Cheney The Angler

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In reference to the "far-left" characterization regarding impeachment of the Vice President. Some of the first polling on this is now out.

54% of Americans favor starting impeachment proceedings against Cheney. 40% are opposed. This according to new polling by the ARG (American Research Group).

http://time-blog.com/swampland/

So the "far-left" is now defined as 54% of the population?

Hopefully, the recent statements of senators Lugar and Voinovich will mark the turning point for ending further crimes and acts of treason by this administration.

It is clear that Bush/Cheney are willing to spend billions more dollars and sacrifice thousands more U.S. military and Iraqi lives rather than face responsibility for their lies, incompetence, and failures of judgement.

We cannot win in Iraq without completely destroying that country and our own standing in this world as well ! This is exactly why we lost in Vietnam !

Several weeks ago the Shiite cleric Al-Sadr led a mob of 200,000 Iraqis through the streets chanting for America to leave Iraq ! Where was the counter demonstration ? Several opinion polls of Iraqis have shown the same evidence - more than 80% of them want the U.S. out of Iraq. While American troops are dying the Iraqi Parliament was planning a 2-month "Summer Vacation" until they were advised otherwise !

So Iran and Syria are aiding the insurgents in Iraq ! Gee, what a surprise ! What did Bush/Cheney expect after they lied the U.S. into a war with Iraq - that other Muslim countries would just stand by and watch ?

So the American people now have a choice - wait another 18 months for the next administration to clean up the Bush/Cheney mess (this will actually take decades) or urge their congressional representatives (both Democrat and Republican) to stop them now even if it requires impeachment !

Hopefully, the recent statements of senators Lugar and Voinovich will mark the turning point for ending further crimes and acts of treason by this administration.

It is clear that Bush/Cheney are willing to spend billions more dollars and sacrifice thousands more U.S. military and Iraqi lives rather than face responsibility for their lies, incompetence, and failures of judgement.

We cannot win in Iraq without completely destroying that country and our own standing in this world as well ! This is exactly why we lost in Vietnam !

Several weeks ago the Shiite cleric Al-Sadr led a mob of 200,000 Iraqis through the streets chanting for America to leave Iraq ! Where was the counter demonstration ? Several opinion polls of Iraqis have shown the same evidence - more than 80% of them want the U.S. out of Iraq. While American troops are dying the Iraqi Parliament was planning a 2-month "Summer Vacation" until they were advised otherwise !

So Iran and Syria are aiding the insurgents in Iraq ! Gee, what a surprise ! What did Bush/Cheney expect after they lied the U.S. into a war with Iraq - that other Muslim countries would just stand by and watch ?

So the American people now have a choice - wait another 18 months for the next administration to clean up the Bush/Cheney mess (this will actually take decades) or urge their congressional representatives (both Democrat and Republican) to stop them now even if it requires impeachment !

Technically the issue that precipitated this series, Cheney refusing to be bound by some rules, is relatively minor, he's simply jerking everybody around just for the heck of it, imho.

The central point is that WaPo Cheney is an anomaly* of historic proportions. What is not said is that he is the anomaly* of historic proportions only because GWB is so hopelessly and desperately above his head as president. Somebody had to fill his shoes. Cheney was simply there, although apparently willing very much.

Also to keep things in proper perspective it is important to realize that contrary to some ramblings out there Cheney is not removable, not by a long shot.

To understand that realize that Rumsfeld was dismissed not because GWB found him lacking but because his generals issued the ultimatum, if he stays we won't fight your war much longer. So Bush had no choice. Same with Miers, she had to go because people whose votes got him elected issued an ultimatum too, either she goes and Alito gets nominated or your party can forget any future votes.

Gonzales, a far more sorry disgrace than Rumsfeld ever was, got to stay because nobody had any leverage to exercise with Bush in his case. ( parenthetically GOP position in Gonzo affair is particularly disgusting, they are happy to see him losing any chances for SC nomination, but are entirely unconcerned about the damage being done to the DoJ and generally the administration of justice in this country)

Cheney has always been in a far stronger position that Gonzales, not only he has the full US military but also the entire US internal security apparatus fully behind him. They count on him for their budgets, for their overseas adventures (you think it was GWB who sent 3 aircraft carriers to the Gulf?), for their extensive legislative agendas, for their new much expanded police powers, warrantless searches, domestic spying, prisons in 3rd world countries, enhanced interrogation techniques, endless detentions, optional habeas corpus, etc. And legal doctrines to support all that.

He's indispensable to them, the only way he can be removed is by natural causes, so my advice to people who want him gone is do nothing, the nature will take its course, he simply ain't looking too healthy these days, for those who prefer him staying, get him to slow down a bit.

-----
* a sinister anomaly to be more precise

SInce the US no longer has habeas corpus, a logical way to remove Cheney is to declare him an enemy combatant, render him off the streets to Guantanamo, and deny him access to counsel.

