NYT: Cheney is Linked to Concealment of CIA Program

[The Blue Flower]

Source: New York Times

The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency’s director, Leon E. Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday.

The report that Mr. Cheney was behind the decision to conceal the still-unidentified program from Congress deepened the mystery surrounding it, suggesting that the Bush administration had put a high priority on the program and its secrecy.

Mr. Panetta, who ended the program when he first learned of its existence from subordinates on June 23, briefed the two intelligence committees about it in separate closed sessions the next day.

Efforts to reach Mr. Cheney through relatives and associates were unsuccessful.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/us/politics/12intel.html?hp

[BumRushDaShow]

1. Hmmm

:popcorn:

[Newsjock]

2. I hope Torchwood was inside the room ...

... recording Cheney giving these secret orders.

[ananda]

4. Capn Jack wouldn't have just recorded Cheney.

nt

[slay]

10. lol

You see that 5 part Torchwood: Children of Earth event that just finished airing on BBC? Better than the best Doctor Who - absolutely amazing!

[ananda]

3. So Sy Hersh was very likely right.

Cheney's secret assassination squad could have been part of this.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. My thoughts too

since the article has quotes that seem to rule out the obvious "surveillance" type programs.

[carincross]

14. Sam Stein Agrees

Sam Stein published an article in the Huff Post yesterday entertaining this possibility.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/09/was-the-cia-hiding-cheney_n_228864.html

[DUlover2909]

26. Tom Clancy's The Teeth of the Tiger was about this exact thing.

Jack Ryan's son becomes a secret assassin killing terrorists in Europe.

[Odin2005]

49. That's why I like reading Tom Clancy books.

:evilgrin:

[Hutzpa]

46. Sy Hersh was very reputable in his

description of Cheney's secret men, he also said that Dick Cheney has people
he left behind to undermine Obama's government and to keep Cheney abreast of
everything within the frame work of the Obama Administration.

Now all of a sudden Dick Cheney has gone missing.

[unkachuck]

66. sure, it's right there....

....in the chimp/cheney redacted edition of our Constitution....

....Article II, Section 5, The Vice President shall be solely responsible for all political and economic death squads pursuant to the secret corporate interest. Congress shall be kept informed on all actions taken on a need-to-know basis, sieg heil!

[Richard Steele]

75. Sy Hersh has been RIGHT about alot of very OBVIOUS stuff.

Odds are that he was right about this one.

[dgibby]

5. I wonder....

I wonder if Panetta stopped the program or only THINKS he stopped the program. I'm beginning to believe there's stuff going on that no one knows about. Maybe some of the people Bush and Cheney "left behind" are still answering to them and no one else.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. There are also many Rove

plants embedded in ALL of the agencies. Booby-traps that haven't been defused.

[glinda]

19. They need to go as well as well as a total overhaul of the Department. It is no wonder Cheney

stays around the area. I just want to say "yawn" wake me up when he is actually prosecuted. What a demon in our system.

[MindMatter]

18. "beginning"? WTF?

Where have you been? Never heard of Ollie North? Or J Edgar Hoover? Extra-judicial, extra-governmental rogue programs have always been widespread in our system.

[L. Coyote]

29. "Panetta ... first learned of its existence from subordinates on June 23" So, who's in charge?

Obviously, NOT Leon Panetta!!

[Efilroft Sul]

56. That's the first thing I thought, too, Coyote.

Panetta only heard of the program after being on the job five months after Obama's inauguration? The cancer runs deep along the Potomac.

[L. Coyote]

100. Second thought: This means OBAMA is out of the loop too! So, who is in charge?

That is the frightening fact. Obama is out of the loop when it comes to control of the Dark Side.

[bobburgster]

7. Not a surprise.....well maybe how long it took to come out is.

[reflection]

9. The gauntlet has been thrown.

I look forward to hearing the truth about this.

