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McKinney's Full Remarks on Bush Impeachment Bill
Friday 08 December 2006
US Rep. Cynthia McKinney today became the first US Congresswoman to introduce Articles of Impeachment against President
Bush, as well as Vice President Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.
Atlanta Progressive News has obtained the following remarks prepared by the Congresswoman, and has learned she was not
allowed to read them on the US House Floor. The remarks are expected to become part of the Congressional Record but will
not be available on thomas.loc.gov until next week.
The Congresswoman has scheduled an interview with APN for tomorrow to discuss her legislation. Stay tuned here for
more.
The remarks are reprinted here in full:
Mr. Speaker:
I come before this body today as a proud American and as a servant of the American people, sworn to uphold the
Constitution of the United States.
Throughout my tenure, I've always tried to speak the truth. It's that commitment that brings me here today.
We have a President who has misgoverned and a Congress that has refused to hold him accountable. It is a grave
situation and I believe the stakes for our country are high.
No American is above the law, and if we allow a President to violate, at the most basic and fundamental level, the
trust of the people and then continue to govern, without a process for holding him accountable, what does that say about
our commitment to the truth? To the Constitution? To our democracy?
The trust of the American people has been broken. And a process must be undertaken to repair this trust. This process
must begin with honesty and accountability.
Leading up to our invasion of Iraq, the American people supported this Administration's actions because they believed
in our President. They believed he was acting in good faith. They believed that American laws and American values would
be respected. That in the weightiness of everything being considered, two values were rock solid: trust and truth.
From mushroom clouds to African yellowcake to aluminum tubes, the American people and this Congress were not presented
the facts, but rather were presented a string of untruths, to justify the invasion of Iraq.
President Bush, along with Vice President Cheney and then-National Security Advisor Rice, portrayed to the Congress and
to the American people that Iraq represented an imminent threat, culminating with President Bush's claim that Iraq was
six months away from developing a nuclear weapon. Having used false fear to buy consent, the President then took our
country to war.
This has grave consequences for the health of our democracy, for our standing with our allies, and most of all, for the
lives of our men and women in the military and their families-who have been asked to make sacrifices-including the
ultimate sacrifice-to keep us safe.
Just as we expect our leaders to be truthful, we expect them to abide by the law and respect our courts and judges.
Here again, the President failed the American people.
When President Bush signed an executive order authorizing unlawful spying on American citizens, he circumvented the
courts, the law, and he violated the separation of powers provided by the Constitution. Once the program was revealed,
he then tried to hide the scope of his offense from the American people by making contradictory, untrue statements.
President George W. Bush has failed to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States; he has
failed to ensure that senior members of his administration do the same; and he has betrayed the trust of the American
people.
With a heavy heart and in the deepest spirit of patriotism, I exercise my duty and responsibility to speak truthfully
about what is before us. To shy away from this responsibility would be easier. But I have not been one to travel the
easy road. I believe in this country, and in the power of our democracy. I feel the steely conviction of one who will
not let the country I love descend into shame; for the fabric of our democracy is at stake.
Some will call this a partisan vendetta, others will say this is an unimportant distraction to the plans of the
incoming Congress. But this is not about political gamesmanship.
I am not willing to put any political party before my principles.
This, instead, is about beginning the long road back to regaining the high standards of truth and democracy upon which
our great country was founded.
Mr. Speaker:
Under the standards set by the United States Constitution, President Bush, along with Vice President Cheney, and
Secretary of State Rice, should be subject to the process of impeachment, and I have filed H. Res.1106 in the House of
Representatives.
To my fellow Americans, as I leave this Congress, it is in your hands to hold your representatives accountable, and to
show those with the courage to stand for what is right, that they do not stand alone.
Thank you.
*************
Matthew Cardinale is the News Editor of Atlanta Progressive News. He may be reached at matthew @
atlantaprogressivenews.com.
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Full Copy Of Mckinney's Resolution To Impeach Bush, Cheney And Rice
109TH CONGRESS 2ND SESSION
H. Res. 1106
Articles of Impeachment against George Walker Bush, President of the United States of America, and other officials, for
high crimes and misdemeanors.
_____________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF
REPESENTATIVES
DECEMBER 8, 2006
Ms. McKINNEY introduced the following Resolution:
_____________________________
RESOLUTION
Resolved, that George Walker Bush, 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 all the people of the United States of America, against George Walker Bush, President of the United States of
America, and other officials, in maintenance and support of its impeachment against him for high crimes and
misdemeanors.
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled that:
ARTICLE I. FAILURE TO PRESERVE, PROTECT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION
In violation of the oath of office, which reads: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the
Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the
Constitution of the United States," George Walker Bush, in his conduct while President of the United States has
demonstrated a pattern of abuse of office and of executive privilege, and disregard for the Constitution itself.
This conduct includes the following:
Manipulating Intelligence and Lying to Justify War.
