Leaders who lie - Have we had enough?

Last Monday, Dan Froomkin, who blogs for the Washington Post at White House Watch, included in his post a couple of paragraphs under Impeachment (Non) Watch: "The Project for Excellence in Journalism finds that during the week of Nov. 4 -9, Rep. Dennis Kucinich's introduction of a measure to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney was 'barely a blip on the larger news-scape.'

"The story did not come close to cracking the top-10 stories in PEJ's overall News Coverage Index. But on talk radio, it was 'the top story with 20% of the total airtime.'"
The next day Public Affairs Books, publisher of former press secretary Scott McClellan’s forthcoming book, What Happened, released an excerpt:

"The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White House briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.

"There was one problem. It was not true.

"I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the Vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the President himself."

On November 22nd, Dave Lindorff, co-author of the excellent book, The Case for Impeachment posted, "Impeachment is Back on the Table": “With that one little statement…all excuses for not impeaching President Bush and Vice President Cheney, not to mention indicting Cheney (who of course has no immunity from prosecution while in office), have evaporated.

“There is no way that American democracy can continue to survive, even in its current truncated form, if the Congress continues to duck this issue and pretend that it has 'more important things to do,' as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her retinue of leaders in the House have continued to claim for an entire year in control of the Congress.

“To keep impeachment ‘off the table,’ knowing that the president and vice president brazenly lied to the American people and to the Special Counsel's office about such a serious offense, is to make a mockery of the Constitution and the law."

I'll be watching the mainstream media to see if impeachment becomes more than a "blip on the larger news-scape" and if more than 20% of the talkers on radio shows "seize on [the] impeachment issue."

Even if the media continues to ignore impeachment, the former press secretary's disclosure is so significant that those of us who support H. Res 799 can urge members of the House Judiciary Committee to subpoena Scott McClellan and begin the impeachment investigation immediately. I highly recommend you go to Chris Borland’s Action Plan: Cheney Impeachment Resolution for contact information for selected House Judiciary Committee members.

(graphs: Project for Excellence in Journalism)

Do we have the courage to stop a war with Iran?

I’ve started blogging in mid-January. Starting on January 23rd, I’ve been posting about the issue of whether or not Bush is going to attack Iran here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

I’m convinced that we’ve gone from the possibility to a probability to the likelihood that Bush will launch at attack on Iran. If it’s now more likely than not, what do we citizens do?

This past Labor Day weekend, Ray McGovern, who served 27 years as an analyst for the CIA, wrote Do We Have the Courage to Stop War with Iran?: “I fear our country is likely to be at war with Iran-and with the thousands of real terrorists Iran can field around the globe.

“It is going to happen, folks, unless we put our lawn chairs away on Tuesday, take part in some serious grass-roots organizing, and take action to prevent a wider war-while we still can.”

Ray McGovern has been actively working for impeachment of Bush and Cheney for months. He, Elizabeth de la Vega, author of United States v. George W. Bush, et al., and David Lindorff, co-author of The Case of Impeachment - The Legal Argument for Removing George W. Bush from Office, appeared on an impeachment panel last February in Olympia, Washington.

All three of these proponents for impeachment see the risk of an attack on Iran if Bush and Cheney aren’t impeached.

Here’s Elizabeth, speaking last January in Santa Rosa. California:

And here’s David Lindorff’s latest post at Smirking Chimp, Beware the Wounded Beast: Bush Has Lost the Iraq War: “Numerous reports, including most credibly one in The Times in London (owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.), suggest that a plan has already been laid out for a three-day massive bombardment on over 1200 targets in Iran, which would attempt to destroy not just that country’s nascent nuclear processing capability, but also its government, communications, and military facilities, essentially leaving the country of 70 million a smoking ruin.

“Such an attack, with no international support, no UN sanction, no threat, imminent or otherwise, and no provocation, would be, pure and simple, a war crime of the first order. It would also put the US at war, not just with Iran, but also with virtually the entire Islamic world.”

So what do we citizens do? We support impeachment. I’ve been urging readers whose Congressional representatives haven’t signed on to House Resolution 333 to call them and ask them why they aren’t supporting the impeachment of Vice President Richard Cheney, who appears to be the driving force behind the plan to attack Iran. Go to Congress.org to find out who represents you.

Also, you can go to StopWaronIran and sign a petition which will be sent directly to the White House, selected members of Congress, and the media. It may take a little courage to send your contact information to the White House, but we all need to draw on all the courage we possess during these perilous times.

(cartoon: Tom Toles for the Washington Post, published on July 26, 2007)