OPEN LETTER TO JOHN CONYERS
Honorable John Conyers
Chairman, House Judiciary Committee
Chairman Conyers:
I write to urge your immediate action on House Resolution 799, Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Cheney. Abundant evidence already in the public domain indicates he has violated his Oath of Office and is guilty of "high crimes" against the Constitution of the United States.
In addition to the three articles authored by Rep. Kucinich, Vice President Cheney must be investigated for (Article IV) his well-documented role in authorizing the use of torture against "enemy combatants"--including US citizens--in violation of US and International Law http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/20/torture/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/11/18/torture.vp/index.html , and (Article V) his evident false testimony to the 9/11 Commission regarding his actions on September 11, 2001, as revealed by the testimony of Norman Mineta before the 9/11 Commission archived here:
http://www.9-11commission.gov/archive/hearing2/9-11Commission_Hearing_2003-05-23.htm
Mineta's testimony, considered in the context of the Vice President's vocal opposition to any investigation of the 9/11 attacks http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/17816 http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/01/29/inv.terror.probe/ and the highly unusual conditions of his eventual "meeting" with the 9/11 Commission http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkxqprSfSFQ , is in itself sufficient cause for re-opening an investigation into the Vice-President's response to those "world-changing" attacks.
Like millions of Americans, I am outraged by the crimes of this administration, which have left our nation weaker and less secure in every sense. Most tragic has been the loss of moral credibility--the shaming of our national name. This ruination cannot be denied by simply "moving on" as though treason and crimes against humanity were merely "business as usual" of no lasting consequence. If allowed to stand unpunished, the flagrant abuses of this Vice President will become a precedent for future abuses of the Constitution and the American people one shudders to imagine.
More immediately, impeachment of the Vice President may well prevent a needless and catastrophic war of aggression against Iran, the pain of which would spare no one.
Speaker Pelosi and House leaders who cynically refuse to uphold their oaths of office on grounds that impeachment "would be a distraction" from short-term party goals or because "we don't have the votes" have compromised themselves, betrayed the Constitution and deserve the ignominy in which future generations will hold them. This is not about partisan politics. This is about salvaging the soul of our nation, the very idea of the United States of America. What matters, what will matter to our children, is that the attempt is boldly made--whatever the odds or forces arrayed against it--to serve justice and preserve the Republic.
Please honor the heroic efforts of Rep. Kucinich and your own legacy of courageous truth-telling by pursuing these Articles and bringing them to the floor of the House for debate before the world.
"Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality of those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change."--Robert F. Kennedy
Respectfully,
Michael Fury