[glinda]

20. Really well put. The "gauntlet".

[Libertas1776]

11. Its damn time we put that bastard

Oswald Cobblepot away for good!!!


The sad thing is, there is no real life foil for Dick "the Penguin" Cheney. Eric Holder? The Justice Dept? Maybe in the comics but not in real life:argh:

[Brother Buzz]

12. Are there any DUers that didn't know this years ago?

Stove-piping. Cherry picking. Now, just where, and when did I hear these phrases?

[underpants]

31. I did. Reading Jane Mayer's "The Dark Side" now- a very detailed must read

mostly about Gitmo but I think it is about to be about these surveillance programs

[jeff30997]

13. Throw the scumbag in jail...

dump the key and make sure he lives to be over a hundred when he finally croak.:grr:

[BuyingThyme]

15. Cheney is still running the government.

[RayStar]

52. Cheney is up the creek

Cheney is not running the USA.

[TankLV]

72. Aparently only you and the ignorant and niave among us believe that crap still..

arrest, prosecute and execute the vermin, only then can we be sure of that...

[Divine Discontent]

16. "Mr Cheney ordered the CIA to keep program from Congress"..... punishment???? Justice (LOLOL) Dept?

[L. Coyote]

30. Felony AND Treason!

[Divine Discontent]

107. yep, I'm thinking he's not getting out of this one, he may be the one from the admin. to actually

get punished....

[valerief]

17. More from the Duh files. But thanks for posting. nt

[Bankhead_ATL]

21. we are getting close

[jazzjunkysue]

22. Wonder why this is being flown up the pole. No one's gonna do anything about it.

Confused:crazy:

[Politicalboi]

23. Time to launch Liz

[ClevelandSportsCurse]

24. well of course...nt

[tj2001]

25. And we're paying for the evil fucker's health care?

[Lindsey]

27. Like we didn't already f'in know this????????????? Give me a

break. Darth Vader is probably in Paragua by now.

[destes]

91. Ah, Paraguay in the spring.

Cheney and his "Republican Guard"

Irony, thy name is America.

[Zorra]

28. Cheney. Secret programs. Like Stephen King or something. Scary. nt

[JerseygirlCT]

32. Now there's a big surprise, huh? nt

[humbled_opinion]

33. So tell me again all the reasons why....

We don't need a "Truth Commission".....

[rainy]

34. Remember when Gonzales was being asked questions about the eavesdropping program?

He kept clarifying, when answering questions about spying, that the "particular program in question" was legal bla bla bla. I took that to mean that there was another program, not in question that was being conducted that was not being asked about because it was not known. I'm just a regular gal and I was quite certain that there was another program just by the way Gonzales kept answering.

[syberlion]

35. And why Cheney isn't rotting in some Jail Cell eludes me...

This absolutely galls me to no end. This man is a hundred times worse then Berny Madoff, a thousand times worse. Why he is not sitting in some dank, dark, musty jail cell just makes my blood boil. Ok, other then the fact that he'd probably enjoy it, until these piles of crap masquerading as actual humans are properly flushed from the society I cannot in good conscience be proud of my country.

We allowed a national election, probably two, to be stolen and we didn't take to the streets like those in Iran. God forbid we leave our comfortable couches and video games. We allowed the 1st and 4th amendments to be totally ignored and violated, again we did nothing as a nation, we did not rise up and reclaim this country as rightfully ours. Hey it says so right there at the very top of the Constitution with "We The People."

Granted this began with Nixon, became entrenched with Reagan, and was further advanced by Cheney (Bush jr was a coked-out puppet, let's be blatantly honest here). As long as the right dangled the impossible dream that any dumb hick could become powerful millionaires just like them, they led these hicks by their empty wallets.

