PRESS RELEASE
LaRouche Says Charges Against
Cheney Constitute Grounds for Impeachment
June 7, 2003 (EIRNS)—This statement was released today by the LaRouche in 2004 Presidential candidate's committee.
In the midst of a growing mountain of evidence that Vice President Dick Cheney led a battery of senior Bush Administration officials, in repeatedly using what was known to be a forged document from a foreign government to corral Congressional and public support for the Iraq War, Democratic Presidential pre-candidate Lyndon LaRouche issued a sharply worded statement insisting on a full investigation documenting exactly what Vice President Cheney knew, when he knew it, and precisely what he did contrary to what he knew to be the truth.
The charges against Cheney are centered on the fact that the Vice President repeatedly used documents, allegedly from the government of Niger, purporting to show Iraqi government efforts to purchase large quantities of uranium precursor, "yellow cake" from that African nation, long after he learned that the documents were forged.
On June 2, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, sent a letter to President George W. Bush, demanding a full explanation from the Administration, as to why senior Bush Administration officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and the President himself "cited forged evidence about Iraq's attempts to obtain nuclear materials."
In a statement released through his national spokeswoman, Debra Hanania-Freeman, LaRouche was quoted as saying, "Let there be no mistake about it. The nature of these charges constitute hard grounds for impeachment. The question has to be taken head on. It is time for Dick Cheney to come clean. I want to know exactly what Dick Cheney knew and when he knew it. The charges are grave and specific and leave no wiggle room. Determining who knew what and when is, at this time, an urgent matter of national security."
Freeman, citing LaRouche's own track record in challenging the avalanche of disinformation and "spun" intelligence products thrown up by the Straussian neo-conservative network inside the Bush Administration, to launch the recent war against Iraq, said that LaRouche was uniquely positioned to hold not only the Administration itself, but also the other Democratic Presidential candidates accountable for their uncritical endorsement of what amounts to an ongoing fraud against the Congress and the American people. She said that the chronology of events documented in the Waxman letter, indicates that Vice President Cheney was among the first Administration officials to be informed that the Niger documents were forgeries, and that he nevertheless continued to assert the Niger-Iraq uranium story as fact.
"This kind of witting, repeated fraud against the Congress and the people of the United States represents a crime of the highest order. And, as such, I can tell you that Mr. LaRouche will see to it that a determination is made and made quickly, and that he will not back off until appropriate and severe action against those perpetrating this fraud is taken."
See also: "The Henry Waxman Letter: Who Knew What, and When?"
