Post by sometimeman on Jul 30, 2008 22:18:13 GMT -4
Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio
In the United States House of Representatives
Monday, June 9th, 2008
A Resolution
INDEX
Article I
Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for War Against Iraq.
Article II
Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001, With
Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of
Aggression.
Article III
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of
Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War.
Article IV
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Posed an Imminent Threat
to the United States.
Article V
Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression.
Article VI
Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of HJRes114.
Article VII
Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.
Article VIII
Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter.
Article IX
Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor
Article X
Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes
Article XI
Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq
Article XII
Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation's Natural Resources
Article XIIII
Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies With Respect to Iraq and Other
Countries
Article XIV
Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And Obstruction of Justice in
the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency
Article XV
Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq
Article XVI
Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in Connection With Iraq and US Contractors
Article XVII
Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign
Captives
Article XVIII
Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan,
Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy
Article XIX
Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to "Black Sites" Located in Other
Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture
Article XX
Imprisoning Children
Article XXI
Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist
Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government
Article XXII
Creating Secret Laws
Article XXIII
Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act
Article XXIV
Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation of the Law and the
Fourth Amendment
Article XXV
Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the
Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of American Citizens
Article XXVI
Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements
Article XXVII
Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply
Article XXVIII
Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration of Justice
Article XXIX
Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Article XXX
Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare
Article XXXI
Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil
Emergency
Article XXXII
Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining Efforts to Address Global
Climate Change
Article XXXIII
Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level Intelligence Warnings of Planned Terrorist
Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.
Article XXXIV
Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001
Article XXXV
Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders
____________
ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT FOR PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
Resolved, that President George W. Bush be 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 the people of the United States of America, in maintenance and support of its
impeachment against President George W. Bush for high crimes and misdemeanors.
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in violation of his constitutional
oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional
duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has committed the following abuses of power.
_____________
ARTICLE I
CREATING A SECRET PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN TO MANUFACTURE A FALSE CASE FOR
WAR AGAINST IRAQ
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in violation of his constitutional
oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional
duty under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed",
has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates, together with the Vice President,
illegally spent public dollars on a secret propaganda program to manufacture a false cause for war
against Iraq.
The Department of Defense (DOD) has engaged in a years-long secret domestic propaganda campaign
to promote the invasion and occupation of Iraq. This secret program was defended by the White House
Press Secretary following its exposure. This program follows the pattern of crimes detailed in Article I,
II, IV and VIII.. The mission of this program placed it within the field controlled by the White House
Iraq Group (WHIG), a White House task-force formed in August 2002 to market an invasion of Iraq to
the American people. The group included Karl Rove, I. Lewis Libby, Condoleezza Rice, Karen
Hughes, Mary Matalin, Stephen Hadley, Nicholas E. Calio, and James R. Wilkinson.
The WHIG produced white papers detailing so-called intelligence of Iraq's nuclear threat that later
proved to be false. This supposed intelligence included the claim that Iraq had sought uranium from
Niger as well as the claim that the high strength aluminum tubes Iraq purchased from China were to be
used for the sole purpose of building centrifuges to enrich uranium. Unlike the National Intelligence
Estimate of 2002, the WHIG's white papers provided "gripping images and stories" and used "literary
license" with intelligence. The WHIG's white papers were written at the same time and by the same
people as speeches and talking points prepared for President Bush and some of his top officials.
The WHIG also organized a media blitz in which, between September 7-8, 2002, President Bush and
his top advisers appeared on numerous interviews and all provided similarly gripping images about the
possibility of nuclear attack by Iraq. The timing was no coincidence, as Andrew Card explained in an
interview regarding waiting until after Labor Day to try to sell the American people on military action
against Iraq, "From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August."
September 7-8, 2002:
NBC's "Meet the Press: Vice President Cheney accused Saddam of moving aggressively to develop
nuclear weapons over the past 14 months to add to his stockpile of chemical and biological arms.
CNN: Then-National Security Adviser Rice said, regarding the likelihood of Iraq obtaining a nuclear
weapon, "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."
CBS: President Bush declared that Saddam was "six months away from developing a weapon," and
cited satellite photos of construction in Iraq where weapons inspectors once visited as evidence that
Saddam was trying to develop nuclear arms.
The Pentagon military analyst propaganda program was revealed in an April 20, 2002, New York
Times article. The program illegally involved "covert attempts to mold opinion through the
undisclosed use of third parties." Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recruited 75 retired military
officers and gave them talking points to deliver on Fox, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, and MSNBC, and
according to the New York Times report, which has not been disputed by the Pentagon or the White
House, "Participants were instructed not to quote their briefers directly or otherwise describe their
contacts with the Pentagon."
According to the Pentagon's own internal documents, the military analysts were considered "message
force multipliers" or "surrogates" who would deliver administration "themes and messages" to millions
of Americans "in the form of their own opinions." In fact, they did deliver the themes and the
messages but did not reveal that the Pentagon had provided them with their talking points. Robert S.
Bevelacqua, a retired Green Beret and Fox News military analyst described this as follows: "It was
them saying, 'We need to stick our hands up your back and move your mouth for you.'"
Congress has restricted annual appropriations bills since 1951 with this language: "No part of any
appropriation contained in this or any other Act shall be used for publicity or propaganda purposes
within the United States not heretofore authorized by the Congress."
A March 21, 2005, report by the Congressional Research Service states that "publicity or propaganda"
is defined by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to mean either (1) selfaggrandizement
by public officials, (2) purely partisan activity, or (3) "covert propaganda."
These concerns about "covert propaganda" were also the basis for the GAO's standard for determining
when government-funded video news releases are illegal:
"The failure of an agency to identify itself as the source of a prepackaged news story misleads the
viewing public by encouraging the viewing audience to believe that the broadcasting news organization
developed the information. The prepackaged news stories are purposefully designed to be
indistinguishable from news segments broadcast to the public. When the television viewing public does
not know that the stories they watched on television news programs about the government were in fact
prepared by the government, the stories are, in this sense, no longer purely factual -- the essential fact
of attribution is missing."
