Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Newsvine
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiPrivate Dick, Forever Undercover
It's lucky for vice presidential se crecy that Dick Cheney joined the legislative ranks only recently. Back in 2001, when Cheney secretly talked energy policy with oil company CEOs, he was a privileged member of the executive branch - as he later argued to the courts.
Energy task force records: sealed.
By 2003, the vice president was keeping his manipulations of pre-Iraq war intelligence quiet by using his chief aide, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, as his front guy. Now that Libby's probably going to jail because of it, the vice president can't even be bothered to write a letter of testimonial.
Iraq manipulations: sealed.
Lately, Vice President Cheney has been surfing the waves of government secrecy once again - this time as a member of the legislative branch. At least, that's the excuse Cheney's office is using to avoid complying with an executive-branch order intended to safeguard classified material.
For every year since 2003, Cheney has failed to disclose the exact amount and nature of intelligence his office has made secret - or declassified.
Not so coincidentally, that's the very time frame covered by the Libby investigation.
The Chicago Tribune first reported this last year in a story few noted - apart from the guardians of those documentary secrets within the National Archives.
Now, however, after more than a year of unsuccessful attempts by the archives to extract the required information from the vice president's office, the case has turned into a full-blown confrontation.
According to Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman of California, who made the blow-up public last week, as tenaciously as the National Archives' Information Security Oversight Office has pressed for vice presidential compliance, Cheney's office retaliated just as forcefully.
The vice president is trying to get the archives oversight office abolished.
And Cheney's office has yet to open its documents to inspection.
The National Archives appealed to the attorney general's office but, unsurprisingly, has yet to hear back from Alberto Gonzales. Meanwhile, Cheney's office is trying to close off such an avenue for appeals even as Cheney seeks to have the executive order amended to exempt his documents.
At least the National Archives is finally showing some teeth over document security.
It needed to, after the Sandy Berger debacle.
In the case of President Clinton's former national security adviser, Berger walked away with little more than a slap on the wrist after repeated, egregious violations of secrecy pledges and rules in his handling of top-secret documents at the archives.
In 2002 and 2003, Berger was preparing to testify to the 9/11 commission. Not only did he purloin top-secret documents and notes from the archives, he later could not account for their whereabouts. Even worse, because the archives had not tagged or chronicled all of the documents Berger reviewed, its staff was unable to say for sure just what had been lost or destroyed.
The inability to reconstruct the exact nature of the security breach was why Berger got off so easy, via a plea agreement that brought him only a fine and probation.
Still, Berger was out of office when he executed his secrecy shuffle.
What's most striking - and troubling - about the Bush administration is how some of its leading ideological lights repeatedly treat national secrets like personal political real estate.
When John Bolton was undersecretary of state for arms control during the first Bush term, he misused his access to top-secret National Security Agency wire intercepts to praise the cleverness of one of the U.S. officials whose comments had been recorded.
Cheney misused Iraq weapons secrets both to sell the war and then to deflect attention from his role in formulating the sales pitch. Now that he's been caught hoarding those secrets, he's misusing his clout to try to sweep aside the officials who are challenging him.
Sullivan is The Plain Dealer's foreign-affairs columnist and an associate editor of the editorial pages.
To reach Elizabeth Sullivan bsullivan@plaind.com.
© 2007 The Plain Dealer
21 Comments so far
Show AllMy beloved friends: I agree with everyone on your assessments of Dick. But, Bush and Dick could not have done what they have done without the Corporations whom have back every move without debate. It is left to us the true citizens to take back what is rightlyfully ours. When my fellow men? When? When have we had enough? Iraq is an unknown powder keg, Global warming is at our doorstep, Iran is the next target, and nuclear proliferation is again with us. Russia has said, "they will not permit what the U.S. is doing with their former satelites" and China threatens to dump the dollar. Enough?
ROCK ON FD32!!
fd32, you're right on target, Cheney is a gutless coward. From his exorbitant security to not being anywhere with the President, he's a pussy in spades. Faced with any real danger, he'd melt like ice-cream.
David Michael Green is fond of saying that if challenged, this admin always backs down spinelessly. Their toughness is all pretense. You only have to say "Boo" and they jump.
If only our military could save US from this oppressive government in much the same way they saved Iraqis....
