unrestrained executive will be able to march our children and grandchildren off to an endless series of resource wars likely to dominate this century.

The time for talking is over. Impeachment proceedings must begin. And no one is going to get that done but us.

We need to acknowledge that one of the hurdles is outrage fatigue; it is hard to decide where to start among the many high crimes and misdemeanors of which Vice President Cheney is demonstrably guilty. From my perspective as a former intelligence officer, we certainly cannot allow to escape censure Cheney's conjuring up false "intelligence" to justify what Nuremberg defined as the "supreme international crime" -- a war of aggression -- in Iraq.

My colleagues and I in Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity could see what was happening early on. That is why, in the first appeal of its kind by an intelligence alumni group, we wrote to President George W. Bush on July 14, 2003: "We strongly recommend that you ask for Cheney's immediate resignation (Memorandum for the President, "Intelligence Unglued").

As I mention in my statement to the NYC Town Hall, former CIA director George Tenet has since written that Cheney's warmongering "went well beyond what our analysis would support," and apparently came as something of a surprise to the president himself.