You say this is illogical? He's the fourth branch of government, no constitutional rules apply to the fourth branch of government.

The problem with Cheney is NOT that he is effective, it is that he is ineffective at living up to his oath to protect and defend the constitution.

Have his policies been effective? bin Laden and al Zawahiri are still at large. The nation has $3.5 trillion in new debt. We will be spending billions each year in Iraq for decades. Cheney's torture policies transformed global good will toward the US on September 12, 2001 into global loathing. I could go on.

actually another 2 things need to be stated:

1. WE VOTED FOR A WALL 700 MILES LONG LAST TIME THIS CAME UP, and funds
were allocated....it CONGRESS passed it. WHERE IS THAT WALL? I
heard the funds got shifted to some presidential friends in
Minnesota....where is the WALL GEORGE BUSH PROMISED US??? I thought
it was stupid, but if we paid for it, where is it????

2. AT THE SAME TIME THE WALL WAS ORDERED AND FUNDS ALLOCATED, BOEING
was given $3.4 BILLION DOLLARS to set up BORDER SURVEILLANCE/RECON
DEVICES, to remotely view and detect movement along the borders...
WHERE ARE THOSE DEVICES????

give George W. Bush $4.4 BILLION DOLLARS, what makes you think he won't tell MICHAEL CHERTOFF to invest it in ARGENTINIAN COFFEE PLANTATIONS????

there is no oversight. you have no idea what they are paying BLACKWATER to do or why, and CHENEY and bush think that is okay...

what is GEORGE W. BUSH takes that $4.4 BILLION DOLLARS and hires all of the old LATINO TERRORISTAS to run the Border Patrol and then you have armed, hired thugs controlling the through points for smuggling...

wearing AMERICAN BORDER SECURITY UNIFORMS....just like any other 3RD RATE 3RD World Bananna Republick Country...citizens unsafe, at the mercy of thugs with machine guns that answer only to the plutocracy...

sounds pretty pleasant eh?!!! guess we AMERICANS need to go out and buy us some protection eh? 'Cause apparently Congress is afraid of George W. and dickie....

.

If the VP is not a member of the Executive Branch, as is being claimed, then the only branch from which he/she may exercise power from would be as a President of the Senate. Hence every act that Cheney had committed outside those granted him as President of the Senate by the people of the US would be illegal if he were not a member of the Executive Branch, as he has claimed. If he has not been explicitly granted those powers by Bush, then he would have had usurped the powers of the President, which would be considered treason if these acts were committed by any other US citizen who has not been elected to perform such acts.

If Bush does not act to prosecute anyone who is not in the Executive Branch and who had committed those acts that Cheney had committed, then Bush should be impeached for committing high crimes, that of conspiracy to commit treason.

Dick Cheney should be impeached, and if he isn't, Americans must punish Republicans again in '08 for getting in the way of justice. Democrats would easily impeach Cheney if they had the votes necessary to do so.

As an earlier poster said, all roads do lead to Bush. But they go by way of
Alberto Gonzales, the Bush/Cheney/Rove firewall. Impeach Gonzales first, and Bush and Cheney will crumble. I agree that the belated WaPo series is excellent.

Multiple sources have reported that a senior aide on Vice President Cheney's national security team has been meeting with policy hands of the American Enterprise Institute, one other think tank, and more than one national security consulting house and explicitly stating that Vice President Cheney does not support President Bush's tack towards Condoleezza Rice's diplomatic efforts and fears that the President is taking diplomacy with Iran too seriously.

This White House official has stated to several Washington insiders that Cheney is planning to deploy an "end run strategy" around the President if he and his team lose the policy argument.

The thinking on Cheney's team is to collude with Israel, nudging Israel at some key moment in the ongoing standoff between Iran's nuclear activities and international frustration over this to mount a small-scale conventional strike against Natanz using cruise missiles (i.e., not ballistic missiles).

so CHENEY IS TALKING UNILATERAL ACTION, using ISRAEL to attack IRAN...

what is that called?

TREASON? stupidity? tertiary stage of syphillis?

you tell me.

.

Mr. Feaver, I'd be curious what method you used to determine that the impeachment calls are coming from the "far left".

I have voted for Republican Senator in the not so distant past, and in favor of a Republican presidential nominee in the 2000 primary (McCain, not Bush). I supported George H.W. Bush and a Republican Governor in my home state. Today's Republican party would undoubtedly consider me and those I've supported to be RINOs (Republicans in Name Only), but I don't see how the "far left" characterization would apply in those cases. And yet, I think that impeachment of Cheney and Gonzales may be a necessary course of action. My views are shared by many friends who have voted along similar lines in the past--i.e. not strictly according to party labels or on the basis of traditional liberal litmus tests.

I would be curious to see what the actual data shows on this. There may be some other easy and perhaps more accurate journalistic short-hand for referring to the group that favors impeachment of the Vice President. The "far-left" characterization strikes me as likely the product of inference and perhaps even personal bias, not reporting.