Now that everyone is out of a job, the benefits have run out and things have gotten so bad the pain is becoming unbearable, these idiots that voted against their own best interests time after time are forced to wake up in a cold sweat. There are those not wanting to wake up. For those Palin fanatical supporters, because that is what they are, they will never wake up because they are fixated. Fanaticism involves (1) the total fixation on one idea and only that one idea, and (2) carrying that idea or cause out at all costs. There can be no exception to this. It is an obsession that knows no bounds. Winston Churchill said, "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."

Remember the VP debates when Palin said, "And I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you want to hear, but I'm going to talk straight to the American people and let them know my track record also." We have to be vigilant against these fanatics. If allowed to ascend to power again, we may not survive. We are reeling from their recent rein of terror when they had control of all three branches of this government. We must be wary of right-wing domestic terrorism, the disruption of the process of good governance with "the party of no." They are happy with that stance, no new ideas, nothing to answer the looming problems about to drive us into total ruin. Fanatics.

If we don't get these sociopaths, Rove, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Bush off the streets and into a maximum security prison, then we have failed as a civilized society. Their single-minded fanatical ideology is crippling our country's ability to become a great nation. Their ideology is the same or worse then the middle eastern fanatics and just as criminal. The religious aspect is only to bring in the followers, they don't really believe. Because if they did, they wouldn't have done three-fourths of the things they did in the name of their belief system.

As for Palin, she is useful in that she will be a magnet to draw out the underground crazies so they can be correctly institutionalized inside well padded rubber rooms. Maybe we can offer these insane fanatics their own island, like Guam (I know, it's a horrible thought to those poor people of Guam). Or maybe Alaska, also.

The media has died in that we are getting revelation after revelation as to just how criminal these miscreants were and yet they still walk among us. They still sit on TV and pontificate as if they have something relevant to say. The next words from their mouths need to be from a defendant's table in a court of law either, "Guilty" or "Not Guilty." If not in this country, then at the Hague. Soon, this needs to happen very soon.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

36. Skinner: Oldest Breaking News

I think it's time.

[Zhade]

37. And yet Obama let those criminals walk.

So much for restoring the rule of law.

[Jeep789]

105. Give me a break

This is finally coming out (even though most of us knew it long ago) and you can't even give Obama credit for it. Do you really think if McCain won we'd be hearing anything about this? Obama may not be doing anything quick enough to suit you but he sure is doing it the smart way.

[kevsters]

38. We should all take it easy on Dick!!!

Didn't Jesus say something about assassinations being righteous? I'm sure right wing douche bags can find a biblical passage to make that argument.

Here is a clip of O'Reilly pontificating about religion, and a pretty dead on article.

http://progressnotcongress.org/?p=2120

[JHB]

39. One more thing to point out: the VP has no authority to give orders to the CIA...

...or anyone else in the Executive branch except his own direct staff. That office is not in the chain of command.

So anything done at Cheney's command was because Cheney's orders were Bush's orders. Dubya is equally responsible for every one of Dick's actions. There's no "plausible deniability" here. Bush can't be let off the hook.

[shanti]

98. since when did a little "authority"

stop the dick? *ush relinquished his responsibility to him.

[JHB]

102. You're missing the legal point here...

There's no "plausible deniability" here. No smokescreen for Bush to hide behind. Everything Cheney did was Bush's direct responsibility, because Cheney had no legal authority to do anything. It was not a case of abusing his office, since so much of what he did wasn't part of his office.

[defendandprotect]

40. Good for Panetta--!! . . . Imagine what is still hidden, however !!!!

[DCBob]

41. Can we start the hearings now?

Bush, Cheney, Tenet, et al, all testifying in public under oath.

[Blackhatjack]

42. Cheney is definitely in a box with no clear path of escape...

... if he ran an assassination squad within the CIA without Presidential authorization and briefing of Congress, then he is not only guilty of criminal conduct for violating statutes that require Congress to be briefed, he is also guilty of MURDER.

Uncle Dick is neck deep and sinking ... this is too big to remain secret.