The hideousness of Dick Cheney is the stuff of legend. His morally retrograde personality is as secure an axiom of science as is entropy. But the thing which truly fascinates me about this pile of rubble is the astonishing level of physical cowardice to which his history testifies. Five military deferments, FIVE, is only the tip of the iceberg. The almost comical amount of security with which he surrounds himself screams "I AM A QUIVERING, SHAMELESS COWARD! When he attended the Davos meeting two years ago, his military escort of attack helicopters and battalions of swat teams in bulletproof black limos and SUV's was viewed as a tribute to his enlarged ego, I saw it differently. When he had a second residence sited in Maryland(?) he saw to it that flight patterns were rerouted away from it to secure him from terrorist attacks (or maybe from errant debris falling on his head?). He has had a nuclear bunker built for himself. One gets the feeling that beneath that hollywood inspired scowling tough guy facade, there beats the heart of an authentic pussycat...or, perhaps, that is one too many syllables.
To all of you who think the Dumbocrats are going to do ANYTHING please be aware they feed from the same MONEY TROUGHS supplied by the CORPORATE/MILITARY FAT CATS as the Repiglicans.
When are the democrats going to get their backbone and impeach him?
North of the Border, you may be onto something. It doesn't matter what Congress does, doesn't matter what the Courts say, Cheney's going rogue, how can anyone stop him/them?
Annabelle, could it be a return to Monarchy? Armed enclaves in an anarchic sea? Work for the man and live inside the gates or out beyond the pale. They, of course, already picture themselves as royalty and US as serfs.
Dr. Zimmerman,
What you point out is true. The problem is we never will never get a conviction in the courts for two reasons: 1) these guys have well-insulated themselves by destroying any evidence that leads to the smoking gun. 2) The cases will forever remain in endless litigation costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Bush and Cheney have publicly admitted that any political oversight does not apply to them, hence they are above the law. The gutless Congress will not do anything, nor will the courts. Therefore, it is up to the populace of this country to remove these morons from office in an expedient and efficient way. The question is how?
Dr. Zimmerman, it resembles an adult game of tag. Court puts in their pro-business candidate, he in turn stocks the court with more of same; they get their "legal" minds to come up with frenzied slogans like "unitary executive," and DARE the public or congress to hold them accountable, knowing Court favors (mostly) Prez who then favors court, and how's this for a political stalemate?
Moses Kassandra: You raise a good argument, but you can't overlook three facts. First, the nation has been polarized into a false sense of attention purportedly to foster our own security. Second, the "democracy" argument would hold if there were not a legacy of MURDERS to politicians who DID speak out (Martin, Bobby, John come to mind); and third, the McCarthy hearings did to Hollywood what those assasinations did to leadership. There is a pervasive fear of actual dissent. How many really think Wellstone's plane was an accident when he was prepared to spill the beans about the upcoming PLANNED war? These are very chilly signals. I could add a 4th point, that most of us have lived too long in the lap of luxury (relative to the rest of the world) where if something is broke, we call someone to FIX it. In our "representative democracy" that call theoretically goes out to elected leaders, but as brilliant posters have already stated, we know that both are bought and paid for by the same K-street team.
"Antonin G. Scalia, "arguably the Court's most colorful jurist today," has conspired with Richard B. Cheney the 46th Vice-President of the United
States of America to subvert the U. S. Constitution. The question now is not only about these " high crimes and misdemeanors," but moreover about a larger effort that includes other justices of the court and other members of the Bush administration, members of Congress, their staff and lobbyists. The on-going subversion of law, today has cost many their civil liberties and all the purse of the US government.
Today the evidence is now broad and conclusive; it is only for the magistrate and the people to file the charges in our courts, in our congress and in our local and state governments."
It is time for Congress to step up. Now. If Gonzales won't do his job, it is time to go after him. Congress needs to investigate Cheney on its own, assuming the entire administration to be corrupt. While I have doubts about the scenario posed by the Yankee Clipper, I think that the assessment is, in essence correct. We are headed toward a dictatorship with the next presidential election. There is evidence that much of the work that the NSA has done has not been for the purposes of National Security, but for election fraud in 2008. The intelligence gathering under the auspices of terrorism has been the function of overthrowing our own government. That the Republican sociopaths have stolen TWO presidential elections without enlisting the aid of our intelligence gatherings institutions. I shudder to think what will happen if we do not expose what is quickly becoming institutionalized election fraud.
