“It is time to remove [Vice President Dick Cheney] from office.” - Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA)

Eureka Springs, Arkansas - Lewis “Scooter” Libby is not going to a federal prison for 30 months, or even for one day. His boss, Vice President Dick Cheney, made sure of that. U.S. District Court Judge, the Hon. Reggie B. Walton, had ruled that the Neocon, a crony of another prime architect of the Iraqi War, Paul Wolfowitz, deserved serious jail time for lying to a Grand Jury and the FBI. (1) The purpose of Libby’s crimes was to cover up Cheney’s scheme to smear the Iraqi War critic, Ambassador Joe Wilson. Cheney nodded and President George W. Bush winked -- Libby’s prison time was commuted. What a sordid business! This is the same Bush-Cheney Gang that lied the country into the Iraqi War. (2) They decreed, without just cause, that a sovereign nation of 27 million souls should die! Over 655,000 of its citizens have perished. (3) As of today, that unlawful conflict has also cost the lives of 3601 brave Americans troops. Now, the gang’s kingpin, Bush, insists that a 30 month prison sentence for one of its lying lackeys, Libby, is “excessive.” What an obscenity!

It’s appropriate that I heard the news about Cheney’s latest orchestrated outrage, while staying at the Crescent Hotel in this picturesque town, atop the green, forest-filled Ozark Mountains. This grand facility was used as a hospital, from 1937-39, by a master con artist, notorious quack and ex-vaudeville circuit mentalist -- Dr. Norman Baker. With no medical training whatsoever, he claimed to have a “miracle” cure for cancer. It was all a cruel scam, just like Cheney’s bogus reasons for taking the nation to war with Iraq. Baker made millions of dollars from it and the ruse undoubtedly hastened the deaths of many of his all-too-trusting patients. The Feds finally caught up with Baker. He did four years in Leavenworth for mail fraud. (4) God’s great law of Karma also intervened in the matter. Baker died in 1958 from -- liver cancer! Will Justice, too, soon catch up with the slippery Cheney?

Meanwhile, Cheney’s continuing contempt for the U.S. Constitution caused Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) to demand that he “either resign or face impeachment.” The popular, antiwar Congressman is a strong supporter of Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich’s inspired H Res 333’s Articles of Impeachment measure against Cheney. (2) The Vice President has recently claimed, contrary to the settled principles of Constitutional Law, that his office is “not” part of the Executive branch of the government. Rep. McDermott said Cheney is “holding himself ‘above’ the law,” since he has also refused to permit any real congressional oversight of his office. The intent of this administration, Rep. McDermott added “is to silence all dissent.” Ambassador Wilson, in responding to the malevolent deeds of the Bush/Cheney/Libby cabal, labeled the White House as “utterly corrupt.” Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) said that it is time to begin “an inquiry into these ‘very serious crimes’ against the Constitution of the United States.”

The evidence is probative that Cheney lied to the nation about the need for a pre-emptive attack on Iraq. Rep. Kucinich’s H Res 333 details his appalling deceptions. (5) It also reveals how Cheney has “threatened” to start a conflict with Iran. It’s critical that he be stopped before he unleashes the dogs of war on yet another unfortunate country. Under the Constitution, it is the Congress which has the power and the responsibility to bring Cheney to justice. The notion that “impeachment is off the table” is fatuous. The U.S. Constitution as a document was ordained to last, like the Republic itself, in perpetuity. (6) It is always “on the table.” What is lacking here is the courage and the will on the part of the House of Representatives to live up to its sworn duty and invoke the impeachment process.

More and more Americans are now convinced that the Bush-Cheney Gang conspired to mislead the country into the Iraqi quagmire. Growing numbers are now wondering: Since they lied us into Iraq, did they also lie about 9/11? It is clear that this administration has not been held accountable for its gross criminal negligence in not preventing the 9/11 tragedy. (7) Dr. Robert M. Bowman, a Lt. Col., USAF (Ret.), is an expert on national security. He flew 101 combat missions in Vietnam and has a Ph. D. in Aeronautics and Nuclear Engineering from Caltech. Dr. Bowman believes the whole chain of military command in the U.S. on 9/11 may have been unaware of what was taking place on that fateful day and were used as tools by people pulling the strings behind the attack. He said: “If I had to narrow it [a 9/11 conspiracy] down to one person...I think my ‘prime suspect’ would be [Vice President] Dick Cheney!” He added: “The reactions to [the] 9/11 attack, such as the [USA] Patriot Act, has...done more to destroy the rights of Americans than all of our enemies combined.” (7)

Applicable to the above is the “disturbing” testimony of former Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, under oath, to the 9/11 Commission, in mid-2003. Because of its relevance to Cheney’s bizarre conduct on that date and leading up to 9/11, I will relate it in full, as found on page 36 of Jim Marrs’ insightful tome, ”The Terror Conspiracy.” He wrote: “Mineta gave a revealing account of his experiences on the morning of 9/11. After joining V.P. Cheney and others in the White House Presidential Operating Center shortly after the South Tower of the WTC had been struck, at about 9:20 AM, Mineta recalled: ‘During the time that the airplane was coming into the Pentagon, there was a young man who would come in and say to the Vice President, ‘The plane is 50 miles out...The plane is 30 miles out.’ And when it got down to the ‘plane is 10 miles out,’ the young man also said to the Vice President, ‘Do the orders still stand?’ And the Vice President turned and whipped his neck around and said, ‘Of course, the orders still stand! Have you heard anything to the contrary?’ Well, at the time, I didn’t know what all that meant...[This was the] flight that came into the Pentagon.” (7)

Marrs speculated at p. 37: “The strange conversation between Cheney and the ‘young man’ as related by Mineta prompts several puzzling questions. What were ‘these’ orders? And if the orders were ‘to shoot down’ captured airliners, as later stated by the White House, why weren’t ‘they’ carried out?” The author also underscored, at p. 72, that Cheney “had long opposed any ‘independent investigation’ of the 9/11 attacks, claiming it would impede the ‘War or Terrorism’ by leading to leaks of security measures and tying up personnel needed in the war.” (7)

Finally, kudos to House of Representative’s Judiciary Chairman, John Conyers (D-MI), for quickly setting a hearing date of July 11, 2007, on the suspect circumstances surrounding Libby’s commuted sentence. He has promised to seek a full “public accounting” of the V.P.’s role in the shameful matter. Remember our heroes in the Iraqi conflict, who are dead, and our troops today, who are in harm’s way because of Cheney’s DAMNABLE LIES. Accountability must begin with the Halliburton-Challenged-Con-Man Extraordinaire Cheney. He is now looking to manipulate the U.S. into a war with Iran. Impeach Dick Cheney! (8) A majority of Americans demand it. (9)

Notes:

1. www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_wayne_ma_070705_libby_a_long_time_mo.htm and
www.afterdowningstreet.org/
2. www.afterdowningstreet.org/
3. baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/15007/index.php
4. www.legendsofamerica.com/AR-CrescentHotel.html
5. kucinich.house.gov/SpotlightIssues/documents.htm
6. The great U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, John Marshall, said the Constitution was created by the people “to endure for ages to come.” McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheaton 316 (1819).
7. “The Terror Conspiracy: Deception, 9/11 and the Loss of Liberty,” by Jim Marrs, and Sec. Mineta’s testimony, found at:
www.youtube.com/watch=
8. impeachcheney.org/
9. americanresearchgroup.com/

William Hughes is an author and commentator. His videos can be found at: www.youtube.com/profile.
E-mail Contact: liamhughes-AT-comcast.net.