The White House's own Office of Legal Council stated in a memorandum written in 2005 following the
controversy over the Armstrong Williams scandal:
"Over the years, GAO has interpreted 'publicity or propaganda' restrictions to preclude use of
appropriated funds for, among other things, so-called 'covert propaganda.' ... Consistent with that view,
the OLC determined in 1988 that a statutory prohibition on using appropriated funds for 'publicity or
propaganda' precluded undisclosed agency funding of advocacy by third-party groups. We stated that
'covert attempts to mold opinion through the undisclosed use of third parties' would run afoul of
restrictions on using appropriated funds for 'propaganda.'"
Asked about the Pentagon's propaganda program at White House press briefing in April 2008, White
House Press Secretary Dana Perino defended it, not by arguing that it was legal but by suggesting that
it "should" be: "Look, I didn't know look, I think that you guys should take a step back and look at this
look, DOD has made a decision, they've decided to stop this program. But I would say that one of the
things that we try to do in the administration is get information out to a variety of people so that
everybody else can call them and ask their opinion about something. And I don't think that that should
be against the law. And I think that it's absolutely appropriate to provide information to people who are
seeking it and are going to be providing their opinions on it. It doesn't necessarily mean that all of those
military analysts ever agreed with the administration. I think you can go back and look and think that a
lot of their analysis was pretty tough on the administration. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't talk to
people."
In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has acted in a manner contrary to his
trust as President and Commander in Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the
prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.
Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting
removal from office.
Article II
FALSELY, SYSTEMATICALLY, AND WITH CRIMINAL INTENT CONFLATING THE ATTACK S
OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 WITH MISREPRESENTATION OF IRAQ AS AN IMMINENT
SECURITY THREAT AS PART OF A FRAUDULENT JUSTIFICATION FOR A WAR OF
AGGRESSION.
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in violation of his constitutional
oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional
duty under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed",
has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates, together with the Vice President,
executed a calculated and wide-ranging strategy to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United
States into believing that there was and is a connection between Iraq and Saddam Hussein on the one
hand, and the attacks of September 11, 2001 and al Qaeda, on the other hand, so as to falsely justify the
use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner that is damaging to the
national security interests of the United States, as well as to fraudulently obtain and maintain
congressional authorization and funding for the use of such military force against Iraq, thereby
interfering with and obstructing Congress's lawful functions of overseeing foreign affairs and declaring
war.
The means used to implement this deception were and continue to be, first, allowing, authorizing and
sanctioning the manipulation of intelligence analysis by those under his direction and control, including
the Vice President and the Vice President's agents, and second, personally making, or causing,
authorizing and allowing to be made through highly-placed subordinates, including the President's
Chief of Staff, the White House Press Secretary and other White House spokespersons, the Secretaries
of State and Defense, the National Security Advisor, and their deputies and spokespersons, false and
fraudulent representations to the citizens of the United States and Congress regarding an alleged
connection between Saddam Hussein and Iraq, on the one hand, and the September 11th attacks and al
Qaeda, on the other hand, that were half-true, literally true but misleading, and/or made without a
reasonable basis and with reckless indifference to their truth, as well as omitting to state facts necessary
to present an accurate picture of the truth as follows:
(A) On or about September 12, 2001, former terrorism advisor Richard Clarke personally informed the
President that neither Saddam Hussein nor Iraq was responsible for the September 11th attacks. On
September 18, Clarke submitted to the President's National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice a
memo he had written in response to George W. Bush's specific request that stated: (1) the case for
linking Hussein to the September 11th attacks was weak; (2) only anecdotal evidence linked Hussein to
al Qaeda; (3) Osama Bin Laden resented the secularism of Saddam Hussein; and (4) there was no
confirmed reporting of Saddam Hussein cooperating with Bin Laden on unconventional weapons.
(B) Ten days after the September 11th attacks the President received a President's Daily Briefing
which indicated that the U.S. intelligence community had no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the
September 11th attacks and that there was "scant credible evidence that Iraq had any significant
collaborative ties with Al Qaeda."
(C) In Defense Intelligence Terrorism Summary No. 044-02, issued in February 2002, the United
States Defense Intelligence Agency cast significant doubt on the possibility of a Saddam Hussein- Al
Qaeda conspiracy: "Saddam's regime is intensely secular and is wary of Islamic revolutionary
movements. Moreover, Baghdad is unlikely to provide assistance to a group it cannot control."
(D) The October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate gave a "Low Confidence" rating to the notion of
whether "in desperation Saddam would share chemical or biological weapons with Al Qaeda." The
CIA never informed the President that there was an operational relationship between Al Qaeda and
Saddam Hussein; on the contrary, its most "aggressive" analysis contained in Iraq and al-Qaeda-
Interpreting a Murky Relationship" dated June 21, 2002 was that Iraq had had "sporadic, wary contacts
with al Qaeda since the mid-1990s rather than a relationship with al Qaeda that has developed over
time."
(E) Notwithstanding his knowledge that neither Saddam Hussein nor Iraq was in any way connected to
the September 11th attacks, the President allowed and authorized those acting under his direction and
control, including Vice President Richard B. Cheney and Lewis Libby, who reported directly to both
the President and the Vice President, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, among others, to
pressure intelligence analysts to alter their assessments and to create special units outside of, and
unknown to, the intelligence community in order to secretly obtain unreliable information, to
manufacture intelligence or reinterpret raw data in ways that would further the Bush administration's
goal of fraudulently establishing a relationship not only between Iraq and al Qaeda, but between Iraq
and the attacks of September 11th.
(F) Further, despite his full awareness that Iraq and Saddam Hussein had no relationship to the
September 11th attacks, the President, and those acting under his direction and control have, since at
least 2002 and continuing to the present, repeatedly issued public statements deliberately worded to
mislead, words calculated in their implication to bring unrelated actors and circumstances into an
artificially contrived reality thereby facilitating the systematic deception of Congress and the American
people. Thus the public and some members of Congress, came to believe, falsely, that there was a
connection between Iraq and the attacks of 911. This was accomplished through well-publicized
statements by the Bush Administration which contrived to continually tie Iraq and 911 in the same
statements of grave concern without making an explicit charge:
(1) " [If] Iraq regimes [sic] continues to defy us, and the world, we will move deliberately, yet
decisively, to hold Iraq to account…It's a new world we're in. We used to think two oceans could
separate us from an enemy. On that tragic day, September the 11th, 2001, we found out that's not the
case. We found out this great land of liberty and of freedom and of justice is vulnerable. And therefore
we must do everything we can -- everything we can -- to secure the homeland, to make us safe."