If major news sources are curious to see what the actual data is, they should hire polling agencies to test for these views.

Undoubtedly the "far left" is, and has been in favor of impeachment for quite some time; however, I would not be surprised to see strong numbers among Democrats and Independents generally. While there likely is some resistance among the middle for Bush's impeachment, I would be very surprised if the same sympathies applied to the VP and the AG.

It's not just the "far left" that is calling for impeachment or some sort of legal action. It's most people who pay attention what Cheney and Bush are doing. Nixon resigned over a series of scandals that were brought to a head during the cover-up of Watergate. Clinton was impeached over lying about his sex life. Every time I read the paper this administration is surrounded by scandal and are conducting backroom deals to change the laws to mold American democracy into their own extreme statist ideology.

OIL and drug trafficking...

are the United States Soldiers getting a cut, of _t_h_a_t_ M O N E Y?

no they are getting their legs blown off, getting medals of honor and waiting two years to be declared disabled as they lose homes that they can't make mortgage payments on.

Just as the Iran-Contra scandal evolved to include drug smuggling, the Iraq War also is closely related to drug smuggling. While the Bush regime has so far managed to keep the drug smuggling aspects of the war from reaching the media, evidence is beginning to emerge. The evidence comes largely from a former FBI translator turned whistle-blower, Sibel Edmonds. Hired to translate intercepted messages soon after 9/11 this Turkish lady first blew the whistle on the FBI for dragging its feet. She has state emphatically that she has seen documents that prove the Bush administration was fully aware of the terrorist attack before 9/11. While ATTORNEY GENERAL JOHN ASHCROFT , has imposed a gag order on her, this courageous lady has only been able to speak in generalized terms. However, she has repeatedly stated that when viewed as an international drug smuggling operation the picture becomes clear.

Sibel Edmonds has provided a huge clue in her generalized statements, a clue that points directly at the BUSH FAMILY, and DICK CHENEY. Haliburton the oil services company formerly headed by CHENEY has a long history of involvement in drug smuggling and gunrunning especially through its Brown and Root subsidiary. Brown and Root also has a long history of providing cover for CIA agents. In the late 1970s Brown and Root was implicated in drug smuggling and gunrunning from oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico built by Brown and Root and using ships owned by Brown and Root. In the 1990s Brown and Root was implicated in smuggling heroin to Europe through Russia. The heroin originated in Laos.

The Russian incident surfaced in 1995 after thieves stole sacks of heroin concealed as sugar from a rail container leased by Alfa Echo. Authorities were alerted to the problem after residents of Khabarovsk, a Siberian city became intoxicated from consuming the heroin. Alfa Echo is part of the Russian Alfa group of companies controlled by Mikhail Fridman and Pyotr Aven. The FSB, the Russian equivalent of the FBI firmly proved a solid link between Alfa Tyumen and drug smuggling. The drug smuggling route was further exposed after the Ministry of Internal Affairs raided Alfa Eko buildings and found drugs and other compromising documentation. Under Cheney's leadership of Haliburton, Brown and Root received a taxpayer insured loan through the Export-Import Bank of $292 million dollars for Brown and Root to refurbish a Siberian oil field owned by Alfa Tyumen. The Alfa Bank is also implicated in money laundering for the Colombian cocaine cartels.

THERE IS $80 BILLION IN UNRECORDED PROFITS IN THE FIRST STEP OF AFGHANI OPIUM COLLECTION, refinement...three steps later it could be worth $400 BILLION, in unrecorded profits...

and how about this, IRAN CONTRA FANS?

WHY IS GEORGE W. and GEORGE H.W. BUSH SOOOOO HOT ON

AMNESTY FOR _ILLEGALS_ W/NO BACKGROUND CHECK???

did you ever stop to think about the whole Central American, Colombian, Panamanian, Equadorian, Salvadorian, Guatemalean, Chilean, Peruvian, Costa Rican involvement of the bush family with TERRORISTAS????

giving them AMNESTY is not what the _ILLEGALS_ want, THAT is what bush wants

and you BRAINDEAD CONGRESS PEOPLE, what do you think would happen if all of the CONTRAs, TERRORISTAs, drug runners, and soldiers of the

CHILEAN, COLOMBIAN, COSTA RICAN, SALVADORAN, HONDURAN, GUATEMALEAN, Guatemalean and so forth conflicts that bush and cheney CONTROLLED

all of a sudden get a free pass to come IN_COUNTRY with no background checks?

these are the guys that taught nuns to fly after raping and torturing them by throwing them out of HELICOPTORS in HONDURAS...

think I am crazy, far left? bite me, prove me wrong....

SEARCH ON JOHN NEGROPONTE, HONDURAS

search ON GARY WEBB, PARRY, COCAINE, GEORGE H.W. BUSH

AND THEN READ THESE PROVISIONS IF YOU THINK I AM PARANOID!!!

