Ralph Lopez / Impeachment Left to Right & Ron Suskind / The Huffington Post – 2008-08-19 22:33:31
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Breaking-Conyers-Calls-Co-by-Ralph-Lopez-080815-807.html
Breaking: Conyers Calls Committee Back from Summer Recess to Investigate Suskind Allegations
Ralph Lopez / Impeachment Left to Right
“The 110th Congress isn’t over. We’re starting our work, and then we’re doing it in a period where the Congress is in recess. I’m calling everybody back.”
— John Conyers on DemocracyNow, August14,2008
(August 16, 2008) — House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers has taken the highly unusual step of calling his committee back from summer recess in order to investigate allegations by Ron Suskind that the Bush administration forged a letter to buttress the links made between Saddam and 9/11, and Saddam and WMD.
The congressional Authorization for the Use of Force Against Iraq, the “War Resolution” which, as far short as it fell of a congressional declaration of war, gave the invasion its constitutional legal cover, and gave Bush the authorization to invade only after he had certified to congress the existence of these two critical links. If Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11, and if he did not possess WMD, the war was off.
The Authorization for the Use of Force stipulated:
Sec. 3 (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–
(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.
On March 23, 2003, the president certified just that:
-“I have also determined that the use of armed force against Iraq 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.” -George Bush, certification to Congress to authorize the use of force in Iraq, March 23, 2003
“Armed force against Iraq is consistent with…actions against…nations…who…aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11…” are the operative words in that statement without the subordinate clauses.
After the flurry of impeachment articles embodied in HR 1345, read on the House floor on June 9, 2008, Rep. Dennis Kucinich followed up on July 10 with a single article which lasers in on the exact war lies Suskind’s alleged forgery has called attention to. Not that the document is needed to show Bush lied. He admitted as much, which in a courtroom is prima facie evidence which supercedes any other.
In a press conference with Tony Blair in Jan. of 2003, Bush said:
[Adam Boulton, Sky News (London):] 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?
THE PRESIDENT: I can’t make that claim.
THE PRIME MINISTER: That answers your question.
And on Sept. 18, 2003, on Meet the Press, Bush drove the nail in all the way:
-“No, we’ve had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September the 11th.
Conyers’ reconvening of his committee was the result of enormous public pressure, most poignantly that coming from military families wanting to know why their loved ones are dead. Despite the exquisite, shining clockwork political operation now in place at the Executive Branch, working hand in glove with the media spin machine, it’s still not that easy to get 4100 Americans killed over lies.
Bush knew Americans would not subject their troops to such an uncertain fiasco over 17 violated UN resolutions, or Saddam’s brutal but by no means unique human rights record. If we attacked every country which violated UN resolutions, we’d be bombing Tel Aviv.
So Bush lied.
What is needed now is a full-court press by the public, especially those citizens up until now silent, to transform the Suskind investigation into true impeachment hearings. Public pressure, and only public pressure, resulted in the stunning but buried hearings of July 25, 2008. On that day only 17 out of hundreds of citizens from across the country who packed the hallway outside the Judiciary chambers were allowed into the room.
As people chanted “Shame!” it was explained by Judiciary staff that the rest of the seats were taken by the media. The joke turned out to be on you, the public. Media packed the room, but not one American newspaper, not one network news station, reported the dramatic six-hour testimony which outlined some of the most serious charges which can be made against a U.S. president.
This country is now learning what many already know: that democracy is not given. It is demanded. Few politicians are interested in your right to freedom from search and seizure without a warrant, or your right to a jury trial even if George Bush thinks you are an “enemy combatant.” They already belong to a class of the powerful who will merit special consideration. Some, with good reason, may argue that we already have a two-tier system of justice, for the rich, and for the poor. But like the movie says, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
There is nothing partisan about impeachment. Just as politics should stop at the water’s edge (except for John McCain, who injected himself into the Georgia crisis in a manner which would have earned Obama a withering barrage,) it stops when the very process by which we govern ourselves is in peril.
This is why someone like Bruce Fein, a former Reagan deputy attorney general who “trashed the Roe v. Wade abortion decision, stating that it required a “hallucinogenic intellectual flight” on the part of Justice Harry Blackmun to draft the opinion,” according to CommonDreams.org, has come out as one of the most effective spokemen for a Bush impeachment. Why? CommonDreams goes on:
This is what did it: The disclosure that the National Security Agency (NSA) is engaged in the domestic wiretapping of American citizens in the United States without first obtaining warrants. The Bush Administration had crossed the line. Within twenty-four hours, Fein went into constitutional combat mode. And he hasn’t stopped since.
For Fein, there is nothing really to debate; the law is settled. In 1978, Congress passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, permitting the government to conduct electronic surveillance on citizens in the United States if it first gets a warrant from the FISA court, which exists for that reason only. The FISA court rarely has denied such a request.
Fein says:
“The President could pick and choose which statutes to obey in gathering foreign intelligence and employing battlefield tactics on the sidewalks of the United States.”
