Three and a half years ago, when all of this happened, not many of us knew what we were dealing with. I sure didn’t. When Patrick Fitzgerald was appointed Special Prosecutor at the end of 2003, it was still in the Mission Accomplished period, and we were wondering where those WMD’s were. And here we sit in 2007 with the Vice President saying, "I think in fact if we were to do what Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Murtha are suggesting, all we’ll do is validate the al Qaeda strategy, the al Qaeda strategy is to break the will of the American people." He’s still talking about the "al Qaeda strategy" when challenged about Iraq as if they’re related.
Most people now know that whatever the Iraq War is about, it has nothing to do with al Qaeda – except in the most peripheral way. But the Libby Trial has given us a lot of puzzle pieces to play with. We know that Cheney’s office outed Valerie Plame to discredit her husband. We know that Dick Cheney did this because Joseph Wilson’s allegations were true – the Administration cooked the Intelligence that got us into this war. Now, the question is will Patrick Fitzgerald indict him? I doubt it. It’s not Fitzgerald’s job. It’s ours…
What’s next? If Libby’s convicted, it’s in the hands of Congress, and the next step is a review of the Libby case findings, followed by an impeachment proceeding against Vice President Cheney. We’ve gotten a lot from Patrick Fitzgerald. We can’t ask him to do it all. Now it’s Congress’ turn. The grounds for impeachment are "high crimes and misdemeanors" [high = against the State]. Cheney is certainly qualified at this point. There was enough in the Libby Trial evidence already made public to more than qualify him. If Libby is convicted, the pieces are in place now for such a charge. It’s the right thing and the right time.
Libby was just following Cheney’s orders. Fitzgerald did his best. We did too – we elected a Democratic Congress. It’s their turn. They have the tools. Begin the impeachment proceedings against Dick Cheney. Use Congress’ Investigative powers to bring the evidence to the light of day – Plame, Niger, Halliburton, the Energy Conference etc. Impeach him and send him to the Senate for a trial. Put the pieces in place for the Senators and give them the opportunity to do the right thing.
Why not? Not being sure it could happen didn’t stop Fitzgerald…
Most people said that we can’t do that because then Bush would actually be President and then we would be in trouble. I hope that argument has been laid to rest.
RIP. I almost think that without Cheney, Bush might do the right thing [by mistake]…