Loophole 7 - Terrorism Connections Allowed, Good Moral Character Not Required:

Illegal aliens with terrorism connections are not barred from getting amnesty. An illegal alien seeking most immigration benefits must show "good moral character." Last year's bill specifically barred aliens with terrorism connections from having "good moral character" and being eligible for amnesty. This year's bill does neither. Additionally, bill drafters ignored the Administration's request that changes be made to the asylum, cancellation of removal, and withholding of removal statutes in order to prevent aliens with terrorist connections from receiving relief. [Compare §204 in S. 2611 from the 109th Congress with missing §204 on p. 48 of S.A. 1150, & see missing subsection (5) on p. 287 of S.A. 1150].

Loophole 8 - Gang Members Are Eligible:

Instead of ensuring that members of violent gangs such as MS 13 are deported after coming out of the shadows to apply for amnesty, the bill will allow violent gang members to get amnesty as long as they "renounce" their gang membership on their application. [See p. 289: 34-36].

it's too bad we posters can't delete our duplicate posts ... or at least have the original poster able to flag the comment as duplicate ...

multiple posters....

there are a lot of hits on the Washington Post servers today...

do NOT HIT THE SUBMIT BUTTON MULTIPLE TIMES after the first time,

if you are being keystroke tracked, as some of us are...then it may take two hits as the first one goes to "them," however

you guys posting the same thing three times in a row, need to learn the virtue of PATIENCE

.

Why has no one mentioned Cheney/Bush biggest crime, the one that allowed all the others? Their orchestration of 911, and blaming it on a man they haven't been able to catch or kill in seven years--wonder why. Why would anyone believe that a bunch of Bedouins somehow disabled or circumvented Norad, when the only one who can tell Norad to stand down is the White House? The American people bought the biggest lie right at the start, before they realized that this administration lies about everything. If we don't impeach, our country will have gone down the tubes for good. Please, someone develop cojones!

Why has no one mentioned Cheney/Bush biggest crime, the one that allowed all the others? Their orchestration of 911, and blaming it on a man they haven't been able to catch or kill in seven years--wonder why. Why would anyone believe that a bunch of Bedouins somehow disabled or circumvented Norad, when the only one who can tell Norad to stand down is the White House? The American people bought the biggest lie right at the start, before they realized that this administration lies about everything. If we don't impeach, our country will have gone down the tubes for good. Please, someone develop cojones!

Cheers to the authors for a stunning work; for getting the goods on this creepiest of government officials, of somehow, painstakingly, brilliantly, boring through the stonewalls and verifying what so many of us had guessed: that Cheney does what he wants, and circumvents or ignores the laws that stand in his way. I particularly shudder at the way he misuses language. Brutal and sadistic interrogations are, wink, nudge, "robust" and "muscular." I am an elderly widow, and I'm mad as hell, and where are the kids and why aren't they yelling their heads off about this?

Cheers to the authors for a stunning work; for getting the goods on this creepiest of government officials, of somehow, painstakingly, brilliantly, boring through the stonewalls and verifying what so many of us had guessed: that Cheney does what he wants, and circumvents or ignores the laws that stand in his way. I particularly shudder at the way he misuses language. Brutal and sadistic interrogations are, wink, nudge, "robust" and "muscular." I am an elderly widow, and I'm mad as hell, and where are the kids and why aren't they yelling their heads off about this?

One more thing: the headline about all the people PO-ed about the V.P. and the Post should read: "Cheney -- the ANGER"

I second Dostert about how Feaver has drunk deeply of the Kool-aid. Only the "far left" want to impeach Cheney? Then a majority of America is far left, Feaver. And when a majority is in one position, doesn't that make them the centre, and anyone who favours keeping Cheney the FAR RIGHT?

Then there's the issue of the comments you choose to quote. You had seven Cheney-haters and three Cheney supporters. But the comments that I read were a ratio of at least 49-to-1 just RABIDLY DESPISING Shotgun Dick. So you overweight the pro-Cheney commentary. And you don't even quote the one semi-intelligent Cheney defender, the person who labels himself Offroad.

(What kind of a blog do you run, anyway, reprinting comments that have already appeared? If we want to read the comments, we can just go READ THE FARKING COMMENTS OURSELVES! I know. I did it.)

You do have it right in one regard, though. The comments show how disgusted the left wing has become with the Washington Post. Your paper held the government in check during the days of the Pentagon Papers and Watergate. Now Bob Woodward is a suck-up information withholder (but only until he gets the next bood contract) and the paper was a war cheerleader until it all turned sour. You lost the Right long ago, and now you've lost the Left.

But if EVERYBODY hates you, you must be doing something right, eh? Keep telling yourself that as circulation keeps falling. And don't forget to whistle a little louder as you walk past that graveyard...

