US House Resolution 333

by Dennis Kucinich

.....................................................................
(Original Signature of Member)
110TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. RES. ___
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Mr. KUCINICH submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on __________
RESOLUTION
Impeaching Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United
States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Resolved, That Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States, is 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, against Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States of America, in maintenance and support of its impeachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Article I

In his conduct while Vice President of the United States, Richard B. Cheney, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of Vice 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 purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States by fabricating a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to justify the use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security interests, to wit:

1. Despite all evidence to the contrary, the Vice President actively and systematically sought to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States about an alleged threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction:

• • (A) ‘‘We know they have biological and chemical weapons.’’ March 17, 2002, Press Conference by Vice President Dick Cheney and His Highness Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince of Bahrain at Shaikh Hamad Palace.
  • (B) ‘‘...and we know they are pursuing nuclear weapons.’’ March 19, 2002, Press Briefing by Vice President Dick Cheney and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem.
  • (C) ‘‘And he is actively pursuing nuclear weapons at this time...’’ March 24, 2002, CNN Late Edition interview with Vice President Cheney.
  • (D) ‘‘We know he’s got chemicals and biological and we know he’s working on nuclear.’’ May 19, 2002, NBC Meet the Press interview with Vice President Cheney.
  • (E) ‘‘But we now know that Saddam has resumed his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons... Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt that he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us.August 26, 2002, Speech of Vice President Cheney at VFW 103rd National Convention.
  • (F) ‘‘Based on intelligence that’s becoming available, some of it has been made public, more of it hopefully will be, that he has indeed stepped up his capacity to produce and deliver biological weapons, that he has reconstituted his nuclear program to develop a nuclear weap on, that there are efforts under way inside Iraq to significantly expand his capability.’’ September 8, 2002 NBC Meet the Press interview with Vice President Cheney.
  • (G) ‘‘He is, in fact, actively and aggressively seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.’’

13 September 8, 2002 NBC Meet the Press interview with Vice President Cheney.

• • (H) ‘‘And we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.’’ March 16, 2003, NBC Meet the Press interview with Vice President Cheney.

Preceding the March 2003 invasion of Iraq the Vice President was fully informed that no legitimate evidence existed of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The Vice President pressured the intelligence community to change their findings to enable the deception of the citizens and Congress of the United States.

1 (A) Vice President Cheney and his Chief of 2 Staff, Lewis Libby, made multiple trips to the 3 CIA in 2002 to question analysts studying 4 Iraq’s weapons programs and alleged links to al 5 Qaeda, creating an environment in which ana 6 lysts felt they were being pressured to make 7 their assessments fit with the Bush administra 8 tion’s policy objectives accounts. 9 (B) Vice President Cheney sought out 10 unverified and ultimately inaccurate raw intel 11 ligence to prove his preconceived beliefs. This 12 strategy of cherry picking was employed to in 13 fluence the interpretation of the intelligence. 14 (3) The Vice President’s actions corrupted or 15 attempted to corrupt the 2002 National Intelligence 16 Estimate, an intelligence document issued on Octo 17 ber 1, 2002 and carefully considered by Congress 18 prior to the October 10, 2002 vote to authorize the 19 use of force. The Vice President’s actions prevented 20 the necessary reconciliation of facts for the National 21 Intelligence Estimate which resulted in a high num 22 ber of dissenting opinions from technical experts in 23 two Federal agencies. 24 (A) The State Department’s Bureau of In 25 telligence and Research dissenting view in the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate stated ‘‘Lacking persuasive evidence that Bagh 3 dad has launched a coherent effort to reconsti 4 tute it’s nuclear weapons program INR is un 5 willing to speculate that such an effort began 6 soon after the departure of UN inspectors or to 7 project a timeline for the completion of activi 8 ties it does not now see happening. As a result 9 INR is unable to predict that Iraq could ac 10 quire a nuclear device or weapon.’’. 11 (B) The State Department’s Bureau of In 12 telligence and Research dissenting view in the 13 October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate 14 also stated that ‘‘Finally, the claims of Iraqi 15 pursuit of natural uranium in Africa are, in 16 INR’s assessment, highly dubious.’’. 17 (C) The State Department’s Bureau of In 18 telligence and Research dissenting view in the 19 October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate 20 references a Department of Energy opinion by 21 stating that ‘‘INR accepts the judgment of 22 technical experts at the US Department of En 23 ergy (DOE) who have concluded that the tubes 24 Iraq seeks to acquire are poorly suited for use 25 in gas centrifuges to be used for uranium en- F:\M10\KUCINI\KUCINI.018 F:\V10\042407\042407.003 April 24, 2007 (9:09 AM)

