Dick Cheney

November 6, 2007 -- (Washington, DC)- A spokeswoman for the House Judiciary Committee issued the following statement today in response to floor action on a house resolution to begin impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney:

"The committee has a very busy agenda - over the next two weeks, we hope to pass a FISA bill, to vote on contempt of Congress citations, pass legislation on prisoner re-entry, court security and a variety of other very important items.    » read more »

Statement of Robert Shull, Deputy Director of Auto Safety and Regulatory Policy at Public Citizen

Nov. 2, 2007 -- The news that Vice President Dick Cheney has held more backdoor meetings with the auto industry to discuss energy policy is bad news for everyone. According to today’s Detroit News, Cheney met recently with the CEOs of Chrysler and Ford to discuss mounting pressure on Capitol Hill for energy legislation to address fuel economy.    » read more »

October 16, 2007 -- "If the government in Iraq is so corrupt that our State Department won’t even tell us about it…if it’s so corrupt that it is undermining any chance of political progress, then how can we ask our brave men and women to risk their lives there? We are putting them in an impossible situation."

Today the House overwhelming passed the Iraq corruption resolution, H.Res. 734, which condemns the State Department for withholding information about Iraqi corruption from the Congress and the American people. The strongly worded rebuke passed by a vote of 395-21.    » read more »

16 October 2007 -- The U.S. House of Representatives has overwhelmingly (395 to 21) approved a resolution crafted by majority Democrats criticizing the State Department for withholding information on corruption in the Iraqi government.

In a recent hearing, U.S. House lawmakers heard a former judge, Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, detail corruption that he asserts permeates every level of the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.    » read more »

October 15, 2007 -- Today Chairman Waxman and Subcommittee Chairman Kucinich wrote to Hunt Oil CEO Ray Hunt and Ambassador Ryan Crocker requesting information about a recent oil exploration contract Hunt Oil signed with Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government.

Letter to Hunt Oil CEO Ray Hunt

Letter to Ambassador Ryan Crocker

Source: House Oversight Committee

11 October 2007 -- The United Nations is urging the United States to ensure that American private contractors who commit offenses in Iraq are prosecuted.

The U.N. Assistance Mission to Iraq is making the call in its new report on the human rights situation in that country Thursday. The mission noted several fatal incidents involving private security firms in the period between April and June of this year.

The report calls on the U.S. to establish mechanisms to hold contractors accountable when such incidents do not appear to be justified.    » read more »

09 October 2007 -- Iraq's government is asking American security firm Blackwater USA to pay $136 million to the families of Iraqis killed in a recent shooting.

The demand is included in a report of an Iraqi government investigation into the September 16 incident in a western Baghdad square. It charges that Blackwater security guards deliberately killed 17 people in the shooting.    » read more »

09 October 2007 -- Iraqi officials say there has been another shooting involving private security guards in Baghdad, this time killing two people. Dubai-based security firm Unity Resources Group issued a statement saying its guards were involved in the incident. The incident occurred the same day Iraq's government said the U.S.- based Blackwater security contractor should pay millions of dollars in compensation to people killed in a shooting incident last month.    » read more »

Des Moines, IA (October 5, 2007): Yesterday, reports in the New York Times revealed that the Bush Administration authorized U.S. personnel to torture detainees and subject them to inhumane interrogation techniques. The authorization came in the form of secret Justice Department memoranda issued by new Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in 2005, just months after the Department had publicly withdrawn a prior memo condoning torture, stating, "Torture is abhorrent both to American law and values and to international norms."    » read more »

Oct 5, 2007 -- Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Today, Senator John Edwards made the following statement regarding President Bush’s claim that his administration has not tortured terrorism suspects, despite the revelation of secret Justice Department memos authorizing the CIA’s harshest interrogation techniques including waterboarding and the use of frigid temperatures:    » read more »

October 05, 2007 -- Today Chairman Waxman wrote to Secretary Rice following reports that a Blackwater contractor, who was fired after he shot and killed an Iraq security guard, was hired by Combat Support Associates, another private contractor, to work in the region two months later.

A letter was also sent to the President of Combat Support Associates requesting information about the former Blackwater contractor.

Read: Letter to Secretary Rice (pdf file)

Source: Administration Oversight, Defense and Security

October 5, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today sent the following letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, asking her to further clarify the new guidelines she proposed for contractors operating in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama called on Rice to clarify the legal framework the State Department intends to use to hold contractors accountable for their actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to provide more information on the rules of engagement contractors will employ.    » read more »

Obama bill will require federal law apply to contractors in war zones

October 4, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today introduced legislation to increase accountability of American security contractors operating in Iraq and Afghanistan by subjecting the contractors to U.S. criminal law. The bill would clarify the language of the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA) to ensure that it applies to all contractors working in war zones.    » read more »

07 October 2007 -- Iraq has revised higher the death toll of citizens killed by U.S. private security guards from Blackwater USA in a shooting incident in Baghdad last month.

An Iraqi government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said the government's official investigation found that the death toll in the September 16 shootings was 17, six more than the 11 deaths previously reported.

Iraqi investigators said the shootings were a deliberate crime. Dabbagh said the probe revealed that the U.S. diplomatic convoy the guards were protecting did not come under direct or indirect fire.    » read more »

Gonzales And Administration Officials Should Be Investigated

(New York, October 4, 2007) – Reports of two new “torture memos” underscore the need for the next US attorney general to declassify and repudiate secret government legal opinions that permit abusive interrogations, Human Rights Watch said today.

Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey, whose confirmation hearings are upcoming, should not be confirmed unless he repudiates legal opinions that justify or defend abusive interrogation or detention techniques, Human Rights Watch said.    » read more »