We have a dictator! Stop him before he nukes Iran and declares martial law!
Get your representatives to support the Kucinich bill (H Res 333) to IMPEACH CHENEY:

http://kucinich.house.gov/SpotlightIssues/documents.htm

The voters spoke loud and clear. The republican party has not heard or cared to listen to The People.

Denying Human Rights for whatever the reason is a lack of humanity on the US' part; either Cheny, Supreme Court, Attorney general, etc.; do not promote human rights.

Mr. Cheney has embarrased America with his biased/racist views of other people; gay's lesbians, blacks, muslims, etc...

I guess you can say America's policies are racist and biased and do not address human rights.

Of course the US and their black issue muight be a clue to America's bias!

Double standards for White and Black American's. Blacks require a law passed for us to be treated equal a nd allowed to vote. Perhaps Muslims require the same legal protections under the law.

racial profi;ling by American's on American's!

The voters spoke loud and clear. The republican party has not heard or cared to listen to The People.

Denying Human Rights for whatever the reason is a lack of humanity on the US' part; either Cheny, Supreme Court, Attorney general, etc.; do not promote human rights.

Mr. Cheney has embarrased America with his biased/racist views of other people; gay's lesbians, blacks, muslims, etc...

I guess you can say America's policies are racist and biased and do not address human rights.

Of course the US and their black issue muight be a clue to America's bias!

Double standards for White and Black American's. Blacks require a law passed for us to be treated equal a nd allowed to vote. Perhaps Muslims require the same legal protections under the law.

racial profi;ling by American's on American's!

The voters spoke loud and clear. The republican party has not heard or cared to listen to The People.

Denying Human Rights for whatever the reason is a lack of humanity on the US' part; either Cheny, Supreme Court, Attorney general, etc.; do not promote human rights.

Mr. Cheney has embarrased America with his biased/racist views of other people; gay's lesbians, blacks, muslims, etc...

I guess you can say America's policies are racist and biased and do not address human rights.

Of course the US and their black issue muight be a clue to America's bias!

Double standards for White and Black American's. Blacks require a law passed for us to be treated equal a nd allowed to vote. Perhaps Muslims require the same legal protections under the law.

racial profi;ling by American's on American's!

The voters spoke loud and clear. The republican party has not heard or cared to listen to The People.

Denying Human Rights for whatever the reason is a lack of humanity on the US' part; either Cheny, Supreme Court, Attorney general, etc.; do not promote human rights.

Mr. Cheney has embarrased America with his biased/racist views of other people; gay's lesbians, blacks, muslims, etc...

I guess you can say America's policies are racist and biased and do not address human rights.

Of course the US and their black issue muight be a clue to America's bias!

Double standards for White and Black American's. Blacks require a law passed for us to be treated equal a nd allowed to vote. Perhaps Muslims require the same legal protections under the law.

racial profi;ling by American's on American's!

I hope all the political show hosts:
Tim Russert, Chris Matthews, Wolf Blitzer, et al make this great three part series the basis of their upcoming debates/shows.
The question is what are we (the people) going to do as a result of this revelation? It would be statesmanship if someone in the Congress or one of the candidates for President actually took this grave matter seriously enough to take the necessary lead. Our other choice: once again leave things to unelected patriots to lead the way? "To know and not to act is yet to know."

I hope all the political show hosts:
Tim Russert, Chris Matthews, Wolf Blitzer, et al make this great three part series the basis of their upcoming debates/shows.
The question is what are we (the people) going to do as a result of this revelation? It would be statesmanship if someone in the Congress or one of the candidates for President actually took this grave matter seriously enough to take the necessary lead. Our other choice: once again leave things to unelected patriots to lead the way? "To know and not to act is yet to know."

Boy, even the WaPo guy assigned to read the comments has drunk the kool-aid!

Examples:

"The calls for impeachment that have been coming from the far left"

and

"the so-called MSM (mainstream media) have missed the boat in reporting on this administration."

First, since Cheney's popularity hovers around 20%, with around 60% "strong disapproval" - how, prey tell, are calls for his impeachment a "far left" position?

Second, the abbreviation MSM has been widely used around the web, on both sides of the political spectrum, for years. Why is it "so-called?"

Poor WaPo - strong supporters of the most venal, incompetent administration this nation has ever seen. If you look like fools now - the fault is your own, not your commenters.

You knew all this about Cheney years ago - why didn't you print it AT THE TIME, or before the 2004 election, when it might have done some good?

Thank you to the Post for this informative series, although I echo other comments that it comes very late in the game.

I have been wondering what the real reason might be, that there is no political will great enough to initiate impeachment against either Bush or Cheney, or both. It seems to me that REAL basis for it has never existed more than it does now. Would the Post do an analysis on this issue?

