AP: Democratic congressmen ask Cheney to talk

[understandinglife]

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Three Democratic congressmen Thursday asked Vice President Dick Cheney to testify on Capitol Hill about the disclosure of a covert CIA officer's identity, saying "there are many wide-ranging questions about your involvement."

The congressmen asked why Cheney's office was gathering information about Valerie Plame, the wife of Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson in 2003; whether the vice president directed his top aide, the now-indicted I. Lewis Libby, to speak to the news media about Plame; and whether Cheney was aware Libby was doing so.

The indictment against Libby says he was told by Cheney on June 12, 2003, that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA's counterproliferation division. That was a month before Plame's identity was disclosed by conservative columnist Robert Novak.

The congressmen also asked Cheney whether he was aware the administration's claims that Iraq was seeking uranium from the African nation of Niger were false, at a time officials including President Bush were using such assertions as justification for going to war.

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More at link:

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/13075040.htm

Peace.

[Greeby]

1. "Go Fuck Yourself" x3 was the undoubted reply

:eyes:

[progressoid]

20. Yep - and with that crooked-shit-eating grin on his face too.

[wryter2000]

29. Double yep

Let's win the House in 2006, then we'll subpena his ugly ass. See how well his fuck you's do against a subpena.

[understandinglife]

2. Rep Conyers: Calling On Cheney to Testify

Congressmen Hinchey and Waxman joined me today in calling on the vice president to appear before Congress to discuss his involvement in the disclosure of CIA operative Valerie Wilson's identity. We appealed to Cheney to follow the precedent of his former boss, President Gerald R. Ford, for whom he was Chief of Staff. President Ford came to Capitol Hill while in office to testify on the reasons for his pardon of President Richard M. Nixon.

Our purpose in asking Cheney to testify is that we want to know why Cheney and his office were investigating Valerie Wilson and whether the vice president directed Libby to speak to the media about Wilson or whether he was at the very least aware that his chief of staff was doing so. We are also seeking answers to questions about how long had Cheney been aware that the Administration's claims that Iraq was seeking large amounts of uranium from Niger for nuclear weapons were false even as officials, including President Bush, continued to tout those assertions as justification for invading Iraq. The Vice-President should share with us whether his motive behind the leaking of Valerie Wilson's identity was to discredit her husband, Joseph Wilson, who had been publicly speaking out to dispute the Administration's uranium claims.

Link:

http://www.conyersblog.us/archives/00000296.htm

Peace.

[understandinglife]

10. Envision the headline -- Iraq WMD Lie: Cheney & Plame Clashed at CIA HQ

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/11/1/12746/6511

See my coment # 1 and Conyersblog ;)
http://www.conyersblog.us/archives/00000296.htm


Peace.

[DemReadingDU]

16. Cheney was at the CIA many times

I've wondered if he might have had contact with Valerie Plame Wilson on his visits.

[EuroObserver]

17. Cheney was specifically interested in WMD evidence

useful to WHIG invasion plans. And that's what Plame's group was working on...

2+2= ...?

[EuroObserver]

18. Libby conferred with Cheney...

2. "{Rove} informed Libby that he had told the conservative columnist Robert Novak of Plame's status. The next day Libby conferred with Cheney on how to handle the matter; that very day, Libby revealed Plame's identity to two reporters. Then Libby falsely testified that he had learned Plame's name from reporters." Libby discussed the issue with Cheney and went on immediately to telephone Cooper and Miller with information on Plame. He later lied about this under oath. So, are we supposed to consider for one minute that Cheney, Libby's boss, instructed Libby not to do that but that Libby nevertheless went ahead, somehow, on his own initiative? Here we see conspiracy and Cheney's leading role in that conspiracy.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x170306

[understandinglife]

3. Text of the letter:

Dear Mr. Vice President:

In response to significant public scrutiny, President Gerald R. Ford came to Capitol Hill on October 17, 1974 to testify before the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Criminal Justice on why he pardoned President Richard M. Nixon. At the time of President Ford's appearance before Congress, you served as his Deputy Chief of Staff and later became his Chief of Staff. With that precedent in mind, we respectfully request that you make yourself available to appear before Congress to explain the details and reasons for your office's involvement -- and your personal involvement - in the disclosure of Valerie Wilson's identity as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative.