[ucfacde]

43. Doctors to reopen Yasser Arafat death investigation. Was Cheney’s Hit Team Involved?

Doctors to reopen Yasser Arafat death investigation Was Cheney’s Hit Team Involved?

"The investigations carried out so far didn't reach the point at which they could say conclusively what happened," said Mansour Tahboub at the Yasser Arafat foundation, set up last year to preserve the former president's legacy, and which commissioned the Amman investigation. "All we know is that there is something strange about his death."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/02/yasser-arafat-death

Was Darth Vader in on the demise of Arafat with his secret hit team and were orders still standing for other hits after D.V. left office?

[Odin2005]

48. +1

[shanti]

99. time to pull a ken lay

:eyes:

[Zhade]

103. Obama's a coward who won't pursue this.

He allows criminals to walk. Don't you see that?

[felinetta]

44. Efforts to reach Mr. Cheney through relatives and associates were unsuccessful.

Remember a few months ago you couldn't shut Dick up. And now, he can't be reached. I guess
he's trying to play another round of deferment or never being seen in public again!

[ucfacde]

45. Ex head of CIA Drowned in Chesapeake or Hudson Bay?

Ex head of CIA Drowned in Chesapeake or Hudson Bay?

I have been looking for the story about a CIA man that was out boating in the Chesapeake or Hudson Bay?, a expert sailor drowned, found floating a day or two later. The story seems to be gone from my search engines, can anyone find the story, around 2005-6 ?

Another question?

If one is water boarded can you tell if they died from water boarding or drowning, is there any difference in a autopsy from water boarding and regular drowning? Could one be found floating in the Bay been water boarded then thrown overboard to look like a drowning?

[toliveanddieinla]

57. It was William Colby

I either read an in depth article or saw a special on TV about it. The reporter did a masterful job investigating it and made a convincing case that Colby was murdered. He also found a witness that was intimidated and moved out of the area, the witness gave him critical info about what he saw. I wish I could remember where I saw/read this.

[ucfacde]

67. This guy was after William Colby after 2004

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

73. William Casey is who you are thinking of...

...Casey had just "gotten over pneumonia" days earlier and then was out on a lake in a small boat and "drowned". I don't have the actual date on the top of my head at the moment (it's bookmarked on another computer of mine).

[Odin2005]

47. I knew Panetta would get shit done! Not suprised at all. Darth Cheney = Evil.

The Neo-Cons need to be cleaned out of the CIA.

[ucfacde]

50. Wal-Mart founder's son killed in plane crash

Wal-Mart founder's son killed in plane crash

New York, June 28: 2005 Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, said John Walton, the billionaire second son of its founder, Sam Walton, was killed in a airplane crash on Monday.

http://www.expressindia.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=49619

No investigation to speak of, Oil Company Helicopter just happened to be in the area for transport?

[RufusTFirefly]

64. Died outside Jackson Hole? Cheney's headquarters? Nothing to it.

Time to move on.

Not.

[SharonRB]

51. Where'd Dick go? He was everywhere for a while

and now it seems he's gone back to his undisclosed location.

[elleng]

53. What a surprise

NOT!

:evilgrin:

[liberal N proud]

54. I believe Cheney was the master mind behind the entire bu$h regime

Including 9/11.

We have only begun to discover the evil of this monster.

[Third Doctor]

55. this is why

Dick, has been out trying to get ahead of this and scaring us.

[RufusTFirefly]

58. Although I don't normally believe in evil incarnate, Darth makes me question my beliefs ...

... and he makes me question my steadfast opposition to the death penalty as well.

I generally believe that what we refer to as "evil" comes from people who have been psychologically "damaged" somehow. If that's the case, then Darth Cheney is one badly damaged guy.

Of course, he had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11 though. That would be tinfoil stuff!! :sarcasm:

[Beetwasher]

59. I Think THIS Is Cheney's Assassins, The OTHER Story About The Intel Program Is Poindexter's TIA

Just my opinion. There's going to be LOT'S of these black programs exposed. The shit runs deep.