Another critical issue that badly needs all the light of day possible shed upon it, is the actual cost of the war. The admin has been deflecting attention from this issue since Day 1. If there has been an intense, complete analysis of this in all its implications, put before the public, I have never seen it. The feeling seems to be that America's pockets are bottomless. Why has the admin been allowed to omit the total war costs from the normal budgets? I know WHY they want to do it, but WHY has the MSM not hammered on this theme to whatever extent necessary to EDUCATE us average citizens to the extent the wool has been pulled over our eyes, and the extent to which the damages of this reckless spending will reach. When the president starts yammering about vetoing "excess spending that we can't afford", why does not the MSM put out charts and information showing clearly and simply what we ARE affording and what we ARE NOT, side by side? The whole money side of this war has not really been addressed as far as I can tell, and why on earth not? It ought to be OUT THERE under the public's nose, in every facet of the MSM, just as the American casualties are, on a daily basis, because the sums involved can't even be imagined by most folks. We NEED to imagine it, we need to get familiar with it and dwell on it until it sinks in, just what this war is doing to this great country.

I must also mention that it is sad that ordinary citizens like me, who hungrily intakes as much mainstream news as I can, get by far mostly Bush admin echoes from this source. When I first started partaking of so-called "liberal" blogs, I could hardly believe the bizarre stuff I was reading and yet virtually ALL of it has been proven true. . I can't help but wonder how/why the MSM has been so lax at a time when newspapers seem to be facing a crisis? Why weren't they bursting at the seams to be way out front with the TRUTH? People are disillusioned after being fed the garbage that got us into this war and took the lives of so many of our finest and dearest. Most of us mature folks had always seen "the press" as the truth-teller, the watchdog over government, the schoolmarm hovering over it, exposing funny business and lies to the extent possible. It was a bitter pill to have this taken away and have to instead, rely on faceless bloggers whom it was harder to get to know and trust. But I am thankful, so thankful, for the bloggers who just keep digging and shoveling. I do not believe the Washington Post series on Cheney, for example, would ever have been researched and presented, if not for the bloggers.

Nothing new here folks, we peruvians had our own Cheney not long ago, his name is Vladimiro Montesinos who accumulated such power that, at his peak,he pretty much outmaneuvered congress and president Fujimori. Montesinos was the go-to guy, the one to talk to, the consummate troubleshooter.

As Cheney, Montesinos always operated in the shadows for the supposedly sake of "national security" and for "Peru's best interests", creating an aura of dependability and trustiness, providing advice, vetting judges, high government officers, nominations, arranging deals, he was given a blank check in return of bringing some order. As I said before, nothing new in the old politics playbook. Bush has surrendered all his power and prerogatives as President of the United States to Dick Cheney who now, reigns supreme and untouchable while Bush remains as a figure head, same as Fujimori did.

So, the cowards w and cheney have cut and run from the law and accountability.

Go figure.

Geez.

To RobAnn: Yes, the things "they" do are horrible and barbaric. And your answer is what...that we should become barbaric also? Is that what America has come to? To sink to the lowest common denominator? What happened to our belief in our way of life, American democracy, and all the other values which this administration has constantly touted as primary goals of their Middle East policy? Is this the lesson we really want to send the world - that when things get tough, America sinks to the barbaric level of its opponents? Please tell me how we can act like this and still claim the moral high ground? If we act like this, what is the difference between us and them - besides the size of the armaments we use? And then, who has really "won?"

THE POWER BEHIND CHENEY
You did a superb job of detailing Vice President Cheney's power in the White House. Your article article fails to show exactly where Cheney derived this power to operate a shadow government. Cheney's role as a Defacto-President and his power over President Bush and his cabinet are a real concern. Where did Cheney get this power?

There are reasons why certain organizations such as the Trilateral Commission and to a lesser extent the CFR are never mentioned in news articles. As respected Washington Post journalists have you ever seen in print that both Vice President Cheney and his wife Lynne are or have been members of the TLC. It is highly unusual that 2 members of a family belong to the TLC. Politicians, their cabinets and staffs never state in their biographies that they belong or have belonged to the TLC.

There is nothing sinister about belonging to the TLC, this is a cadre of powerful financial and business leaders using their clout to put into office, politicians open to carrying out a pro business climate and agenda.

What disturbs me is the ability of this group to keep silent their political membership by a media who are fearful of kicking over this beehive. You need not look far to see media involvement, try Katharine Graham (Washington Post) a TLC member.
Patrick Kelly

Cheney is a war criminal, and not alone in this administration. It's way past time for Congress to confront this White House full of gangsters.

They, but especially Cheney, should be charged and tried as war criminals, according to the law.

It will be a good day for the world as a whole when this Gang's time expires.

To claim that the Vice-Presidency is part of the Legislative branch, because the Vice-President is presiding officer of the Senate, just demonstrates how great a stretch of our tolerance, willing suspension of disbelief, and of the constitution itself, this habitually wrong-headed, power-grabber has taken the country. When hubris is allied with high competence, our reaction should be real concern, but in this case, it is only Cheney's latest folly....and our continuing national tragedy.