Last week, your former Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was indicted for committing perjury and obstructing the investigation of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald into the disclosure of Valerie Wilson's identity. According to the indictment, you and members of your office were involved in discussions about Valerie Wilson and her work for the CIA. In fact, the indictment alleges that you personally informed Mr. Libby that Valerie Wilson worked in the CIA's Counterproliferation Division and that you had learned this information from the CIA.

It is extremely important with regard to the maintenance of the integrity of our democratic republic that the full and complete truth of this matter be made available to the American people. Unfortunately, doubts and questions will continue to grow until the nation learns the complete story behind the leak of Valerie Wilson's identity. There are many wide-ranging questions about your involvement with the disclosure of Valerie Wilson's identity to which the American people deserve answers, including:

· Why were you and other officials in your office investigating Valerie Wilson's employment with the CIA?

· Did you authorize Mr. Libby to disclose Valerie Wilson's identity to the news media? Were you aware that he was doing so?

· At the time of the leak, Valerie Wilson's husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, had been publicly questioning the Administration's claim that Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger, which had been used as a primary justification for war. At the time of the leak, did you believe the claim that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger was true? When did you first learn that the uranium claims were untrue? Was the disclosure of Valerie Wilson's identity an attempt to discredit her husband and what he had been saying about the uranium claims being false?

· When you learned that the leak had occurred, did you investigate whether any members of your staff were responsible for this act? If so, when did you do so and what were your findings? Do you think that those involved with the leak should be allowed to maintain their security clearances?

We therefore encourage you to follow the example of your former boss, President Ford, by testifying before Congress. Openness and sunshine are the best way to restore public trust that the White House is operating ethically, efficiently, and in compliance with rules protecting national security.

Sincerely,

Maurice Hinchey
Henry Waxman
John Conyers, Jr.

[understandinglife]

4. John Nichols: Congressman Want Cheney to Testify

Vice President Dick Cheney has had very little to say about the indictment of his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, and even less to say about aspects of the investigation that have touched on his own actions before and after the invasion of Iraq. Now, three key Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives want to give the vice president an opportunity to clear the air.

Recalling that Cheney's former boss, then-President Gerald Ford, testified before the House after his controversial pardon of former President Richard Nixon in 1974, Representatives John Conyers Jr., the Michigan Democrat who is the ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee; Henry Waxman, the California Democrat who is the ranking minority member of the Government Reform Committee; and Maurice Hinchey, the New York Democrat who has been one of the most outspoken critics of the administration's misuse of intelligence during the period before the Iraq War began, have asked the vice president to "make yourself available to appear before Congress to explain the details and reasons for your office's involvement -- and your personal involvement - in the disclosure of Valerie Wilson's identity as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative."

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More at the link:

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=33242

Peace.

[wordpix]

25. Conyers, Waxman, Hinchey---thank you, Patriots. Your legacy will

be TRUTH and JUSTICE that future generations will look to for guidance and inspiration in times we can't even imagine---while Bush goes down as worst-ever president who bankrupted us and led country to war under false pretenses.

[stillcool]

5. My rep sent me the failed resolution:

Whereas the war in Iraq has resulted in the loss of over 2,000 American lives and more than 15,000 wounded soldiers, and has cost the American people $190 billion dollars;

Whereas the basis for going to war was Iraq's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and the President made a series of misleading statements regarding threats posed by Iraq, but no weapons of mass destruction have been found;

Whereas the Republican Leadership and Committee Chairmen have repeatedly denied requests by Democratic Members to complete an investigation of pre-war intelligence on Iraq and have ignored the question of whether that intelligence was manipulated for political purposes;

Whereas the Vice President's Chief of Staff Lewis Libby has been indicted on five counts of perjury, obstruction of justice, and making false statements in connection with the disclosure of the identity of a CIA operative, and that disclosure was part of a pattern of Administration efforts to discredit critics of the Iraq war;

Whereas four separate requests to hold hearings on the disclosure of the CIA operative were denied in the Government Reform Committee, and Resolutions of Inquiry were rejected in the Intelligence, Judiciary, Armed Services, and International Relations Committees;

Whereas the American people have spent $20.9 billion dollars to rebuild Iraq with much of the money squandered on no-bid contracts for Halliburton and other favored contractors;

