Although I agree that impeachment proceedings should have begun sooner, I do not think it is necessarily too late. It's never too late to set a precedent that certain behavior will be tolerated. Moreover, the anti-Iran rhetoric has been increasing within the last few weeks. Perhaps impeachment hearings could deescalate the threat of war with Iran? On the other hand, Bush Co. are probably not above using Iran as leverage against those who might impeach them, ie, "if you impeach us, we'll fake another terrorist attack and invade Iran," etc.
Of course, if you watch the hearing, you'll see that it was not actually an impeachment hearing. The witnesses and committee members were not allowed to name names, they could not make accusations, they could not say "impeach," no applause was allowed, and they were not allowed to say that Bush or Cheney had actually broken the law or acted dishonestly in any way. Of course, some of them did so anyway, but a number of committee members constantly reprimanded them for it and threatened to recess the hearing.
This was more of an effort to placate Kucinich and other vocal supporters of impeachment. You can bet your gosh darn rear end that nothing substantive will come out of this.