Please do three things:
1) Call Judiciary Committee members, give a message saying we know the difference between a show, and impeachment. This is fast.
2) Participate in the campaign to reach Judiciary members’ campaign contributors, to ask them as one citizen to another to withhold contributions until the member does this clearest of patriotic duties. Why this route? Because congressmen have shown themselves to be impervious to any amount of constituent pressure.
Rep. John Olver (D-MA) even said, at a town meeting “Spare me, I know full well the overwhelming majority of my constituency is in favor of impeachment” as he told the packed room he would not co-sponsor any resolutions against either Bush or Cheney. We used to think that representatives were there to represent us. We have learned better. But we’re not done with them.
3) Start now to prevail on the media to cover important hearings when they happen. Participate in the advertiser boycott.
There will be naysayers, and the Pelosians who seems to think that a super-majority of Pelosians is the answer. These are the same people who betrayed Americans by failing to stop the Iraq War, when they were given a majority to do just that. Better the Pelosians understand that doing their duty to impeach will be seen as a down-payment on regaining the trust of the rank-and-file, and the American people. Otherwise all promises are empty.
Any national healthcare will be written by big pharma and the insurance companies. Presidents will continue to get their blank checks for war. As for the naysayers on impeachment, as the saying goes, either lead, follow, or get out of the way.
From Impeachment Left to Right
Thanks to MediaMatters.org for the following. Each one of these statements has been debunked:
* From Bush’s September 28, 2002, radio address to the nation:
The danger to our country is grave and it is growing. The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons, is rebuilding the facilities to make more and, according to the British government, could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes after the order is given. The regime has long-standing and continuing ties to terrorist groups, and there are Al Qaeda terrorists inside Iraq. This regime is seeking a nuclear bomb, and with fissile material could build one within a year.
* From Bush’s October 7, 2002, speech:
We know that Iraq and Al Qaeda have had high-level contacts that go back a decade.
* From Bush’s January 28, 2003, State of the Union address:
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.
* From a February 6, 2003, statement by Bush:
Senior members of Iraqi intelligence and Al Qaeda have met at least eight times since the early 1990s. Iraq has sent bomb-making and document forgery experts to work with Al Qaeda. Iraq has also provided Al Qaeda with chemical and biological weapons training.
Authors Website: http://ralphlopezworld.com
The Forged Iraqi Letter: What Just Happened?
Ron Suskind / The Huffington Post
(August 20, 2008) — What just happened? Evidence.
A secret that has been judiciously kept for five years just spilled out. All of what follows is new, never reported in any way:
The Iraq Intelligence Chief, Tahir Jalil Habbush — a man still carrying a $1 million reward for capture, the Jack of Diamonds in Bush’s famous deck of wanted men — has been America’s secret source on Iraq.
Starting in January of 2003, with Blair and Bush watching, his secret reports began to flow to officials on both sides of the Atlantic, saying that there were no WMD and that Hussein was acting so odd because of fear that the Iranians would find out he was a toothless tiger.
The U.S. deep-sixed the intelligence report in February, “resettled” Habbush to a safe house in Jordan during the invasion and then paid him $5 million in what could only be considered hush money.
In the fall of 2003, after the world learned there were no WMD — as Habbush had foretold — the White House ordered the CIA to carry out a deception. The mission: create a handwritten letter, dated July, 2001, from Habbush to Saddam saying that Atta trained in Iraq before the attacks and the Saddam was buying yellow cake for Niger with help from a “small team from the al Qaeda organization.”
The mission was carried out, the letter was created, popped up in Baghdad, and roiled the global newcycles in December, 2003 (conning even venerable journalists like Tom Brokaw). The mission is a statutory violation of the charter of the CIA, and amendments added in 1991, prohibiting the CIA from conducting disinformation campaigns on U.S. soil.
So, here we go again: the administration is in full attack mode, calling me names, George Tenet is claiming he doesn’t remember any such thing — just like he couldn’t remember “slam dunk” — and reporters are scratching their heads. Everything in my book is on the record, with many sources.
And so, we watch and wait….
Copyright © 2008 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
Posted in accordance with title 17, US Code, Section 107, for noncommercial, educational purposes.
ACTION ALERT
On September 10, 2008, we want to deliver ONE MILLION signatures to Congress urging them to exercise their Constitutional authority and “mandate to hold this President – and all future Presidents accountable.”
Sign & get others to sign petition • http://www.kucinich.us
• Contact the House Judiciary Committee
202-225-3951
• Write a letter to the editor.
• Call your Congress people.
• Help the Media Boycott Over Impeachment Blackout
http://nationalimpeachment.org/?page_id=32
• For additional information:
http://suzieqq.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/breaking-conyers-calls-committee-back-from-summer-recess-to-investigate-suskind-allegations/_
Interviews with details about the White House order for fake documents and Conyers’ reaction.
• Listen or watch at:
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/8/14/stream
• Transcript at:
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/8/14/after_ron_suskind_reveals_bush_admin
• Impeachment Information
http://impeachmentlefttoright.org/
