Rangel Introduces Impeachment Articles Against Rumsfeld
by Ethan Wallison, Roll Call, 7 May, 2004

Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.), a lead critic of the Bush administration's policy in Iraq, introduced eight articles of impeachment Thursday against Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld amid Congressional outrage over the Pentagon's handling of charges of prison abuse by U.S. soldiers.

"I think that this rises to the point that it's a high crime and misdemeanor if he disappointed the president, kept information from the Congress and kept this information from the American people," Rangel said on the House floor.

Among the prospective charges against Rumsfeld included in the Rangel's impeachment measure are that the Defense chief "contributed to an atmosphere of lawlessness" that permitted the abuses to take place, and "abdicated his role" in allowing such a breakdown in discipline.

The articles also charge that Rumsfeld "urged and oversaw" the removal of Saddam Hussein under a "false premise" - namely, that the United States was under threat of "imminent" attack from weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq's dictator was in league with al Qaeda in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The latter allegations have been a matter of semantic argument for more than a year between Democrats and the GOP, which has contended that neither Rumsfeld nor the Bush administration had used either premise in their arguments for Hussein's ouster. [...more]
- posted by ARYABHATT @ 1:27 am