Do the Bush people really think that this great country should be governed out of their fear?

parallel foreign policy that is at odds with "official" stated policy.... aka LYING.

There was some hint of a parallel policy apparatus dating back just after the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001. It was known early on, for example, that the Pentagon leadership, without notice to the State Department, the NSC, or the CIA, convened its advisory Defense Policy Board (DPB), headed by Richard Perle, to discuss attacking Iraq within days of the attacks.

The three agencies were also kept in the dark about a mission undertaken immediately afterward by former CIA director and DPB member James Woolsey to London to gather intelligence about possible links between Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda, as if the CIA or the Pentagon's own Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) could not be trusted.

GEORGE TENENT mentioned several times he was most DEFINITELY NOT INVITED TO THE WHITEHOUSE TO BREIF THE PRESIDENT

about 911

AEI, RICHARD PERLE, DICK CHENEY, Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld... were doing the scheming.

.

This protection of the Iran-contra secrets almost worked. The few reporters (including myself) who uncovered parts of the story were subjected to assaults on our reputations and careers.

Despite the growing evidence, most of the major news media dismissed the stories of secret operations and related drug trafficking as conspiracy nonsense.

The scandal only unraveled because of outside events. On Oct. 5, 1986, one of North's supply planes was shot down over Nicaragua.

The sole surviving crewman, Eugene Hasenfus, pointed the finger at George Bush's vice presidential office and the CIA. Bush and other administration officials denied Hasenfus's statement.

The second Iran-contra shoe dropped in early November 1986 with a story in a Beirut newspaper about the Iran arms sales. When the secret about North's diverting Iranian arms profits to the contras was disclosed a few weeks later, the Iran-contra scandal was born.

But the Reagan-Bush administration was not ready to tell all. Immediately, the administration and Republicans on Capitol Hill moved to counter and to contain the scandal. For his part, Bush insisted that he was "not in the loop" on the Iran-contra business.

Cheney to the Rescue

One of the key congressional Republicans fighting this rear-guard action was Rep. Dick Cheney of Wyoming, who became the ranking House Republican on the Iran-contra investigation. Cheney already enjoyed a favorable reputation in Washington as a steady conservative hand.

Cheney smartly exploited his relationship with Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., who was chairman of the Iran-contra panel. Hamilton cared deeply about his reputation for bipartisanship and the Republicans quickly exploited this fact.

A senior committee source said one of Cheney's top priorities was to block Democrats from deposing Vice President Bush about his Iran-contra knowledge. Cheney "kept trying to intimidate Hamilton," the source said. "He kept saying if we go down that road, we won't have bipartisanship."

So, Hamilton gave Bush a pass. The limited investigation also gave little attention to other sensitive areas, such as contra-drug trafficking and the public diplomacy operation. They were pared down or tossed out altogether.

Despite surrendering to Cheney's demands time and again, Hamilton failed, in the end, to get a single House Republican to sign the final report.

Only three moderate Republicans on the Senate side - Warren Rudman, William Cohen and Paul Trible - agreed to sign the report, after extracting more concessions. Cheney and the other Republicans submitted a minority report that denied that any significant wrongdoing had occurred.

The watered-down Iran-contra majority report essentially let Vice President Bush off the hook. Bush's political career was saved.

With the Iran-contra scandal contained, Bush mounted a 1988 presidential campaign that set the modern standard for negativity, race-baiting and a win-at-all-cost ethic. In 1989, Cheney became Bush's defense secretary.

Now that the WaPo is now doing the kind of investigative reporting that should have been done on the run-up to the way, I thank you. What prompted you to finally get at the truth about this failed administration and the evil man and his team of black hole and secret team of thugs who have just about destroyed America and who have destroyed Iraq and the rest of the Middle East?

We can and we need to act quickly to take back the billions that he and his oil buddies have made from the war with their questionable Iraq contracts, but who is going to hold Cheney (and Bush-let us not forget our dear president) responsible for the destruction of Iraq and the murder of untold numbers (it was said months ago that the number was 600,000) of Iraqi innocents?

Thanks for your reporting of the truth. One serious question: where were all of the people who came forth to talk to you as they watched him shread the constitution? Why are they coming out now? Do you suppose they are talking because they know his next move is to urge/force or trick Bush into bombing Iran? Before he does that, let's remove him from office and force Bush's hand to find someone who will honestly serve this country.

Thanks for the reporting and please keep it coming. The American people need to know what some of us who don't rely on the mainstream media for news have known for a long time.

Save America! Help us remove this dark, evil man and send him back to Wyoming to live out the rest of his life. Better yet, let's drag him screaming to the Hague and let him tell his story there.

speaking of corruption,

and the WASHINGTON D.C. POLITICOS

what are the MEN AND WOMEN IN IRAQ DYING AND LOSING BODY PARTS FOR??????

