It’s unclear exactly what Congressional Democrats hope to accomplish in the months ahead as lawmakers from various committees continue to hold hearings examining whether the Bush administration authorized the use of torture against Guantanamo Bay prisoners, whether Vice President Dick Cheney authorized the leak of covert spy Valerie Plame Wilson, and if Karl Rove, the former White House political adviser, used the Department of Justice to advance a Republican agenda.

But holding President George W. Bush and Cheney–and executive branch officials–accountable for what many constitutional scholars have said are High Crimes and Misdemeanors related to those alleged misdeeds does not appear on the agenda of some Democratic leaders in the House.

Congressman John Conyers, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday he would entertain his colleague, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, by holding a hearing on the Ohio Democrat’s resolution to impeach President George W. Bush for allegedly deceiving Congress to back a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. The House voted 238-180 later in the day to send the single article of impeachment introduced by Kucinich last week to Conyers’s committee.

But Conyers said the issue will be restricted a committee hearing only, which could begin as soon as next week.

“We’re not doing impeachment, but [Kucinich] can talk about it,” Conyers said in an interview with the political magazine Congressional Quarterly (CQ).

The Michigan Democrat told CQ that he would rather hold oversight hearings to examine the executive branch as opposed to taking any action to try and remove Bush from office. A public discussion of Kucinich’s impeachment resolution would fall into the category of oversight, Conyers added.

Conyers has been sending out mixed messages for several months regarding his position on impeachment.

On May 8, Conyers sent a letter to President Bush stating that he would immediately move to impeach the president if he authorized a military strike against Iran without first consulting Congress.

“Late last year, Senator Joseph Biden stated unequivocally that ‘the President has no authority to unilaterally attack Iran, and if he does, as Foreign Relations Committee chairman, I will move to impeach’ the President.

“We agree with Senator Biden, and it is our view that if you do not obtain the constitutionally required congressional authorization before launching preemptive military strikes against Iran or any other nation, impeachment proceedings should be pursued,” Conyers’s letter said.

In an opening statement in June before the Judiciary Committee received testimony from former White House press secretary Scott McClellan, Conyers said the Bush administration may have committed an “impeachable offense” by launching a “propaganda campaign” to win support for a U.S. led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

McClellan published a book, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and the Culture of Washington Deception, that alleged President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney misled the public about Iraq’s arsenal of chemical and biological weapons and the threat the country posed to the U.S.

“What Scott McClellan wrote in his new book about the administration’s propaganda campaign to promote and defend the occupation of Iraq was not a revelation,” Conyers’ opening statement says. “It was confirmation that the White House has played fast and loose with the truth in a time of war. Depending on how one reads the Constitution, that may or may not be an impeachable offense.”

Last month, Kucinich stunned colleagues when he introduced an impeachment resolution on the House floor and then spent nearly five hours reading the 35 articles, alleging that President Bush was guilty of a wide range of crimes.

The articles of impeachment were introduced a few days after the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released a long-awaited report on prewar Iraq intelligence that concluded Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney knowingly misled the public and Congress about Iraq’s links to al-Qaeda and the threat the country posed to the United States.

The House sidetracked Kucinich’s resolution by voting – 251-166 – to send it to the House Judiciary Committee. At the time, Kucinich said he expected Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers to hold hearings within a 30-day deadline Kucinich had imposed, but Conyers chose not to act.

Last week, Kucinich whittled down the 35 articles of impeachment to a single article, alleging Bush “deceived” Congress into believing Iraq had weapons of mass destruction in order to get lawmakers to back a U.S.-led invasion of the country.

The one article was introduced by Kucinich on the House floor as a privileged resolution, which requires lawmakers to act on the measure within two legislative days.

‘Good Faith’

At a news conference, Kucinich said he understands “that many members of Congress voted in good faith to authorize the use of force against Iraq, and I understand that many in the media supported that action.

“When the President of the United States makes representations on matters of life and death, we all want to believe him and give him the benefit of the doubt. Trust is the glue, which holds the fabric of our nation together. …

“We all know the consequences of the war, the loss of lives and injury to our troops, the deaths of innocent Iraqis, the cost to the American taxpayers. There has been another consequence: Great damage to our Constitution through an unnecessary, illegal war and the destruction of the superior role of Congress in the life of this nation.”

Kucinich said “Congress must, in the name of the American people, use the one remedy which the Founders provided for an Executive who gravely abused his power: Impeachment.”

In 2006, then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi declared impeachment “off the table,” in part, to avoid alarming centrist voters. Now, House Speaker Pelosi is keeping the issue “off the table” as Democrats eye the possibility of larger majorities in November’s elections.

“Speaker Pelosi will continue to lead legislative efforts to find a new direction in Iraq but believes that impeachment would create a divisive battle, be a distraction from Congress’s efforts to chart a new course for America’s working families and would ultimately fail,” Pelosi’s spokesman, Nadeam Elshami, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer last month.

On Thursday, Pelosi shifted her stance somewhat by indicating that there is a strong possibility that the House Judiciary Committee may hold hearings on impeachment, but indicated that it’s still unlikely that the full House would take action on impeachment.

“This is a Judiciary Committee matter, and I believe we will see some attention being paid to it by the Judiciary Committee,” Pelosi told reporters. “Not necessarily taking up the articles of impeachment because that would have to be approved on the floor, but to have some hearings on the subject.”

Kucinich said if Pelosi attempts to derail his efforts or if Conyers fails to hold hearings as promised he would keep on introducing new articles of impeachment.

“I have informed the leadership of the House should they fail to hold hearings I would come back to the Congress in 30 days with even more articles,” Kucinch said.

“I may have to do this one or two more times before I get their attention and Congress starts to take this seriously. After I introduced this, there was discussion among the media that this is dead.

“Well, I hope they believe in life after death because I am coming back with this. Under a privileged resolution I can bring it up again and again and again. We cannot keep silent. We cannot allow the country to be lost to lies.”

On Tuesday, Kucinich told CQ that an unidentified foreign official has expressed interest in participating in an impeachment hearing

“I’ve been contacted by representatives of a U.S. ally who are seeking an opportunity to appear before the Judiciary Committee,” Kucinich told CQ.

“Legislative leaders of a foreign capital” have a “new angle that I haven’t thought of before but is relevant,” he said. “This interest in whether we’ve been told the truth has extended to other countries.”