Whereas Halliburton received a sole-source contract worth $7 billion to implement the restoration of Iraq's oil infrastructure, and a senior Army Corps of Engineers official wrote that the sole-source contract was "coordinated with the Vice President's office";

Whereas despite these revelations, on July 22, 2004 the Republican-controlled Government Reform Committee voted to reject a subpoena by Democratic Members appropriately seeking information on communications of the Vice President's office on awarding contracts to Halliburton;

Whereas prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Guantanamo, and Afghanistan have seriously damaged the reputation of the United States, and increased the danger to U.S. personnel serving in Iraq and abroad;

Whereas the Republican Leadership and Committee Chairmen have denied requests for hearings, defeated resolutions of inquiry for information, and failed to aggressively pursue serious allegations, including how far up the chain of command the responsibility lies for the treatment of detainees;

Whereas the oversight of decisions and actions of other branches of government is an established and fundamental responsibility of Congress;

Whereas the Republican Leadership and the Chairmen of the committees of jurisdiction have failed to undertake meaningful, substantive investigations of any of the abuses pertaining to the Iraq war, including the manipulation of pre-war intelligence, the public release of a covert operative's name, the role of the Vice President in Iraqi reconstruction, and the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal;

Therefore be it resolved that:

The House calls upon the Republican Leadership and Chairmen of the committees of jurisdiction to comply with their oversight responsibilities, demands they conduct a thorough investigation of abuses relating to the Iraq War, and condemns their refusal to conduct oversight of an Executive Branch controlled by the same party, which is in contradiction to the established rules of standing committees and Congressional precedent.

[billbuckhead]

7. I bet Cheney would come to a fundraiser if they asked

[wordpix]

27. I know my bushit rep Nancy Johnson didn't sign---she's

a Repiglican hack who loves DeLay and BushCo.

[emulatorloo]

6. kicking n/t

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

8. "Jeeves, would you kindly throw the deadbolt on the bunker door?"

[understandinglife]

9. ROFL!!!

Seems the Dems are moving on all fronts ... and the neoconsters are on the run!!


Peace.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

12. I believe that Cheney uses a Weiser deadbolt.

With a Fortsworth tumbler. :rofl:

[goforit]

21. About time there is unity! But keep one eye open with the DLC.

The DLC wants to continue Bush's policies certainly
at a more quieter stance.

Approving of the Iraq war was their first mistake.
Thay too are responsible for not doing their homework before the war
Approving of the Patriot Act was their second big mistake.

The DLC is quietly corrupt with corporations just as much.

After this unity will come their agenda....
So keep one eye open.

[wordpix]

28. oh give it a rest.

[janx]

22. Oh...fercryininabucket!

fer cryin' out LOUD!
:rofl:

[rodeodance]

11. His spokeswomen answered for him:

The Democrats are Maurice Hinchey of New York, Henry Waxman of California and John Conyers of Michigan. Waxman is the ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee. Conyers is the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.

In response, Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride said that the vice president would cooperate with the Justice Department as the criminal investigation of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald moves forward.

Cheney said following Libby's indictment last Friday that it would be inappropriate to comment on the charges or any facts relating to the proceeding.

[sofa king]

13. Is this how they're gonna spring the bastard?

Have the Senate grant him immunity to testify? He spills his guts in classified interviews, they stamp it "secret," and he walks.

If the prosecutors find a way around that, he dumps the videotape on Fox News. By the time the case gets to selection, no juror in America will be able to say they weren't influenced by the testimony.

[yodermon]

14. This is what worried me about this report

Isn't this how Ollie North walked? If not Ollie then some other Iran-Contra thug?

[rndmprsn]

15. when i saw the name of this article...

somehow i just knew my man conyers was involved =]

-edit spelling-

[CardInAustin]

19. Excellent....

Now this is what "standing up" is all about. Don't be afraid to call these guys on the carpet to answer for what they have done. Put them on the spot.

[leesa]

23. Funny. "Security purposes", "exuctive privilege", "Fuck you"

Has The Criminal Cheney EVER talked?

[TiredOfLies]

24. if my approvel rating was 19%

in my own country and i was hated by the rest of the world, i would stay out of sight and keep my mouth shut also. 19%, didn't know he had that many relatives.

[Ezlivin]

26. Conspiracy, noun: see Cheney, Dick

Time to update our dictionary definitions.