OIL and drug trafficking...

are the United States Soldiers getting a cut, of _t_h_a_t_ M O N E Y?

no they are getting their legs blown off, getting medals of honor and waiting two years to be declared disabled as they lose homes that they can't make mortgage payments on.

Just as the Iran-Contra scandal evolved to include drug smuggling, the Iraq War also is closely related to drug smuggling. While the Bush regime has so far managed to keep the drug smuggling aspects of the war from reaching the media, evidence is beginning to emerge. The evidence comes largely from a former FBI translator turned whistle-blower, Sibel Edmonds. Hired to translate intercepted messages soon after 9/11 this Turkish lady first blew the whistle on the FBI for dragging its feet. She has state emphatically that she has seen documents that prove the Bush administration was fully aware of the terrorist attack before 9/11. While ATTORNEY GENERAL JOHN ASHCROFT , has imposed a gag order on her, this courageous lady has only been able to speak in generalized terms. However, she has repeatedly stated that when viewed as an international drug smuggling operation the picture becomes clear.

Sibel Edmonds has provided a huge clue in her generalized statements, a clue that points directly at the BUSH FAMILY, and DICK CHENEY. Haliburton the oil services company formerly headed by CHENEY has a long history of involvement in drug smuggling and gunrunning especially through its Brown and Root subsidiary. Brown and Root also has a long history of providing cover for CIA agents. In the late 1970s Brown and Root was implicated in drug smuggling and gunrunning from oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico built by Brown and Root and using ships owned by Brown and Root. In the 1990s Brown and Root was implicated in smuggling heroin to Europe through Russia. The heroin originated in Laos.

The Russian incident surfaced in 1995 after thieves stole sacks of heroin concealed as sugar from a rail container leased by Alfa Echo. Authorities were alerted to the problem after residents of Khabarovsk, a Siberian city became intoxicated from consuming the heroin. Alfa Echo is part of the Russian Alfa group of companies controlled by Mikhail Fridman and Pyotr Aven. The FSB, the Russian equivalent of the FBI firmly proved a solid link between Alfa Tyumen and drug smuggling. The drug smuggling route was further exposed after the Ministry of Internal Affairs raided Alfa Eko buildings and found drugs and other compromising documentation. Under Cheney's leadership of Haliburton, Brown and Root received a taxpayer insured loan through the Export-Import Bank of $292 million dollars for Brown and Root to refurbish a Siberian oil field owned by Alfa Tyumen. The Alfa Bank is also implicated in money laundering for the Colombian cocaine cartels.

THERE IS $80 BILLION IN UNRECORDED PROFITS IN THE FIRST STEP OF AFGHANI OPIUM COLLECTION, refinement...three steps later it could be worth $400 BILLION, in unrecorded profits...

It seems to me that the majority of Americans already quietly support the torture and abuse of prisoners: fellow Americans incarcerated in the U.S. penal system, where a trip to jail includes the threat of deadly violence and rape. If we countenance (by our silence) the mistreatment of our own inmates, why are we surprised at the lack of outrage when we learn that our leaders have been using it against our faceless "enemies?"

Bush was re-elected after the Abu Ghraib scandal.

To those misinformed souls who keep saying how "safe" we are because we haven't been attacked since 9/11: If Osama had a wish list George W. Bush has granted every one in spades. Why attack when you're winning by doing nothing? The real damage is all being self-inflicted by the Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight; a clown administration led by de facto President Cheney.

We need this kind of reporting if we are to have any hope of surviving this nightmare. Better late than never.

Cheney is trying to be an autocrat which is at variance with OUR U.S. Constitution and common decency everywhere except in places like China, Russia , N. Korea, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Wonderful company we keep. This whole administration must be stopped. The very principles we are fighting for are the very ones put in jeapordy by these myopic incompetants. There is NOTHING "far left wing" about preserving the document upon which all our freedoms are derived by use of the extracting tool of IMPEACHMENT. No one should ever be allowed to get away with this. This will set a presidence with far reaching and dire consequences. Our example to the world would hold the net value of zero.

Let's not forget that he is under Bush and nothing can be done unless Bush approves it. All roads lead to Bush.

The Man in the shadows, The puppet master, The true President, Dick "Goerbbels" Cheney has been running this country because the "Great Un-decider Bush" is not able to Get-R-Done. As a fortunate son, Bush's track record in corporate business is a complete failure. He should be ashamed of himself for letting a VP run over him like so much trash in the road. But, what do you expect from a president that doesn't read newspapers or watch TV news or listen to anyone other than the Christian right. One plus is that he is in direct contact with God himself on all major issues.

The United States has survived the Civil War, the great depression and Nixon. "We the People" will be here long after Bush and Darth Vader slip into un-remembered history books. Our country will be great again and our democracy will survive. I am looking forward to New Years Eve 2009.

As a retired Naval officer and Viet Nam vet I can only say: Johnson-McNamara, Nixon-Kissinger, Cheney-Rumsfeld. When will we learn from history?