The other breaking story exposing the super black intel pgm I suspect is Poindexter's TIA.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3963357&mesg_id=3963357

[boppers]

60. My money is on the under-sea fiber taps.

Anybody else want to take bets?

[Name removed]

61. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[boppers]

65. Oooh, murder for political gain?

Anthrax seems kinda sad, stupid, ill-educated, and a pathetic kind of weapon.

Sadly, this would not exclude *.

[AlbertCat]

62. The report that Mr. Cheney was behind the decision to conceal ...from Congress deepened the mystery

The report that Mr. Cheney was behind the decision to conceal the still-unidentified program from Congress deepened the mystery surrounding it...



The MYSTERY surrounding it? Deepening the mystery????

How about proving he is a traitor and a felon who needs to go to jail for the rest of his miserable life.


As in:

The report that Mr. Cheney was behind the decision to conceal the still-unidentified program from Congress proves he is a traitor and a felon who needs to go to jail for the rest of his miserable life.

[meuniermr]

63. Dr. N.S. Sherlock, please pick up the courtesy phone..

[ucfacde]

68. Merrill Death Looks a lot Like Other 'Fishy' Mysteries on Chesapeake 6/24/2006

Merrill Death Looks a lot Like Other 'Fishy' Mysteries on Chesapeake 6/24/2006


WMR learned that while Merrill, a close friend of Vice President Dick Cheney and financial backer of a number of neo-conservative organizations, was the head of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, the bank made a number of dubious loans to the U.S.-run Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq and a successor agency known as the Trade Bank of Iraq. In November 2003, $500 million in credit was extended to the Trade Bank of Iraq by the US Export-Import Bank. Much of the money was used to facilitate U.S. "exports" to Iraq, which was actually used to pay major U.S. contractors operating in the occupied country. A 2005 audit report by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction concluded that "the CPA did not establish or implement sufficient managerial, financial and contractual controls to ensure that funds were used in a transparent manner." The report stated that $8.8 billion allocated to the CPA was unaccounted for.

http://www.thebaynet.com/news/index.cfm/fa/viewstory/story_ID/2675

$8.8 billion allocated to the CPA was unaccounted for.

[grahamhgreen]

69. Can we please investigate the Bush admin, Mr President?

[dd20045]

70. big shocker

yawn, and 2morow we will find out that iraq didnt have wmds. when are we going to prosecute these assholes???

[ucfacde]

71. No WMD's Under There

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKX6luiMINQ

[Piewhacket]

74. Panetta YOU MF!!! Cheney wasn't in the CIA chain of command! What crock o shit is this?

Of COURSE he might have relayed the President's (illegal order) and
thereby been complicit in a felony. OF COURSE that is plausible...

But don't feed me a chickenshit line that CIA actually OBEYED an order
from Dick Cheney, because that is goddamn fuc***** BULLSHIT!!!

If Cheney relayed a presidental order then SAY THAT you chickenshit MF.

Leon, you are getting dirtier, smellier, and more repulsive every day
you swim in that crock o shit sewer known as the CIA. You fucking clean it up
and send some people to PRISON or turn in BUSHCO to the AG.

Holder you chickenshit, you're the AG dammit, PROSECUTE!!!!!

[junior college]

76. OMG Cheney is finally going to pay!!

just kidding

[steven johnson]

77. The Cheney parallel government

What a scum bag.

The parallel government that Cheney established in OVP, by contrast, is a classic example of undemocratic pluralism within the executive. Just as Hamilton surmised, such a multiheaded arrangement fatally obscured the authorship of calamitous policy failures: we still do not know who made the disastrous decision in 2003 to disband the Iraqi army.

Vice: The Dispiriting Legacy of Dick Cheney

But they do describe the Office of the Vice President, with its large and assertive staff, as a kind of free-floating power base that at times brushes aside the normal policymaking machinery under national-security adviser Condoleezza Rice. On the road to war, Cheney in effect created a parallel government that became the real power center.