I theorize, because I am that kind of political wonk, that our government officials are loathe to expose the frauds committed because it will lessen our faith in the democratic process. And democracy IS a matter of faith. If you don't believe in it, it doesn't happen. But what they seem unwilling to recognize is that democracy is ALSO a matter of action. If you don't DO IT, there is nothing to earn our faith. And democratic faith must be earned. It is a different faith than that it God, because it must be PROVED. It must be willing to subject itself to the process of truth. Al Gore turned aside from the presidency, because he was afraid to pull back the curtain on how tenuous was the bond of democracy. But by leaving the curtain up, he shook our faith further. He, and all those who put a rubber stamp on the theft of our nation's highest office, have created DOUBT. It was survivable, that one election. Maybe even the second, but democracy, however weak it may be, is in serious jeopardy. Bush and his people have lied, consistently, constantly, and without check. They have gotten away with driving our country into a war that has not only cost us thousands upon thousands of lives, but OUR future security. They have spread hatred across the globe and made us a reviled people. Made us unwelcome in so many places. Made us targets of revenge for their unrestrained greed and pathological indifference to life.
They have laughed at truth and oversight. Alberto Gonzales' recent display would have been funny in a Hollywood movie, but it isn't fitting for a nation with pretensions of rule of law. Cheney is, at this moment, telling that nation that HE is too important to answer to US. It is time that he was run to ground. That he was bound by the House to face questions and answer truthfully or spend time behind bars. He has cynically outed a CIA agent because her husband refused to lie to further Cheney's false case for war. He has threatened to abolish the oversight office because it had the audacity to try to perform its job. Nixon did things very similar in his final days. Nixon, our hallmark of shameless pretensions to absolute power and contempt for legislative oversight. Our very reason for restricting the power vested in the office of the executive. Cheney is forcing a crisis of democracy akin to the one we faced under Nixon. He is a corporate executive and a war profiteer. He is creating an ocean of corpses because he and his beloved Haliburton FEED on the DEAD. He has been compared often to a vampire and it is not an inappropriate comparison. He is not living. There is no heart behind his chest. Remember when Jonathan Harker struck at Dracula's heart? It was money that spilled from the wound. His heart is cold currency. His vitality comes from sucking the life out of his victims (that would be ALL of us).
It is time for Congress to take action. To expose Cheney. To show the American people that democracies do not tolerate those who flaunt their disregard for the law. Because, if he is allowed to continue in such a bald-faced fashion, there will be NO respect for law in America. Not by anyone.
Cheney, a man only a Nazi could love...
democracy has been pro forma in this country for a long, long time. when the US refused to dismantle the war machine after ww2, and foreign policy was removed from public scrutiny with the National Security Act (of '46?), it was only a matter of time before the formality of democratic procedure was jettisoned. this process was greatly accelerated w/both the clinton impeachment (a coup attempt w/a judicial fig-leaf) and the theft of the 2000 (& 04) elections. part of the reason the Democratic party is so weak on reining in this administration is they know, consciously or not, democracy in this country is long dead. the solution to the thugs in office is to revive democratic oversight & rule, something the Democrats have little interest in.
Cheney would argue with the law of gravity if he could. It makes you wonder how the Supreme court justices sleep at night knowing THEIR decision unleashed this beast on the world. I think it's time for a T-shirt that says, "Hang them all."
Jeepers, this means that even the Govt. does not knows how many secrets it is keeping. Does Bush even know what is going on in Cheney's Office?
Are these grounds for impeachment? Could this give the Dems the "teeth" they so desperately need?
The plot seems to "thicken" by the day with the total executive branch. My greatest fear and from what has transpired over the past six years - is our upcoming elections 2008.
Has anyone thought seriously about why they haven't come up with a better Republican to run for President - and they seem really apathetic about it? Considering how they have been on the agressive attacks for everything else they have wanted to accomplish up to now?? I am sure it is because those in power now will not step down for a new administration - they will claim we are "at war" and remain in power.
It is so stated in our Constitution - (this time they will follow our Constitution). It will be that easy - Dictatorship Complete!
they'll be gathering in Paraguay...
What do they really want? Where will they go when they have finally brought down the last remenents of civilization. Will they all gather together in some Iraqi-like embassy in some secret location to end their days counting all of the money they have fleeced from America? Probably some where in Texas where Bush can cut brush and Cheney can practice shooting illegal immigrants, where Gonzalas can meditate about his poor memory and Rice can practice her piano and maybe cut a few figure eights. Utopia!
they do what they want.....who's going to stop them?