Impeach Cheney? Now? With Only 12 Months to Go?

Representatives Robert Wexler (D-FL), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), all members of the House Judiciary Committee, believe that hearings should be held on the impeachment of Vice President Cheney. In an op-ed, published in the Philadelphia Enquirer on Dec. 27, titled: "Impeach Cheney Now - The allegations that he abused power are credible" Wexler, Guiterrez, and Baldwin wrote:

The issues at hand are too serious to ignore, including credible allegations of abuse of power that, if proven, may well constitute high crimes and misdemeanors under the Constitution. The allegations against Cheney relate to his deceptive actions leading up to the Iraq war, the revelation of the identity of a covert agent for political retaliation, and the illegal wiretapping of American citizens.

Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan has indicated that the vice president and his staff purposely gave him false information about the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson as a covert agent to report to the American people, it is even more important for Congress to investigate what may have been an intentional obstruction of justice. Congress should call McClellan to testify about what he described as being asked to "unknowingly [pass] along false information." In addition, recent revelations have shown that the administration, including the vice president, may have again manipulated and exaggerated evidence about weapons of mass destruction - this time about Iran's nuclear capabilities.

Wexler, Gutierrez and Baldwin went on to argue that the Congress must take its constitutional authority seriously and hold a sober investigation, not a "Kangaroo Court" like that the Republicans used on Clinton.

But why now? Cheney has 12 months left in his term. In November, 2008, we will elect a new President and a new Vice President. How much more can Cheney do "make America more secure" in the next 12 months? What are they thinking? Will he attack Iran? It's true that they have tremendous oil reserves and are ruled by Islamic Fundamentalists who don't like us; but we would never attack a country simply because they had tremendous oil reserves, and their leaders didn't like us.