Month: June 2008

Back in January, when Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) called for House Judiciary hearings on the articles of impeachment introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) against Vice President Dick Cheney, only 19 members supported the move, but one of them was Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio.

In the wake of the thirty-five articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush submitted by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and co-sponsored by Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL), geomoo at Daily Kos references a post of mine from 2006 on the issue of whether a provable criminal act is a prerequisite for impeachment.

Short version: It’s not.

Long version:

Pirate Satellite TV’s seven-minute spot on Steve Novick.

All this time I’d been giving Sen. Ron Wyden credit for seeing through the lies of the Bush administration about WMD in Iraq. I thought that the reason he’d voted against the Authorization to Use Military Force in Iraq was because he hadn’t seen any evidence of WMDs (because there weren’t any). What I was having a hard time reconciling was how someone could be aware of that and not speak up about the lack of evidence to justify the claims for the war.

I was wrong. Apparently Wyden did believe that there were WMD in Iraq, even after Hans Blix reported to the United Nations Security Council that his inspectors (UNMOVIC) had not found anything other than a “small number of empty chemical munitions.”

The week before the invasion of Iraq began, Willamette Week posed several questions about Iraq to Oregon’s congressional delegates. When WW asked if Wyden believed Iraq had complied with UN Resolution 1441 (calling for compliance with previous resolutions on disarmament and weapons inspections), this was his reply [emphasis added]:

WYDEN: No. The resolution calls for complete disarmament, and they have not completely disarmed. I think it’s clear that they have VX nerve gas, anthrax and certainly a significant missile capability.

That was nearly a month after Blix’s report to the Security Council stating that UNMOVIC had found no evidence of WMD after eleven weeks of work. So I have to wonder what made it “clear” to Wyden that the non-existent nerve gas and anthrax existed (because they didn’t).

But it explains a lot about why he didn’t put up any significant opposition to the war.

Senator Ron Wyden, in his own words from 2002 on the Iraq Authorization to Use Military Force:

“There is no question in my mind Saddam Hussein represents a very real threat to this country and to the world, but I do not want to, in the days ahead, compound the problems we already face with Hussein in the region by authorizing a unilateral, preemptive military strike at this time, and that is why I will oppose the resolution.”

A “real threat” to the US? And to “the world”? Really? Maybe I’ve been giving him too much credit.

“I am glad Wilson has come out in the open. I fear Judas most when he can cloak his activities behind the treacherous make-believe of nonpartisanship.”

— Former President Teddy Roosevelt, writing to Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, a month before the 1918 off-year elections, after President Woodrow Wilson had given a speech advocating voting for the Democrats over Republicans in order to assure a compliant Congress.

Apparently, Jack Bogdanski has an even harsher assessment of Ron Wyden than I do….

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2008

Profile in courage

Senator Ron Wyden (R-N.Y.) is crossing party lines to endorse Barack Obama.

Posted at 1:45 PM