Speech of President Bush in Iowa on September 16, 2002.
(2) "With every step the Iraqi regime takes toward gaining and deploying the most terrible weapons,
our own options to confront that regime will narrow. And if an emboldened regime were to supply
these weapons to terrorist allies, then the attacks of September 11th would be a prelude to far greater
horrors." March 6, 2003, Statement of President Bush in National Press Conference.
(3) "The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11, 2001 -- and still
goes on. That terrible morning, 19 evil men -- the shock troops of a hateful ideology -- gave America
and the civilized world a glimpse of their ambitions. They imagined, in the words of one terrorist, that
September the 11th would be the 'beginning of the end of America.' By seeking to turn our cities into
killing fields, terrorists and their allies believed that they could destroy this nation's resolve, and force
our retreat from the world. They have failed." May 1, 2003, Speech of President Bush on U.S.S.
Abraham Lincoln.
(4) "Now we're in a new and unprecedented war against violent Islamic extremists. This is an
ideological conflict we face against murderers and killers who try to impose their will. These are the
people that attacked us on September the 11th and killed nearly 3,000 people. The stakes are high, and
once again, we have had to change our strategic thinking. The major battleground in this war is Iraq."
June 28, 2007, Speech of President Bush at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.
(G) Notwithstanding his knowledge that there was no credible evidence of a working relationship
between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda and that the intelligence community had specifically assessed
that there was no such operational relationship, the President, both personally and through his
subordinates and agents, has repeatedly falsely represented, both explicitly and implicitly, and through
the misleading use of selectively-chosen facts, to the citizens of the United States and to the Congress
that there was and is such an ongoing operational relationship, to wit:
(1) "We know that Iraq and al Qaeda have had high-level contacts that go back a decade. Some al
Qaeda leaders who fled Afghanistan went to Iraq. These include one very senior al Qaeda leader who
received medical treatment in Baghdad this year, and who has been associated with planning for
chemical and biological attacks. We've learned that Iraq has trained al Qaeda members in bomb-making
and poisons and deadly gases." September 28, 2002, Weekly Radio Address of President Bush to the
Nation.
(2) "[W]e we need to think about Saddam Hussein using al Qaeda to do his dirty work, to not leave
fingerprints behind." October 14, 2002, Remarks by President Bush in Michigan.
(3) "We know he's got ties with al Qaeda." November 1, 2002, Speech of President Bush in New
Hampshire.
(4) "Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and statements by people now in
custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda.
Secretly, and without fingerprints, he could provide one of his hidden weapons to terrorists, or help
them develop their own." January 28, 2003, President Bush's State of the Union Address.
(5) "[W]hat I want to bring to your attention today is the potentially much more sinister nexus between
Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist network, a nexus that combines classic terrorist organizations and
modern methods of murder. Iraq today harbors a deadly terrorist network…" February 5, 2003, Speech
of Former Secretary of State Colin Powell to the United Nations.
(6) "The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11, 2001 — and
still goes on. . . . [T]he liberation of Iraq . . . removed an ally of al Qaeda." May 1, 2003, Speech of
President Bush on U.S. S. Abraham Lincoln
(H) The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Report on Whether Public Statements Regarding Iraq
By U.S. Government Officials Were Substantiated By Intelligence Information, which was released on
June 5, 2008, concluded that:
(1) "Statements and implications by the President and Secretary of State suggesting that Iraq and al-
Qa'ida had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al-Qa'ida with weapons training, were not
substantiated by the intelligence."
(2) "The Intelligence Community did not confirm that Muhammad Atta met an Iraqi intelligence officer
in Prague in 2001 as the Vice President repeatedly claimed."
Through his participation and instance in the breathtaking scope of this deception, the President has
used the highest office of trust to wage of campaign of deception of such sophistication as to
deliberately subvert the national security interests of the United States. His dishonesty set the stage for
the loss of more than 4000 United States service members; injuries to tens of thousands of soldiers, the
loss of more than 1,000,000 innocent Iraqi citizens since the United States invasion; the loss of
approximately $527 billion in war costs which has increased our Federal debt and the ultimate
expenditure of three to five trillion dollars for all costs covering the war; the loss of military readiness
within the United States Armed Services due to overextension, the lack of training and lack of
equipment; the loss of United States credibility in world affairs; and the decades of likely blowback
created by the invasion of Iraq.
In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has acted in a manner contrary to his
trust as President and Commander in Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the
prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.
Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting
removal from office.
Article III
MISLEADING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO BELIEVE IRAQ
POSSESSED WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, SO AS TO MANUFACTURE A FALSE
CASE FOR WAR
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in violation of his constitutional
oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional
duty under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed",
has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates, together with the Vice President,
executed instead a calculated and wide-ranging strategy to deceive the citizens and Congress of the
United States into believing that the nation of Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction in order to
justify the use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to
our national security interests, thereby interfering with and obstructing Congress's lawful functions of
overseeing foreign affairs and declaring war.
