Impeach the House 220 NOW!

[paineinthearse]

My take - if there was criminal intent or criminal neglect or fraud or conspiracy or other high crime or misdemeanor by the * administration, and the rethug leadership (speaker, leader, whip and chairs of the various oversight committees, as well as all members who voted against performing their Constitutional duty to investigate are GUILTY OF OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE & CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT FRAUD and should be impeached.

By email

Cover-Up Congress Refuses to Investigate Iraq War Abuses

This week, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi called on the House of Representatives to fulfill its oversight responsibilities and conduct investigations on the decision to go to war and other abuses relating to Iraq by introducing a privileged resolution. Since the Iraq war began, more than 2,000 American soldiers have been killed, more than 15,000 have been wounded, and hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent. It is clear that the primary public justification for the invasion of Iraq was supported by nothing more than deceit and misinformation. The Republican cover-up Congress has repeatedly denied requests by Democrats to complete an investigation into any of the abuses regarding the decision to go to war in Iraq, including the manipulation of pre-war intelligence for political purposes and the public release of a covert operative's identity.

Despite evidence of the Bush Administration's efforts to discredit critics of the Iraq war, the squandered money on no-bid contracts to Halliburton, and prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere, the Republican cover-up Congress refuses to live up to its oversight responsibility. The cost in lives and limbs, the cost in dollars, and the cost in reputation has been enormous. Congress has the responsibility to find out why so many things in Iraq have gone so terribly wrong, and to finally provide answer to the American people. Leader Pelosi's resolution failed by a party line vote, 220 to 191, when Republicans unanimously voted to not require Congress to conduct investigations.

http://www.democraticleader.house.gov/press/releases.cfm?pressReleaseID=1258

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 03, 2005
CONTACT:
Brendan Daly/Jennifer Crider
202-226-7616

Pelosi: Cover-Up Congress Refuses to Investigate Iraq War Abuses
Washington, D.C.– Today, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi introduced a privileged resolution to demand that Republican Congressional leadership conduct athorough investigation of abuses relating to the Iraq War. The resolution failed by a party line vote, 220 to191, when Republicans unanimously moved to table, or effectively kill, the resolution.

“A vote to table is a vote to cover-up,” Pelosi said. “Congress has the responsibility to find out why so many things in Iraq have gone so terribly wrong. That is why I asked the House to investigate abuses relating to Iraq. Yet, Republicans again thwarted efforts to answer the questions of the American people. This Republican cover-up Congress refuses to live up to its oversight responsibility.”

“Congress has an obligation to identify and correct the problems that led to the production of flawed intelligence,” Pelosi said. “Our troops are at risk until that is done, and yet, there is no sense of urgency to undertake a thorough review of what went wrong. Neither the issue of the quality of the intelligence nor the equally important issue of whether intelligence was politicized, have been investigated by this Congress.”

Citing the absence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, evidence of the Bush Administration’s efforts to discredit critics of the Iraq war, prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Guantanamo, and Afghanistan, and the responsibility of Congress to oversee the decisions and actions of other branches of government, Pelosi demanded investigative action by the Republican Congress.

The war in Iraq has resulted in the loss of more than 2,000 American lives and more than 15,000 wounded soldiers, and has cost the American people hundreds of billions of dollars, providing further evidence of the need for oversight.

Leader Pelosi’s privileged 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.

[MidwestTransplant]

1. Good...Put the Repugs on the record about this.

Should make for good campaign fodder.

[texpatriot2004]

2. Oooh, "Cover up Congress" kinda catchy...I like it. n.t

[indepat]

3. They are indeed guilty of all these IMHO and their oaths of office and have

abrogated their responsibilities under the Constitution. That's what 'Pukes do but nothing likely will come of this: even the electorate, with knowledge of all this, would/will likely return 95-98% of 'Pukes to their seats in the House. Welcome to Amerikka.

[paineinthearse]

4. Received from Rep. John Tierney on 11/3

by email...

received by email from a staffer in Rep. John F. Tierney's office.

Thursday, November 3, 2005

Today, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) introduced a privileged resolution calling upon the House Republican Leadership to conduct a thorough investigation of abuses relating to the Iraq War. The Speaker accepted an objection to the resolution and ruled to block it. The Speaker's ruling was challenged, but a subsequent vote on whether to allow for the resolution's consideration failed on party-line vote. As such, the resolution could not be debated or voted on.

As you may know, similar issues were taken up by the U.S. Senate earlier this week, with Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) invoking a closed session of the Senate in order to allow for a discussion of investigations related to the war. The outcome of that session was indeed fruitful, with the Senate reaching a landmark bipartisan agreement on the continuation of the currently stalled investigation.

Given the critical importance of this issue, I thought you might be interested in reading the text of the proposed privileged resolution, which I have provided below:

(goes on with the resolution.....)