Republicans and Independents for Impeaching Bush and Cheney

In a stunning development which fell with the silence of a feather yesterday, 9 Republicans broke with their iron-fisted party to put country first, and voted to send Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s article of impeachment HR 1345 to the Judiciary, where Chairman John Conyers will hold a hearings on abuses of power by the Bush administration, according to the Congressional Quaterly’s CQToday. Ten Republicans abstained in this critical moment, while only 5 Dems did. The vote was neck and neck at many moments, with “Nays” pulling ahead twice.

Those Republicans are (Yea 238 - Nay 180):

Congressman Kevin Brady (TX)
Congressman Wayne Gilchrest (MD)
Congressman Walter B. Jones (NC)
Representative Don Manzullo (IL)
U.S. Congressman Tim Murphy(PA)
Congressman Ron Paul (TX)
Congressman Dave Reichert (WA)
Congressman Christopher Shays (CT)
Representative Mike Turner (OH)

One of the Republicans, Walter Jones, represents Camp LeJeune in North Carolina, one of the largest Marine bases in the country, and one which has borne heavily the sacrifice of the Iraq War.

CQ said of Conyers’ hearings:

the anticipated hearing would review more than a year of committee inquiry into such matters as the firing of U.S. attorneys, the leak of the identity of former CIA operative Valerie Plame and the information provided to Congress in the run-up to the Iraq War.

Kucinich has promised a surprise foreign official as a witness in the hearing. His article focuses on administration claims that Saddam possessed WMD in the run-up to the Iraq war, and that there was a connection between Hussein and 9/11. In addition to many other sources, Kucinich’s article relies heavily on the famous Downing Street Memo (DSM), the transcript of a gathering of the British Prime Minister’s senior ministers on July 23, 2002. The DSM includes such passages as:

C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.

and also:

It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. We should work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force.

The media is now the enemy of the return of the rule of law and accountability. As “Ken” at ProgressNowAction.org notes in an excellent analysis of media reaction to Republicans breaking with Bush:

the major media does not state that it has Republicans supporting this resolution to begin an investigation into whether the facts justify impeachment charges to be sent to the Senate for trial.

It is up to the blogosphere to spread this far and wide, and to manhandle the media.

Following is a list of the publicly listed emails of the editorial departments of some major American newspapers. Please ask them to cover.

Also included are the emails of some major media outlets, available at the Fairness in Accuracy and Reporting website. Finally, here is a link to easily email your local media.

letters@jackson.gannett.com,
theforum@usatoday.com,
oped@nytimes.com,
op-ed@latimes.com,
oped@phillynews.com,
ctc-COMMENT@tribune.com,
opinion@startribune.com,
letters@RockyMountainNews.com,
viewpoints@chron.com,
oped@newsday.com,
viewpoints@dallasnews.com,
shuntley@suntimes.com,
forum@sfchronicle.com,
my.turns@pni.com,
m_Pritchard@globe.com,
HeraldEd@herald.com,
oped@herald.com,
oped@starledger.com,
forum@plaind.com,
oped@news.oregonian.com,
editpg@freepress.com,
gailey@sptimes.com,
openforum@denverpost.com,
netaudr@abc.com,
nightline@abcnews.com,
2020@abc.com,
nightly@msnbc.com,
today@nbc.com,
dateline@nbc.com,
evening@cbsnews.com,
earlyshow@cbs.com,
hardball@msnbc.com,
msnbcreports@msnbc.com,
newshour@pbs.org,
ombudsman@npr.org