Cheney's Long Path To War

[underpants]

78. AP sources: Cheney told CIA not to discuss program (9 mins ago)

Source: AP/Yahoo

WASHINGTON – Former Vice President Dick Cheney directed the CIA eight years ago not to inform Congress about a nascent counterterrorism program that CIA Director Leon Panetta terminated in June, officials with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday.

Subsequent CIA directors did not inform Congress because the intelligence-gathering effort had not developed to the point that they believed merited a congressional briefing, said a former intelligence official and another government official familiar with Panetta's June 24 briefing to the House and Senate Intelligence committees.

Panetta did not agree.

Upon learning of the program June 23 from within the CIA, Panetta terminated it and the next day called an emergency meeting with the House and Senate Intelligence committees to inform them of the program and that it was canceled.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090712/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_cheney_counterterrorism

---

Cheney played a central role in overseeing the Bush administration's surveillance program that was the subject of an inspectors general report this past week. That report noted that Cheney's chief of staff, David Addington, personally decided who in Bush's inner circle could even know about the secret program.
------
------




So will this be THE main topic on the Sunday morning shows like Cheney et al used late Saturday night "leaks" to Judith Miller during the run-up of lies to war?

I highly recommend Jane Mayer's "The Dark Side" for my fellow DU'ers (or anyone for that matter) to read

[underpants]

79. Another paragraph- what the hell does this even mean?

A former intelligence official, who was familiar with former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden's tenure at the CIA, said Hayden never communicated with the president or vice president about the now-canceled program and was under no restrictions from Cheney about congressional briefings. The official said Hayden was briefed only two or three times on the program.

Okay so Hayden didn't brief the POTUS or VP on a program that at least Cheney already knew about (Hayden wasn't CIA chief until May 26, 2006) but he "was under no restrictions from Cheney about congressional briefings" about something he was only briefed about maybe 3 times??? That is the best they can do?

[lapfog_1]

82. He never communicated with the VPOTUS

because he wasn't "in the loop".

Cheney ran this program from the White House, he directed CIA deputies and operatives personally.

I'm pretty sure this wasn't the only program that was run this way. The assassination squad is still out there (this was yet another "intelligence" op, quite likely associated with the Office of Special Projects).

[underpants]

83. It would certainly seem that way

will we ever find out what Dick had in his "mansized safes"?

[InkAddict]

97. Self-explanatory

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/18/national/main3381695.

The other program took over after the firings

http://www.legitgov.org/minot_afb_nukes_oddities.html

Now, let's see how fast we can move posts to the dungeon of tin foil.

[Sanity Claws]

80. How did Panetta finally find out about the program?

That's what I want to know. After it was hidden from him for 5 months, who told him? Why?

[underpants]

81. This is absurd. Not a surprise but just more absurdity

the CIA chief wasn't important enough to know about it or were they just giving him cover?

Why does the CIA chief need to know about domestic survellience to start with, isn't that FBI jurisdiction?

As I mentioned Mayer's book lays this all out-it was all Addington and Yoo----Gonzales is a stooge

[lapfog_1]

84. Some one wants to keep their job.

Probably, at some point, a bean counter discovered some "black ops money" that wasn't accounted for and alerted Panetta. Panetta wasn't trusted by the Deputies as he is a) Democrat, and b) appointed by Obama.

The Dept of Justice wasn't the ONLY place that was politicized. You can bet that quite of number of CIA people were placed there from the Dominionist universities run by the Christian conservatives. And in the military too.

It will take decades to find these assholes and remove them.

[global1]

87. Did I Hear That Panetta Will Conduct An Internal Investigation On This?......

Come on - an internal investigation in the CIA - and we're to believe that this will be an honest investigation?