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1 richment and finds unpersuasive the arguments 2 advanced by others to make the case that they 3 are intended for that purpose.’’. 4 The Vice President subverted the national security 5 interests of the United States by setting the stage for the 6 loss of more than 3300 United States service members; 7 the loss of 650,000 Iraqi citizens since the United States 8 invasion; the loss of approximately $500 billion in war 9 costs which has increased our Federal debt; the loss of 10 military readiness within the United States Armed Serv 11 ices due to overextension, lack of training and lack of 12 equipment; the loss of United States credibility in world 13 affairs; and the decades of likely blowback created by the 14 invasion of Iraq. 15 In all of this, Vice President Richard B. Cheney has 16 acted in a manner contrary to his trust as Vice President, 17 and subversive of constitutional government, to the preju 18 dice of the cause of law and justice and the manifest injury 19 of the people of the United States.Wherefore, Vice Presi 20 dent Richard B. Cheney, by such conduct, is guilty of an 21 impeachable offense warranting removal from office. 22 Article II 23 In his conduct while Vice President of the United 24 States, Richard B. Cheney, in violation of his constitu 25 tional oath to faithfully execute the office of Vice Presi- F:\M10\KUCINI\KUCINI.018 F:\V10\042407\042407.003 April 24, 2007 (9:09 AM)

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1 dent of the United States and, to the best of his ability, 2 preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the 3 United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty 4 to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, purposely 5 manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens 6 and Congress of the United States about an alleged rela 7 tionship between Iraq and al Qaeda in order to justify the 8 use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation 9 of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security 10 interests, to wit: 11 (1) Despite all evidence to the contrary, the 12 Vice President actively and systematically sought to 13 deceive the citizens and the Congress of the United 14 States about an alleged relationship between Iraq 15 and al Qaeda: 16 (A) ‘‘His regime has had high-level con 17 tacts with Al Qaeda going back a decade and 18 has provided training to Al Qaeda terrorists.’’ 19 December 2, 2002, Speech of Vice President 20 Cheney at the Air National Guard Senior Lead 21 ership Conference. 22 (B) ‘‘His regime aids and protects terror 23 ists, including members of Al Qaeda. He could 24 decide secretly to provide weapons of mass de 25 struction to terrorists for use against us.’’ Jan- F:\M10\KUCINI\KUCINI.018 F:\V10\042407\042407.003 April 24, 2007 (9:09 AM)

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1 uary 30, 2003, Speech of Vice President Che 2 ney to 30th Political Action Conference in Ar 3 lington, Virginia. 4 (C) ‘‘We know he’s out trying once again 5 to produce nuclear weapons and we know that 6 he has a long-standing relationship with various 7 terrorist groups, including the Al Qaeda organi 8 zation.’’ March 16, 2003, NBC Meet the Press 9 interview with Vice President Cheney. 10 (D) ‘‘We learned more and more that there 11 was a relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda 12 that stretched back through most of the decade 13 of the ’90s, that it involved training, for exam 14 ple, on biological weapons and chemical weap 15 ons...’’ September 14, 2003, NBC Meet the 16 Press interview with Vice President Cheney. 17 (E) ‘‘Al Qaeda had a base of operation 18 there up in Northeastern Iraq where they ran 19 a large poisons factory for attacks against Eu 20 ropeans and U.S. forces.’’ October 3, 2003, 21 Speech of Vice President Cheney at Bush-Che 22 ney ’04 Fundraiser in Iowa. 23 (F) ‘‘He also had an established relation 24 ship with Al Qaeda providing training to Al 25 Qaeda members in areas of poisons, gases, and F:\M10\KUCINI\KUCINI.018 F:\V10\042407\042407.003 April 24, 2007 (9:09 AM)

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1 conventional bombs.’’ October 10, 2003, Speech 2 of Vice President Cheney to the Heritage Foun 3 dation. 4 (G) ‘‘Al Qaeda and the Iraqi intelligence 5 services have worked together on a number of 6 occasions.’’ January 9, 2004, Rocky Mountain 7 News interview with Vice President Cheney. 8 (H) ‘‘I think there’s overwhelming evidence 9 that there was a connection between Al Qaeda 10 and the Iraqi government’’ January 22, 2004, 11 NPR: Morning Edition interview with Vice 12 President Cheney. 13 (I) ‘‘First of all, on the question of—of 14 whether or not there was any kind of relation 15 ship, there clearly was a relationship. It’s been 16 testified to; the evidence is overwhelming.’’ 17 June 17, 2004, CNBC: Capital Report inter 18 view with Vice President Cheney. 19 (2) Preceding the March 2003 invasion of Iraq 20 the Vice President was fully informed that no cred 21 ible evidence existed of a working relationship be 22 tween Iraq and al Qaeda, a fact articulated in sev 23 eral official documents, including: 24 (A) A classified Presidential Daily Briefing 25 ten days after the September 11, 2001 attacks F:\M10\KUCINI\KUCINI.018 F:\V10\042407\042407.003 April 24, 2007 (9:09 AM)