The means used to implement this deception were and continue to be personally making, or causing,
authorizing and allowing to be made through highly-placed subordinates, including the President's
Chief of Staff, the White House Press Secretary and other White House spokespersons, the Secretaries
of State and Defense, the National Security Advisor, and their deputies and spokespersons, false and
fraudulent representations to the citizens of the United States and Congress regarding Iraq's alleged
possession of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons that were half-true, literally true but
misleading, and/or made without a reasonable basis and with reckless indifference to their truth, as well
as omitting to state facts necessary to present an accurate picture of the truth as follows:
(A) Long before the March 19, 2003 invasion of Iraq, a wealth of intelligence informed the President
and those under his direction and control that Iraq's stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons had
been destroyed well before 1998 and that there was little, if any, credible intelligence that showed
otherwise. As reported in the Washington Post in March of 2003, in 1995, Saddam Hussein's son-inlaw
Hussein Kamel had informed U.S. and British intelligence officers that "all weapons—biological,
chemical, missile, nuclear were destroyed." In September 2002, the Defense Intelligence Agency
issued a report that concluded: "A substantial amount of Iraq's chemical warfare agents, precursors,
munitions and production equipment were destroyed between 1991 and 1998 as a result of Operation
Desert Storm and UNSCOM actions…[T]here is no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing
and stockpiling chemical weapons or whether Iraq has-or will-establish its chemical warfare agent
production facilities." Notwithstanding the absence of evidence proving that such stockpiles existed
and in direct contradiction to substantial evidence that showed they did not exist, the President and his
subordinates and agents made numerous false representations claiming with certainty that Iraq
possessed chemical and biological weapons that it was developing to use to attack the United States, to
wit:
(1) "[T]he notion of a Saddam Hussein with his great oil wealth, with his inventory that he already has
of biological and chemical weapons . . . is, I think, a frightening proposition for anybody who thinks
about it." Statement of Vice President Cheney on CBS's Face the Nation, March 24, 2002.
(2) "In defiance of the United Nations, Iraq has stockpiled biological and chemical weapons, and is
rebuilding the facilities used to make more of those weapons." Speech of President Bush, October 5,
2002.
(3) "All the world has now seen the footage of an Iraqi Mirage aircraft with a fuel tank modified to
spray biological agents over wide areas. Iraq has developed spray devices that could be used on
unmanned aerial vehicles with ranges far beyond what is permitted by the Security Council. A UAV
launched from a vessel off the American coast could reach hundreds of miles inland." Statement by
President Bush from the White House, February 6, 2003.
(B) Despite overwhelming intelligence in the form of statements and reports filed by and on behalf of
the CIA, the State Department and the IAEA, among others, which indicated that the claim was untrue,
the President, and those under his direction and control, made numerous representations claiming and
implying through misleading language that Iraq was attempting to purchase uranium from Niger in
order to falsely buttress its argument that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program,
including:
(1) ""The regime has the scientists and facilities to build nuclear weapons, and is seeking the materials
needed to do so." Statement of President Bush from White House, October 2, 2002.
(2) "The [Iraqi] report also failed to deal with issues which have arisen since 1998, including: . .
attempts to acquire uranium and the means to enrich it." Letter from President Bush to Vice President
Cheney and the Senate, January 20, 2003.
(3) "The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of
uranium from Africa ." President Bush Delivers State of the Union Address, January 28, 2003.
(C) Despite overwhelming evidence in the form of reports by nuclear weapons experts from the
Energy, the Defense and State Departments, as well from outside and international agencies which
assessed that aluminum tubes the Iraqis were purchasing were not suitable for nuclear centrifuge use
and were, on the contrary, identical to ones used in rockets already being manufactured by the Iraqis,
the President, and those under his direction and control, persisted in making numerous false and
fraudulent representations implying and stating explicitly that the Iraqis were purchasing the tubes for
use in a nuclear weapons program, to wit:
(1) "We do know that there have been shipments going . . . into Iraq . . . of aluminum tubes that really
are only suited to -- high-quality aluminum tools [sic] that are only really suited for nuclear weapons
programs, centrifuge programs." Statement of then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice on
CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, September 8, 2002.
(2) "Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes
suitable for nuclear weapons production." President Bush's State of the Union Address, January 28,
2003.
(3) "[H]e has made repeated covert attempts to acquire high-specification aluminum tubes from 11
different countries, even after inspections resumed. …By now, just about everyone has heard of these
tubes and we all know that there are differences of opinion. There is controversy about what these tubes
are for. Most US experts think they are intended to serve as rotors in centrifuges used to enrich
uranium." Speech of Former Secretary of State Colin Powell to the United Nations, February 5, 2003.
(D) The President, both personally and acting through those under his direction and control, suppressed
material information, selectively declassified information for the improper purposes of retaliating
against a whistleblower and presenting a misleading picture of the alleged threat from Iraq, facilitated
the exposure of the identity of a covert CIA operative and thereafter not only failed to investigate the
improper leaks of classified information from within his administration, but also failed to cooperate
with an investigation into possible federal violations resulting from this activity and, finally, entirely
undermined the prosecution by commuting the sentence of Lewis Libby citing false and insubstantial
grounds, all in an effort to prevent Congress and the citizens of the United States from discovering the
fraudulent nature of the President's claimed justifications for the invasion of Iraq.
(E) The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Report on Whether Public Statements Regarding Iraq
By U.S. Government Officials Were Substantiated By Intelligence Information, which was released on
June 5, 2008, concluded that:
(1) "Statements by the President and Vice President prior to the October 2002 National Intelligence
Estimate regarding Iraq's chemical weapons production capability and activities did not reflect the
intelligence community's uncertainties as to whether such production was ongoing."
(2) "The Secretary of Defense's statement that the Iraqi government operated underground WMD
facilities that were not vulnerable to conventional airstrikes because they were underground and deeply
buried was not substantiated by available intelligence information."
(3) Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Jay Rockefeller concluded: "In making the case for
war, the Administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when in reality it was unsubstantiated,
contradicted, or even non-existent. As a result, the American people were led to believe that the threat
from Iraq was much greater than actually existed."
The President has subverted the national security interests of the United States by setting the stage for
the loss of more than 4000 United States service members and the injury to tens of thousands of US
soldiers; the loss of more than 1,000,000 innocent Iraqi citizens since the United States invasion; the
loss of approximately $500 billion in war costs which has increased our Federal debt with a long term
financial cost of between three and five trillion dollars; the loss of military readiness within the United
States Armed Services due to overextension, the lack of training and lack of equipment; the loss of
United States credibility in world affairs; and the decades of likely blowback created by the invasion of
Iraq.
In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has acted in a manner contrary to his
trust as President and Commander in Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the
prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.
Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting
removal from office.