[Forkboy]

85. K&R

:kick:

[FreakinDJ]

86. Didn't Tenet quit in a huff at the Whitehouse

Could this be the reason?

[wantoutnow]

88. Frankly, the CIA has been a criminal organization for some time

This isnt recent. Iran/contra. Numerous Latin American coups. JFK. It goes back a while. Its is manifestly true that all that is needed for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.

[Demeter]

89. All Roads Lead to Cheney

Looking for injustice? Look no further. Indict and convict this bastard, the Bernie Madoff of politics.

[EFerrari]

90. They really seem to. He was too horrible for most people to recognize

even when he was in plain sight.

We're lucky he didn't blow up the planet, swear to God.

[jefferson_dem]

92. BBC picks up the story - Cheney 'ordered CIA to hide plan'

Cheney 'ordered CIA to hide plan'

Former US Vice-President Dick Cheney gave direct orders to the CIA to conceal an intelligence programme from Congress, US media reports say.

The existence of the programme, set up after 9/11, was hidden for eight years and even now its nature is not known.

CIA director Leon Panetta is said to have abandoned the project when he learnt of it last month.

He has now told a House committee that Mr Cheney was behind the secrecy, the unnamed US sources say.

There has been no comment from Mr Cheney.

War of words

<SNIP>

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8146466.stm

[24601]

93. In general, you'll never pin much on any Vice President

unless it's a personal act. According to the US Code (Title 5. III. A. 21. 2106) for the purpose of defining who's who & where in government:

"...“Member of Congress” means the Vice President, a member of the Senate or the House of Representatives, a Delegate to the
House of Representatives, and the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico."

The VP isn't the "Deputy Commander In Chief", isn't in any Executive Department/Agency Chain of Command and can't issue VP Semi-Executive Orders. The VP can't hire/fire independently, other than the VP's personal staffs (one for President of the Senate, one for the VP's office on the Executive Office of the President - and the latter must be supported by the President).

Pinning a "The VP told me to do it" on any VP is unlikely because nobody in the Departments or Agencies have the legal obligation to follow a VP "order".

Constitutionally, the VP can break ties in the Senate and by statute is a member of the National Security Council. Other than that,
the VP is a person in waiting for the unthinkable.




US Code Source: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/uscode05/usc_sec_05_00002106----000-.html

[dipsydoodle]

94. BBC link

Former US Vice-President Dick Cheney gave direct orders to the CIA to conceal an intelligence programme from Congress, US media reports say.

The existence of the programme, set up after 9/11, was hidden for eight years and even now its nature is not known.

CIA director Leon Panetta is said to have abandoned the project when he learnt of it last month.

He has now told a House committee that Mr Cheney was behind the secrecy, the unnamed US sources say.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8146466.stm

[olegramps]

95. I am becoming concerned about Obama's stance on these issues.

It appears that President Obama doesn't want to pursue any of these clear violations. This is very troubling to me.

[fascisthunter]

96. ooops.... freakrepubliks hero is a traitor?!

[shanti]

101. wonder what they have to say about it?

(i'd rather not get slimed by going there!)

[Dinger]

104. But Will he Be Held Accountable????

Revelations come out on a regular basis, but that's where it seems to stop.

[rschop]

106. Proof the CIA had deliberately allowed the al Qaeda terrorists to carry out the attacks on 9/11

The information on this story pales in comparison to the fact that is now well documented from the US government’s own sources that prove that the CIA, working with agents at FBI HQ they had subjugated, knowingly, intentionally, and deliberately had allowed the al Qaeda terrorists to carry out the attacks on 9/11. This information is even documented and summarized on web sites that have the original PDF source documentation taken of the US government’s own web sites.