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1 indicating that the United States intelligence 2 community had no evidence linking Saddam 3 Hussein to the September 11th attacks and 4 that there was ‘‘scant credible evidence that 5 Iraq had any significant collaborative ties with 6 Al Qaeda’.’ 7 (B) Defense Intelligence Terrorism Sum 8 mary No. 044-02, issued in February 2002 by 9 the United States Defense Intelligence Agency, 10 which challenged the credibility of information 11 gleaned from captured al Qaeda leader al-Libi. 12 The DIA report also cast significant doubt on 13 the possibility of a Saddam Hussein-al-Qaeda 14 conspiracy: ‘‘Saddam’s regime is intensely sec 15 ular and is wary of Islamic revolutionary move 16 ments. Moreover, Baghdad is unlikely to pro 17 vide assistance to a group it cannot control.’’. 18 (C) A January 2003 British intelligence 19 classified report on Iraq that concluded that 20 ‘‘there are no current links between the Iraqi 21 regime and the al-Qaeda network’’. 22 The Vice President subverted the national security 23 interests of the United States by setting the stage for the 24 loss of more than 3300 United States service members; 25 the loss of 650,000 Iraqi citizens since the United States F:\M10\KUCINI\KUCINI.018 F:\V10\042407\042407.003 April 24, 2007 (9:09 AM)

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1 invasion; the loss of approximately $500 billion in war 2 costs which has increased our Federal debt; the loss of 3 military readiness within the United States Armed Serv 4 ices due to overextension, lack of training and lack of 5 equipment; the loss of United States credibility in world 6 affairs; and the decades of likely blowback created by the 7 invasion of Iraq. 8 In all of this, Vice President Richard B. Cheney has 9 acted in a manner contrary to his trust as Vice President, 10 and subversive of constitutional government, to the preju 11 dice of the cause of law and justice and the manifest injury 12 of the people of the United States. 13 Wherefore, Vice President Richard B. Cheney, by 14 such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense war 15 ranting removal from office. 16 Article III 17 In his conduct while Vice President of the United 18 States, Richard B. Cheney, in violation of his constitu 19 tional oath to faithfully execute the office of Vice Presi 20 dent of the United States and, to the best of his ability, 21 preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the 22 United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty 23 to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has open 24 ly threatened aggression against the Republic of Iran ab 25 sent any real threat to the United States, and done so F:\M10\KUCINI\KUCINI.018 F:\V10\042407\042407.003 April 24, 2007 (9:09 AM)

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1 with the United States proven capability to carry out such 2 threats, thus undermining the national security of the 3 United States, to wit: 4 (1) Despite no evidence that Iran has the inten 5 tion or the capability of attacking the United States 6 and despite the turmoil created by United States in 7 vasion of Iraq, the Vice President has openly threat 8 ened aggression against Iran as evidenced by the fol 9 lowing: 10 (A) ‘‘For our part, the United States is 11 keeping all options on the table in addressing 12 the irresponsible conduct of the regime. And we 13 join other nations in sending that regime a 14 clear message: We will not allow Iran to have 15 a nuclear weapon.’’ March 7, 2006, Speech of 16 Vice President Cheney to American Israel Pub 17 lic Affairs Committee 2006 Policy Conference. 18 (B) ‘‘But we’ve also made it clear that all 19 options are on the table.’’ January 24, 2007, 20 CNN Situation Room interview with Vice Presi 21 dent Cheney. 22 (C) ‘‘When we—as the President did, for 23 example, recently—deploy another aircraft car 24 rier task force to the Gulf, that sends a very 25 strong signal to everybody in the region that F:\M10\KUCINI\KUCINI.018 F:\V10\042407\042407.003 April 24, 2007 (9:09 AM)