MORE>>>> kucinich.us/impeachment/articles.pdf
In the United States House of Representatives
Monday, June 9th, 2008
A Resolution
INDEX
Article I
Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for War Against Iraq.
Article II
Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001, With
Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of
Aggression.
Article III
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of
Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War.
Article IV
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Posed an Imminent Threat
to the United States.
Article V
Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression.
Article VI
Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of HJRes114.
Article VII
Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.
Article VIII
Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter.
Article IX
Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor
Article X
Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes
Article XI
Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq
Article XII
Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation's Natural Resources
Article XIIII
Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies With Respect to Iraq and Other
Countries
Article XIV
Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And Obstruction of Justice in
the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency
Article XV
Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq
Article XVI
Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in Connection With Iraq and US Contractors
Article XVII
Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign
Captives
Article XVIII
Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan,
Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy
Article XIX
Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to "Black Sites" Located in Other
Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture
Article XX
Imprisoning Children
Article XXI
Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist
Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government
Article XXII
Creating Secret Laws
Article XXIII
Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act
Article XXIV
Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation of the Law and the
Fourth Amendment
Article XXV
Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the
Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of American Citizens
Article XXVI
Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements
Article XXVII
Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply
Article XXVIII
Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration of Justice
Article XXIX
Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Article XXX
Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare
Article XXXI
Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil
Emergency
Article XXXII
Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining Efforts to Address Global
Climate Change
Article XXXIII
Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level Intelligence Warnings of Planned Terrorist
Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.
Article XXXIV
Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001
Article XXXV
Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders
____________
ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT FOR PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
Resolved, that President George W. Bush be 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 the people of the United States of America, in maintenance and support of its
impeachment against President George W. Bush for high crimes and misdemeanors.
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in violation of his constitutional
oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional
duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has committed the following abuses of power.
_____________
ARTICLE I
CREATING A SECRET PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN TO MANUFACTURE A FALSE CASE FOR
WAR AGAINST IRAQ
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in violation of his constitutional
oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional
duty under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed",
has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates, together with the Vice President,
illegally spent public dollars on a secret propaganda program to manufacture a false cause for war
against Iraq.
The Department of Defense (DOD) has engaged in a years-long secret domestic propaganda campaign
to promote the invasion and occupation of Iraq. This secret program was defended by the White House
Press Secretary following its exposure. This program follows the pattern of crimes detailed in Article I,
II, IV and VIII.. The mission of this program placed it within the field controlled by the White House
Iraq Group (WHIG), a White House task-force formed in August 2002 to market an invasion of Iraq to
the American people. The group included Karl Rove, I. Lewis Libby, Condoleezza Rice, Karen
Hughes, Mary Matalin, Stephen Hadley, Nicholas E. Calio, and James R. Wilkinson.
The WHIG produced white papers detailing so-called intelligence of Iraq's nuclear threat that later
proved to be false. This supposed intelligence included the claim that Iraq had sought uranium from
Niger as well as the claim that the high strength aluminum tubes Iraq purchased from China were to be
used for the sole purpose of building centrifuges to enrich uranium. Unlike the National Intelligence
Estimate of 2002, the WHIG's white papers provided "gripping images and stories" and used "literary
license" with intelligence. The WHIG's white papers were written at the same time and by the same
people as speeches and talking points prepared for President Bush and some of his top officials.
The WHIG also organized a media blitz in which, between September 7-8, 2002, President Bush and
his top advisers appeared on numerous interviews and all provided similarly gripping images about the
possibility of nuclear attack by Iraq. The timing was no coincidence, as Andrew Card explained in an
interview regarding waiting until after Labor Day to try to sell the American people on military action
against Iraq, "From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August."
September 7-8, 2002:
NBC's "Meet the Press: Vice President Cheney accused Saddam of moving aggressively to develop
nuclear weapons over the past 14 months to add to his stockpile of chemical and biological arms.
CNN: Then-National Security Adviser Rice said, regarding the likelihood of Iraq obtaining a nuclear
weapon, "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."
CBS: President Bush declared that Saddam was "six months away from developing a weapon," and
cited satellite photos of construction in Iraq where weapons inspectors once visited as evidence that
Saddam was trying to develop nuclear arms.
The Pentagon military analyst propaganda program was revealed in an April 20, 2002, New York
Times article. The program illegally involved "covert attempts to mold opinion through the
undisclosed use of third parties." Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recruited 75 retired military
officers and gave them talking points to deliver on Fox, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, and MSNBC, and
according to the New York Times report, which has not been disputed by the Pentagon or the White
House, "Participants were instructed not to quote their briefers directly or otherwise describe their
contacts with the Pentagon."
According to the Pentagon's own internal documents, the military analysts were considered "message
force multipliers" or "surrogates" who would deliver administration "themes and messages" to millions
of Americans "in the form of their own opinions." In fact, they did deliver the themes and the
messages but did not reveal that the Pentagon had provided them with their talking points. Robert S.
Bevelacqua, a retired Green Beret and Fox News military analyst described this as follows: "It was
them saying, 'We need to stick our hands up your back and move your mouth for you.'"
Congress has restricted annual appropriations bills since 1951 with this language: "No part of any
appropriation contained in this or any other Act shall be used for publicity or propaganda purposes
within the United States not heretofore authorized by the Congress."
A March 21, 2005, report by the Congressional Research Service states that "publicity or propaganda"
is defined by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to mean either (1) selfaggrandizement
by public officials, (2) purely partisan activity, or (3) "covert propaganda."
These concerns about "covert propaganda" were also the basis for the GAO's standard for determining
when government-funded video news releases are illegal:
"The failure of an agency to identify itself as the source of a prepackaged news story misleads the
viewing public by encouraging the viewing audience to believe that the broadcasting news organization
developed the information. The prepackaged news stories are purposefully designed to be
indistinguishable from news segments broadcast to the public. When the television viewing public does
not know that the stories they watched on television news programs about the government were in fact
prepared by the government, the stories are, in this sense, no longer purely factual -- the essential fact
of attribution is missing."