This information shows that the CIA and FBI HQ had the names of three of the al Qaeda terrorists who were on AA 77 that hit the Pentagon, for over 21 months and deliberately hid this information from the FBI Cole bombing investigators. This information was in fact kept hidden from these FBI criminal investigators by the CIA even after Walid Bin Attash, known to be one of the masterminds of the Cole bombing, was identified on January 4, 2001 in a photograph taken at a al Qaeda planning meeting, the same meeting attended by Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, and knew that all three had actually taken part in the planning the Cole bombing at this meeting.

But then the CIA and FBI HQ even kept this information secret from these same FBI Cole bombing investigators after August 22, 2001, when the CIA and FBI HQ Agents found out that both Mihdhar and Hazmi were located inside of the US by FBI Agent Margaret Gillespie, and knew they were in the US in order to take part in horrific al Qaeda terrorist attack that would kill thousands of Americans. See “Substitution for the testimony of John”, aka Tom Wilshire, in particular the July 23, 2001 email he sent back to his managers at the CIA where he said that Khalid al-Mihdhar will be found at the location of the next big al Qaeda terrorist attack, an attack that by this date the CIA and FBI HQ knew was going to take place inside of the US, and the information that FBI Agent Gillespie gave both CIA officer Tom Wilshire and FBI Agent Dina Corsi on August 22, 2001, that the INS had found both Mihdhar and Hazmi to be inside of the US. This information went to almost all of the CIA and FBI management on August 23, 2001 when Gillespie had the CIA Bin Laden unit issue a worldwide alert for both Mihdhar and Hazmi.

The “Substitution for the testimony of John”, is located on the official US government web site for the Moussaoui trail at:

http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exh ... /

Yet both Wilshire and Corsi not only did not sound any alarm, nor did anyone else at the rest of the CIA, but they shut down the only FBI criminal investigation of Mihdhar and Hazmi that could have found these known al Qaeda terrorists in time to have prevented the al Qaeda attacks that the CIA and FBI HQ had been warned about since April 2001, knowing that as a result, thousands of Americans would perish in these attacks.

Since Wilshire had been denied twice by CIA management in July 2001 from providing this information to the FBI criminal investigators on the Cole bombing and Corsi had been working with her management at the FBI, in shutting down the FBI criminal investigation of Mihdhar and Hazmi, many people at both the CIA and FBI had been involved in this criminal conspiracy that had allowed the al Qaeda terrorists to carry out these attacks.

It is now clear that many people inside of our own government at both the CIA and FBI HQ had intentionally allowed the al Qaeda terrorists to murder 3000 people on 9/11.

[Cherchez la Femme]

108. The article is interesting in that

at least 50% (or more) of the article attempts to ameliorate or downplay Cheney's actions.

What's worse, when one clicks on 'Comments', then "Editors Selections' they pick only two, both which even further downplay the outrageousness of Cheney's deeds. Both are very lowly rated, one at 44 recs and the other at 12:

" The National Security Act of 1947, leaves some leeway for judgment, saying such briefings should be done “to the extent consistent with due regard for the protection from unauthorized disclosure of classified information relating to sensitive intelligence sources and methods or other exceptionally sensitive matters.”

The authority is clear. One can question the judgment, but only in uninformed hindsight. The hysteria is also uninformed and well off the mark.

Do you really want the lives of out intelligence operatives in the hands of our Congressmen rather than the professionals in the business ? Congress is a leaky, politicized and entirely unreliable place to fool with the things on which real lives hang.

Recommend Recommended by 12 Readers"


Compare this to other comments rated multiples of hundred times by other readers; the best rated at 828 recommendations:

"Why on earth are Bush and Cheney not in jail ...???

Their crimes against humanity make Madoff look like the tooth fairy ...

And Madoff got 150 years ...

WHERE IS THE JUSTICE IN THIS COUNTRY ???
Recommend Recommended by 826 Readers"


Clearly, the NYTimes is still running scared of Bush/Cheney/Republicans. What kind of paper gets such a scoop then tries to throw doubt on its own reportage?

What a magnificent paper it used to be,
long decades ago.


edit: grammar fix