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1 the United States is here to stay, that we clear 2 ly have significant capabilities, and that we are 3 working with friends and allies as well as the 4 international organizations to deal with the Ira 5 nian threat.’’ January 29, 2007, Newsweek 6 interview with Vice President Cheney. 7 (D) ‘‘But I’ve also made the point and the 8 President has made the point that all options 9 are still on the table.’’ February 24, 2007, Vice 10 President Cheney at Press Briefing with Aus 11 tralian Prime Minister in Sydney, Australia. 12 (2) The Vice President, who repeatedly and 13 falsely claimed to have had specific, detailed knowl 14 edge of Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction 15 capabilities, is no doubt fully aware of evidence that 16 demonstrates Iran poses no real threat to the United 17 States as evidenced by the following: 18 (A) ‘‘I know that what we see in Iran right 19 now is not the industrial capacity you can [use 20 to develop a] bomb.’’ Mohamed ElBaradei, Di 21 rector General of International Atomic Energy 22 Agency, February 19, 2007. 23 (B) Iran indicated its ‘‘full readiness and 24 willingness to negotiate on the modality for the 25 resolution of the outstanding issues with the F:\M10\KUCINI\KUCINI.018 F:\V10\042407\042407.003 April 24, 2007 (9:09 AM)

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1 IAEA, subject to the assurances for dealing 2 with the issues in the framework of the Agency, 3 without the interference of the United Nations 4 Security Council’’. IAEA Board Report, Feb 5 ruary 22, 2007. 6 (C) ‘‘...so whatever they have, what we 7 have seen today, is not the kind of capacity that 8 would enable them to make bombs.’’ Mohamed 9 El Baradei, Director General of International 10 Atomic Energy Agency, February 19, 2007. 11 (3) The Vice President is fully aware of the ac 12 tions taken by the United States towards Iran that 13 are further destabilizing the world as evidenced by 14 the following: 15 (A) The United States has refused to en 16 gage in meaningful diplomatic relations with 17 Iran since 2002, rebuffing both bilateral and 18 multilateral offers to dialogue. 19 (B) The United States is currently en 20 gaged in a military buildup in the Middle East 21 that includes the increased presence of the 22 United States Navy in the waters near Iran, 23 significant United States Armed Forces in two 24 nations neighboring to Iran, and the installa 25 tion of anti-missile technology in the region. F:\M10\KUCINI\KUCINI.018 F:\V10\042407\042407.003 April 24, 2007 (9:09 AM)

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1 (C) News accounts have indicated that 2 military planners have considered the B61-11, a 3 tactical nuclear weapon, as one of the options 4 to strike underground bunkers in Iran. 5 (D) The United States has been linked to 6 anti-Iranian organizations that are attempting 7 to destabilize the Iranian government, in par 8 ticular the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK), even 9 though the state department has branded it a 10 terrorist organization. 11 (E) News accounts indicate that United 12 States troops have been ordered into Iran to 13 collect data and establish contact with anti-gov 14 ernment groups. 15 (4) In the last three years the Vice President 16 has repeatedly threatened Iran. However, the Vice 17 President is legally bound by the U.S Constitution’s 18 adherence to international law that prohibits threats 19 of use of force. 20 (A) Article VI of the United States Con 21 stitution states, ‘‘This Constitution, and the 22 Laws of the United States which shall be made 23 in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or 24 which shall be made, under the Authority of the 25 United States, shall be the supreme Law of the F:\M10\KUCINI\KUCINI.018 F:\V10\042407\042407.003 April 24, 2007 (9:09 AM)

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1 Land.’’ Any provision of an international treaty 2 ratified by the United States becomes the law 3 of the United States. 4 (B) The United States is a signatory to 5 the United Nations Charter, a treaty among the 6 nations of the world. Article II, Section 4 of the 7 United Nations Charter states, ‘‘All Members 8 shall refrain in their international relations 9 from the threat or use of force against the ter 10 ritorial integrity or political independence of 11 any state, or in any other manner inconsistent 12 with the Purposes of the United Nations.’’ The 13 threat of force is illegal. 14 (C) Article 51 lays out the only exception, 15 ‘‘Nothing in the present Charter shall impair 16 the inherent right of individual or collective 17 self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a 18 Member of the United Nations, until the Secu 19 rity Council has taken measures necessary to 20 maintain international peace and security.’’ 21 Iran has not attacked the United States; there 22 fore any threat against Iran by the United 23 States is illegal. 24 The Vice President’s deception upon the citizens and 25 Congress of the United States that enabled the failed April 24, 2007 (9:09 AM)

United States invasion of Iraq forcibly altered the rules of diplomacy such that the Vice President’s recent belligerent actions towards Iran are destabilizing and counterproductive to the national security of the United States.

In all of this, Vice President Richard B. Cheney has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as Vice President, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of the cause of law and justice and the manifest injury of the people of the United States.

Wherefore Richard B. Cheney, by such conduct, warrants impeachment and trial, and removal from office.