The White House's own Office of Legal Council stated in a memorandum written in 2005 following the
controversy over the Armstrong Williams scandal:
"Over the years, GAO has interpreted 'publicity or propaganda' restrictions to preclude use of
appropriated funds for, among other things, so-called 'covert propaganda.' ... Consistent with that view,
the OLC determined in 1988 that a statutory prohibition on using appropriated funds for 'publicity or
propaganda' precluded undisclosed agency funding of advocacy by third-party groups. We stated that
'covert attempts to mold opinion through the undisclosed use of third parties' would run afoul of
restrictions on using appropriated funds for 'propaganda.'"
Asked about the Pentagon's propaganda program at White House press briefing in April 2008, White
House Press Secretary Dana Perino defended it, not by arguing that it was legal but by suggesting that
it "should" be: "Look, I didn't know look, I think that you guys should take a step back and look at this
look, DOD has made a decision, they've decided to stop this program. But I would say that one of the
things that we try to do in the administration is get information out to a variety of people so that
everybody else can call them and ask their opinion about something. And I don't think that that should
be against the law. And I think that it's absolutely appropriate to provide information to people who are
seeking it and are going to be providing their opinions on it. It doesn't necessarily mean that all of those
military analysts ever agreed with the administration. I think you can go back and look and think that a
lot of their analysis was pretty tough on the administration. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't talk to
people."
In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has acted in a manner contrary to his
trust as President and Commander in Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the
prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.
Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting
removal from office.
Article II
FALSELY, SYSTEMATICALLY, AND WITH CRIMINAL INTENT CONFLATING THE ATTACK S
OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 WITH MISREPRESENTATION OF IRAQ AS AN IMMINENT
SECURITY THREAT AS PART OF A FRAUDULENT JUSTIFICATION FOR A WAR OF
AGGRESSION.
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in violation of his constitutional
oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional
duty under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed",
has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates, together with the Vice President,
executed a calculated and wide-ranging strategy to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United
States into believing that there was and is a connection between Iraq and Saddam Hussein on the one
hand, and the attacks of September 11, 2001 and al Qaeda, on the other hand, so as to falsely justify the
use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner that is damaging to the
national security interests of the United States, as well as to fraudulently obtain and maintain
congressional authorization and funding for the use of such military force against Iraq, thereby
interfering with and obstructing Congress's lawful functions of overseeing foreign affairs and declaring
war.
The means used to implement this deception were and continue to be, first, allowing, authorizing and
sanctioning the manipulation of intelligence analysis by those under his direction and control, including
the Vice President and the Vice President's agents, and second, personally making, or causing,
authorizing and allowing to be made through highly-placed subordinates, including the President's
Chief of Staff, the White House Press Secretary and other White House spokespersons, the Secretaries
of State and Defense, the National Security Advisor, and their deputies and spokespersons, false and
fraudulent representations to the citizens of the United States and Congress regarding an alleged
connection between Saddam Hussein and Iraq, on the one hand, and the September 11th attacks and al
Qaeda, on the other hand, that were half-true, literally true but misleading, and/or made without a
reasonable basis and with reckless indifference to their truth, as well as omitting to state facts necessary
to present an accurate picture of the truth as follows:
(A) On or about September 12, 2001, former terrorism advisor Richard Clarke personally informed the
President that neither Saddam Hussein nor Iraq was responsible for the September 11th attacks. On
September 18, Clarke submitted to the President's National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice a
memo he had written in response to George W. Bush's specific request that stated: (1) the case for
linking Hussein to the September 11th attacks was weak; (2) only anecdotal evidence linked Hussein to
al Qaeda; (3) Osama Bin Laden resented the secularism of Saddam Hussein; and (4) there was no
confirmed reporting of Saddam Hussein cooperating with Bin Laden on unconventional weapons.
(B) Ten days after the September 11th attacks the President received a President's Daily Briefing
which indicated that the U.S. intelligence community had no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the
September 11th attacks and that there was "scant credible evidence that Iraq had any significant
collaborative ties with Al Qaeda."
(C) In Defense Intelligence Terrorism Summary No. 044-02, issued in February 2002, the United
States Defense Intelligence Agency cast significant doubt on the possibility of a Saddam Hussein- Al
Qaeda conspiracy: "Saddam's regime is intensely secular and is wary of Islamic revolutionary
movements. Moreover, Baghdad is unlikely to provide assistance to a group it cannot control."
(D) The October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate gave a "Low Confidence" rating to the notion of
whether "in desperation Saddam would share chemical or biological weapons with Al Qaeda." The
CIA never informed the President that there was an operational relationship between Al Qaeda and
Saddam Hussein; on the contrary, its most "aggressive" analysis contained in Iraq and al-Qaeda-
Interpreting a Murky Relationship" dated June 21, 2002 was that Iraq had had "sporadic, wary contacts
with al Qaeda since the mid-1990s rather than a relationship with al Qaeda that has developed over
time."
(E) Notwithstanding his knowledge that neither Saddam Hussein nor Iraq was in any way connected to
the September 11th attacks, the President allowed and authorized those acting under his direction and
control, including Vice President Richard B. Cheney and Lewis Libby, who reported directly to both
the President and the Vice President, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, among others, to
pressure intelligence analysts to alter their assessments and to create special units outside of, and
unknown to, the intelligence community in order to secretly obtain unreliable information, to
manufacture intelligence or reinterpret raw data in ways that would further the Bush administration's
goal of fraudulently establishing a relationship not only between Iraq and al Qaeda, but between Iraq
and the attacks of September 11th.
(F) Further, despite his full awareness that Iraq and Saddam Hussein had no relationship to the
September 11th attacks, the President, and those acting under his direction and control have, since at
least 2002 and continuing to the present, repeatedly issued public statements deliberately worded to
mislead, words calculated in their implication to bring unrelated actors and circumstances into an
artificially contrived reality thereby facilitating the systematic deception of Congress and the American
people. Thus the public and some members of Congress, came to believe, falsely, that there was a
connection between Iraq and the attacks of 911. This was accomplished through well-publicized
statements by the Bush Administration which contrived to continually tie Iraq and 911 in the same
statements of grave concern without making an explicit charge:
(1) " [If] Iraq regimes [sic] continues to defy us, and the world, we will move deliberately, yet
decisively, to hold Iraq to account…It's a new world we're in. We used to think two oceans could
separate us from an enemy. On that tragic day, September the 11th, 2001, we found out that's not the
case. We found out this great land of liberty and of freedom and of justice is vulnerable. And therefore
we must do everything we can -- everything we can -- to secure the homeland, to make us safe."
