Congressman Dennis Kucinich Speaks Out at Impeachment Teach-In at Dartmouth College

Says Impeaching Vice President Dick Cheney is Only Way to Prevent War Against Iran

David Anderson, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Nov 28, 2007 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

Earlier this week, Congressman Dennis Kucinich told listeners gathered at the Impeachment Teach-In at New Hampshire's Dartmouth College that, "We're at a moment in time where we realize, every one of us realizes, that our democracy is on the line." During the event Kucinich claimed that impeachment was the only way to prevent the Bush administration from going to war against Iran. "There is no question if you look over the events of the past 18 months that this administration is trying to create a path for a war against Iran," he said. Kucinich's speech was captured in a new video that has been posted on his campaign's YouTube web page.

Kucinich has now brought two resolutions aimed at starting impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney before the House of Representatives. The first, House Resolution 333, was introduced in April and the second, House Resolution 799, was introduced in October. Kucinich explained why the second resolution was necessary in the following terms.

"Well, first of all, the fact that the judiciary committee held no hearings on 333 - despite the fact that there was slowly growing approval for the bill in Congress - indicated to me that the Democratic leadership has been successful in blocking any type of movement towards a discussion about the violations of law that had occurred."

The Congressman said he became committed to impeachment once he found evidence indicating that the United States was heading towards a war against Iran. "Once again, while reading the defense bill I saw a line in the budget that called for $10 million for retrofitting stealth bombers to give them the capacity to carry 30,000 pound bombs, bunker buster bombs... And every defense analyst who was interviewed about this agreed that these bombs were to be used against Iran," he said.

Kucinich also framed his work to impeach Cheney as part of a wider commitment to the Democratic principles our nation was founded upon. He called for Americans to rally around the principles found in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. "If we truly believe in the decency and potential of this nation then we can do no less," he said.

He went on to explain why he believes that democracy is in trouble in America.

"As a member of Congress I have seen the systematic destruction of our democratic traditions. You can go through almost every section of the bill of rights and beyond that to the entire range of Constitutional protections... You can look at them and you can see over the last few years chapter and verse violations of the basic democratic principles with practices of torture, rendition, and the suspension of habeas corpus; the ease dropping and wire tapping; the destruction of the idea of the equal protection of the law; the government taking the fourth amendment prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure and just throwing away. Giving the government the ability to look deeply into people's personal lives, into their reading lists, their financial records, their health records."

Kucinich is wrapping up a ten day tour of New Hampshire. During the tour Kucinich's speeches have focused heavily on the impeachment issue. The Impeachment Teach-In was sponsored by the Nation Magazine and the North East Impeachment Coalition.

Published by David Anderson

David Anderson has been blogging about politics and the environment since 2007. Current projects include New Hampshire Primary 2012: Green, a blog tracking the 2012 presidential candidates statements on clim... View profile

Takeaways

Kucinich said that war against Iran is imminent.
The Congressman also said that only impeachment could prevent a war against Iran.
Kucinich also said that democracy in America is under attack, and laid out a long list of evidence .

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Congressman Dennis Kucinich Speaks Out at Impeachment Teach-In at Dartmouth College

Says Impeaching Vice President Dick Cheney is Only Way to Prevent War Against Iran

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