Many, if not most, of us fear an imminent U.S. strike on Iran. The current signs are ominous and we feel helpless to stop it. But I think a case can be made that a move to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney, and to impeach him now, might greatly lessen the threat of this potential catastrophe.
Why impeach Cheney before Bush? The garbage that's spilling out all over the streets of Washington these past days is Cheney's garbage, not lil' George's. It is Cheney and the neo-cons who are pushing an attack on Iran, not George. I doubt George knows where Iran is.
Follow me here and I'll give you my reasons.
Cheney is a Rasputin, crouched over the throne of George like a malevolent grinning gargoyle. Without Cheney, George is merely a limp puppet. That he depends absolutely on Cheney is proved by his readiness to ignore the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, the generals in the field, the retired military, and common sense. If Cheney says attack Iran, Bush will attack Iran. Show me where he has ever once defied Cheney.
Next, check out the "Chamber of Commerce" site from Azerbaijan: http://www.usacc.org/
Here you will find all you need to know about Cheney and Iran. This site includes photos of folks like Henry Kissinger, and other dubious characters. Scroll down to find "The individuals of high distinction" who have previously served on the Advisory Council and the Board of Directors and you will see:
Dick Cheney
Vice President of the United States of America
Richard Armitage
Deputy Secretary of State
The grounds for Cheney's impeachment are aplenty. To cite just one of them: Patrick Fitzgerald, blinded by "thrown sand" in the Plame affair, apparently reasoned that he could not build an airtight legal case against Cheney to charge him with being "an unindicted co-conspirator." But I submit that Fitzgerald has given us the means to show that Cheney suborned his subordinates to "out" undercover agent Plame and to give false testimony under oath, which are crimes. In any case, impeachment is not a legal proceeding.
I ask the House to move for impeachment of Cheney and to immediately start investigations, complete with subpoenas for anyone who ever walked into his office. Subpoena the oil executives of the secret energy meeting, subpoena George Tenet, subpoena Haliburton execs, subpoena Mary Matalin, Bill Crystal, Wolfowitz, Feith, Perle...the whole criminal conspiracy that is our current government, every last one of them.
Their lawyers will be falling all over themselves to answer the subpoenas, the MSM can't avoid reporting it, and even Americans living in space for the past six years will finally learn what has been done to OUR country.
In the midst of all that, would Cheney have the congressional backing, or the credibility, or the complicity of the press, to attack Iran?
And then there's this, from Wikipedia:
The current President pro tempore of the Senate is Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia)
As kossack "Retriever" tellingly posted on a diary last night: "...going after the Vice president puts Robert Byrd as presiding over the Senate hearings as opposed to [the] chief justice. Traditionally the chief just would preside over presidential impeachment and the vice-president would preside over any other officer, but since presiding over your own impeachment wouldn't work. The responsibility would fall to the president pro-tempore of the Senate. Senator Byrd."
Moving to impeach Cheney also has the virtue of expending little political capital. His ratings are at 18-20%. Would Republicans in Congress be willing to risk their political careers by vigorously defending Cheney? Bush perhaps, since he's their Republican president...but Cheney?
We must encourage our Democratic representatives and senators to courageously consider this proposal. A bold move might yet save our country from even greater peril than we currently face.