Speech of President Bush in Iowa on September 16, 2002.
(2) "With every step the Iraqi regime takes toward gaining and deploying the most terrible weapons,
our own options to confront that regime will narrow. And if an emboldened regime were to supply
these weapons to terrorist allies, then the attacks of September 11th would be a prelude to far greater
horrors." March 6, 2003, Statement of President Bush in National Press Conference.
(3) "The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11, 2001 -- and still
goes on. That terrible morning, 19 evil men -- the shock troops of a hateful ideology -- gave America
and the civilized world a glimpse of their ambitions. They imagined, in the words of one terrorist, that
September the 11th would be the 'beginning of the end of America.' By seeking to turn our cities into
killing fields, terrorists and their allies believed that they could destroy this nation's resolve, and force
our retreat from the world. They have failed." May 1, 2003, Speech of President Bush on U.S.S.
Abraham Lincoln.
(4) "Now we're in a new and unprecedented war against violent Islamic extremists. This is an
ideological conflict we face against murderers and killers who try to impose their will. These are the
people that attacked us on September the 11th and killed nearly 3,000 people. The stakes are high, and
once again, we have had to change our strategic thinking. The major battleground in this war is Iraq."
June 28, 2007, Speech of President Bush at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.
(G) Notwithstanding his knowledge that there was no credible evidence of a working relationship
between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda and that the intelligence community had specifically assessed
that there was no such operational relationship, the President, both personally and through his
subordinates and agents, has repeatedly falsely represented, both explicitly and implicitly, and through
the misleading use of selectively-chosen facts, to the citizens of the United States and to the Congress
that there was and is such an ongoing operational relationship, to wit:
(1) "We know that Iraq and al Qaeda have had high-level contacts that go back a decade. Some al
Qaeda leaders who fled Afghanistan went to Iraq. These include one very senior al Qaeda leader who
received medical treatment in Baghdad this year, and who has been associated with planning for
chemical and biological attacks. We've learned that Iraq has trained al Qaeda members in bomb-making
and poisons and deadly gases." September 28, 2002, Weekly Radio Address of President Bush to the
Nation.
(2) "[W]e we need to think about Saddam Hussein using al Qaeda to do his dirty work, to not leave
fingerprints behind." October 14, 2002, Remarks by President Bush in Michigan.
(3) "We know he's got ties with al Qaeda." November 1, 2002, Speech of President Bush in New
Hampshire.
(4) "Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and statements by people now in
custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda.
Secretly, and without fingerprints, he could provide one of his hidden weapons to terrorists, or help
them develop their own." January 28, 2003, President Bush's State of the Union Address.
(5) "[W]hat I want to bring to your attention today is the potentially much more sinister nexus between
Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist network, a nexus that combines classic terrorist organizations and
modern methods of murder. Iraq today harbors a deadly terrorist network…" February 5, 2003, Speech
of Former Secretary of State Colin Powell to the United Nations.
(6) "The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11, 2001 — and
still goes on. . . . [T]he liberation of Iraq . . . removed an ally of al Qaeda." May 1, 2003, Speech of
President Bush on U.S. S. Abraham Lincoln
(H) The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Report on Whether Public Statements Regarding Iraq
By U.S. Government Officials Were Substantiated By Intelligence Information, which was released on
June 5, 2008, concluded that:
(1) "Statements and implications by the President and Secretary of State suggesting that Iraq and al-
Qa'ida had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al-Qa'ida with weapons training, were not
substantiated by the intelligence."
(2) "The Intelligence Community did not confirm that Muhammad Atta met an Iraqi intelligence officer
in Prague in 2001 as the Vice President repeatedly claimed."
Through his participation and instance in the breathtaking scope of this deception, the President has
used the highest office of trust to wage of campaign of deception of such sophistication as to
deliberately subvert the national security interests of the United States. His dishonesty set the stage for
the loss of more than 4000 United States service members; injuries to tens of thousands of soldiers, the
loss of more than 1,000,000 innocent Iraqi citizens since the United States invasion; the loss of
approximately $527 billion in war costs which has increased our Federal debt and the ultimate
expenditure of three to five trillion dollars for all costs covering the war; the loss of military readiness
within the United States Armed Services due to overextension, the lack of training and lack of
equipment; the loss of United States credibility in world affairs; and the decades of likely blowback
created by the invasion of Iraq.
In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has acted in a manner contrary to his
trust as President and Commander in Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the
prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.
Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting
removal from office.
Article III
MISLEADING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO BELIEVE IRAQ
POSSESSED WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, SO AS TO MANUFACTURE A FALSE
CASE FOR WAR
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in violation of his constitutional
oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional
duty under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed",
has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates, together with the Vice President,
executed instead a calculated and wide-ranging strategy to deceive the citizens and Congress of the
United States into believing that the nation of Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction in order to
justify the use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to
our national security interests, thereby interfering with and obstructing Congress's lawful functions of
overseeing foreign affairs and declaring war.