In violation of the separation of powers under the Constitution and his subsequent obligation to share intelligence with
the Congress, George Walker Bush, while serving as President of the United States of America, in preparing the invasion
of Iraq, did withhold intelligence from the Congress, by refusing to provide Congress with the full intelligence picture
that he was being given, by redacting information by, for example, removing portions of reports such as the August 6,
2001 Presidential Daily Brief, and actively manipulating the intelligence on Iraq"s alleged weapons programs by
pressuring the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies to provide intelligence such that Òthe
intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy" as revealed in the "Downing Street Memo." To this end,
President George Walker Bush and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld created the Office of Special Plans inside the Pentagon
to override existing intelligence reports by providing unreliable evidence that supported the claim that Iraq's alleged
weapons of mass destruction posed an imminent threat to the United States of America. By justifying the invasion of Iraq
with false and misleading statements linking Iraq to the attacks of September 11, 2001, and falsely asserting that Iraq
had a nuclear weapons program for which it was importing aluminum tubes and uranium, these assertions being either
false, or based on "fixed" intelligence, with the intent to misinform the people and their representatives in Congress
in order to gain their support for invading Iraq, denying both the people and their representatives in Congress the
right to make an informed choice, George Walker Bush, President of the United States, did commit and was guilty of high
crimes against the United States of America.
ARTICLE II. ABUSE OF OFFICE AND OF EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE.
In violation of his oath to "faithfully execute the office of President of the United States," George Walker Bush, in
his conduct while President of the United States, has consistently demonstrated disregard for that oath by obstructing
and hindering the work of Congressional investigative bodies and by seeking to expand the scope of the powers of his
office.
This conduct includes the following:
Failure to Uphold Accountability.
In abrogation of his responsibility under the oath of office to take care that the Laws be faithfully executed, by which
he agreed to act in good faith and accept responsibility for the overall conduct of the Executive Branch, a duty vested
in his office alone under the Constitution, George Walker Bush, failed to take responsibility for, investigate or
discipline those responsible for an ongoing pattern of negligence, incompetence and malfeasance to the detriment of the
American people.
Those whom George Walker Bush, as President of the United States of America, has failed to hold to account include but
are not limited to the following top-level officials in his administration:
(a) Richard Cheney. In violation of his oath of office to support and defend the Constitution, Richard Cheney, Vice
President of the United States of America, played a key role in manipulating intelligence in the interest of promoting
the illegal invasion of Iraq by pressuring analysts at the Central Intelligence Agency to "fix" their intelligence
estimates of the danger posed by Iraq in relation to weapons of mass destruction, whereby Richard Cheney, Vice President
of the United States, did commit and was guilty of high crimes against the United States of America.
(b) Condoleezza Rice, In violation of her Constitutional duty to share and provide accurate and truthful intelligence
information with the Congress, as former National Security Advisor to the President, did play a leading role in
deceiving Congress and the American public by repeating and propagating false statements concerning Iraq's alleged
weapons of mass destruction program, including false information that the purchase of aluminum tubes demonstrated that
Iraq was pursuing a nuclear weapons program, false information that Iraq was seeking to purchase uranium and false
information that Iraq sought help in developing a chemical and biological weapons program; whereby Conoleezza Rice,
Secretary of State of the United States of America, did commit and was guilty of high misdemeanors against the United
States of America.
By neglecting to superintend the conduct of these officials and to hold members of the Executive Branch responsible for
their negligence or violations of law, George Walker Bush, President of the United States, did commit and was guilty of
high misdemeanors against the United States of America.
Wherefore, by their aforementioned conduct, George Walker Bush, Richard Cheney and Condoleezza Rice warrant impeachment,
trial and removal from office.
ARTICLE III. FAILURE TO ENSURE THE LAWS ARE FAITHFULLY EXECUTED
In violation of his duty under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution of the United States of America to "take Care
that the Laws be faithfully executed," George Walker Bush, during his tenure as President of the United States, has
violated the letter and spirit of laws and rules of criminal procedure used by civilian and military courts, and has
violated or ignored regulatory codes and practices that carry out the law.
This conduct includes the following:
Illegal Domestic Spying.
In violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [50 USC Chapter 36], George Walker Bush did
clandestinely direct the National Security Agency and various other intelligence agencies, in secret and outside the
lawful scope of their mandates, for purposes unrelated to any lawful function of his offices, to conduct electronic
surveillance of citizens of the United States on U.S. soil without seeking to obtain, before or after, a judicial
warrant, thereby subverting the powers of the Congress and the Judiciary by circumventing the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act (FISA) courts established by Congress, whose express purpose is to check such abuses of executive
power, provoking the presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to file a complaint and another
judge to resign in protest, the said program having been subsequently ruled illegal (ACLU vs. NSA); he has also
concealed the existence of this unlawful program of spying on American citizens from the people and all but a few of
their representatives in Congress, even resorting to outright public deceit as on 20 April, 2004, when he told an
audience in Buffalo, New York: "any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires . . .
a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about
getting a court order before we do so," whereby said George Walker Bush, President of the United States, did commit and
was guilty of high crimes against the United States of America.
In all of this, George Walker Bush has repeatedly and unapologetically misled the American people and has sought to
undermine the system of checks and balances established by the Founding Founders. Wherefore George Walker Bush, by such
conduct, and in the interest of saving our Constitution and our democracy from the threat of arbitrary government,
warrants impeachment and trial, and removal from office.
ENDS
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