The means used to implement this deception were and continue to be personally making, or causing,
authorizing and allowing to be made through highly-placed subordinates, including the President's
Chief of Staff, the White House Press Secretary and other White House spokespersons, the Secretaries
of State and Defense, the National Security Advisor, and their deputies and spokespersons, false and
fraudulent representations to the citizens of the United States and Congress regarding Iraq's alleged
possession of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons that were half-true, literally true but
misleading, and/or made without a reasonable basis and with reckless indifference to their truth, as well
as omitting to state facts necessary to present an accurate picture of the truth as follows:
(A) Long before the March 19, 2003 invasion of Iraq, a wealth of intelligence informed the President
and those under his direction and control that Iraq's stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons had
been destroyed well before 1998 and that there was little, if any, credible intelligence that showed
otherwise. As reported in the Washington Post in March of 2003, in 1995, Saddam Hussein's son-inlaw
Hussein Kamel had informed U.S. and British intelligence officers that "all weapons—biological,
chemical, missile, nuclear were destroyed." In September 2002, the Defense Intelligence Agency
issued a report that concluded: "A substantial amount of Iraq's chemical warfare agents, precursors,
munitions and production equipment were destroyed between 1991 and 1998 as a result of Operation
Desert Storm and UNSCOM actions…[T]here is no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing
and stockpiling chemical weapons or whether Iraq has-or will-establish its chemical warfare agent
production facilities." Notwithstanding the absence of evidence proving that such stockpiles existed
and in direct contradiction to substantial evidence that showed they did not exist, the President and his
subordinates and agents made numerous false representations claiming with certainty that Iraq
possessed chemical and biological weapons that it was developing to use to attack the United States, to
wit:
(1) "[T]he notion of a Saddam Hussein with his great oil wealth, with his inventory that he already has
of biological and chemical weapons . . . is, I think, a frightening proposition for anybody who thinks
about it." Statement of Vice President Cheney on CBS's Face the Nation, March 24, 2002.
(2) "In defiance of the United Nations, Iraq has stockpiled biological and chemical weapons, and is
rebuilding the facilities used to make more of those weapons." Speech of President Bush, October 5,
2002.
(3) "All the world has now seen the footage of an Iraqi Mirage aircraft with a fuel tank modified to
spray biological agents over wide areas. Iraq has developed spray devices that could be used on
unmanned aerial vehicles with ranges far beyond what is permitted by the Security Council. A UAV
launched from a vessel off the American coast could reach hundreds of miles inland." Statement by
President Bush from the White House, February 6, 2003.
(B) Despite overwhelming intelligence in the form of statements and reports filed by and on behalf of
the CIA, the State Department and the IAEA, among others, which indicated that the claim was untrue,
the President, and those under his direction and control, made numerous representations claiming and
implying through misleading language that Iraq was attempting to purchase uranium from Niger in
order to falsely buttress its argument that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program,
including:
(1) ""The regime has the scientists and facilities to build nuclear weapons, and is seeking the materials
needed to do so." Statement of President Bush from White House, October 2, 2002.
(2) "The [Iraqi] report also failed to deal with issues which have arisen since 1998, including: . .
attempts to acquire uranium and the means to enrich it." Letter from President Bush to Vice President
Cheney and the Senate, January 20, 2003.
(3) "The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of
uranium from Africa ." President Bush Delivers State of the Union Address, January 28, 2003.
(C) Despite overwhelming evidence in the form of reports by nuclear weapons experts from the
Energy, the Defense and State Departments, as well from outside and international agencies which
assessed that aluminum tubes the Iraqis were purchasing were not suitable for nuclear centrifuge use
and were, on the contrary, identical to ones used in rockets already being manufactured by the Iraqis,
the President, and those under his direction and control, persisted in making numerous false and
fraudulent representations implying and stating explicitly that the Iraqis were purchasing the tubes for
use in a nuclear weapons program, to wit:
(1) "We do know that there have been shipments going . . . into Iraq . . . of aluminum tubes that really
are only suited to -- high-quality aluminum tools [sic] that are only really suited for nuclear weapons
programs, centrifuge programs." Statement of then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice on
CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, September 8, 2002.
(2) "Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes
suitable for nuclear weapons production." President Bush's State of the Union Address, January 28,
2003.
(3) "[H]e has made repeated covert attempts to acquire high-specification aluminum tubes from 11
different countries, even after inspections resumed. …By now, just about everyone has heard of these
tubes and we all know that there are differences of opinion. There is controversy about what these tubes
are for. Most US experts think they are intended to serve as rotors in centrifuges used to enrich
uranium." Speech of Former Secretary of State Colin Powell to the United Nations, February 5, 2003.
(D) The President, both personally and acting through those under his direction and control, suppressed
material information, selectively declassified information for the improper purposes of retaliating
against a whistleblower and presenting a misleading picture of the alleged threat from Iraq, facilitated
the exposure of the identity of a covert CIA operative and thereafter not only failed to investigate the
improper leaks of classified information from within his administration, but also failed to cooperate
with an investigation into possible federal violations resulting from this activity and, finally, entirely
undermined the prosecution by commuting the sentence of Lewis Libby citing false and insubstantial
grounds, all in an effort to prevent Congress and the citizens of the United States from discovering the
fraudulent nature of the President's claimed justifications for the invasion of Iraq.
(E) The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Report on Whether Public Statements Regarding Iraq
By U.S. Government Officials Were Substantiated By Intelligence Information, which was released on
June 5, 2008, concluded that:
(1) "Statements by the President and Vice President prior to the October 2002 National Intelligence
Estimate regarding Iraq's chemical weapons production capability and activities did not reflect the
intelligence community's uncertainties as to whether such production was ongoing."
(2) "The Secretary of Defense's statement that the Iraqi government operated underground WMD
facilities that were not vulnerable to conventional airstrikes because they were underground and deeply
buried was not substantiated by available intelligence information."
(3) Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Jay Rockefeller concluded: "In making the case for
war, the Administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when in reality it was unsubstantiated,
contradicted, or even non-existent. As a result, the American people were led to believe that the threat
from Iraq was much greater than actually existed."
The President has subverted the national security interests of the United States by setting the stage for
the loss of more than 4000 United States service members and the injury to tens of thousands of US
soldiers; the loss of more than 1,000,000 innocent Iraqi citizens since the United States invasion; the
loss of approximately $500 billion in war costs which has increased our Federal debt with a long term
financial cost of between three and five trillion dollars; the loss of military readiness within the United
States Armed Services due to overextension, the lack of training and lack of equipment; the loss of
United States credibility in world affairs; and the decades of likely blowback created by the invasion of
Iraq.
In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has acted in a manner contrary to his
trust as President and Commander in Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the
prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.
Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting
removal from office.
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