US Panel Authorizes Subpoena of Cheney Aide
WASHINGTON - A Democratic-led U.S. congressional panel voted on Tuesday to authorize its chairman to subpoena Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff in its probe of possible U.S. torture of suspected terrorists.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, may issue a subpoena as early as Wednesday for David Addington, who the administration maintains is immune from being required to testify.
If Addington refuses to show up, a court fight is likely, but it may not be resolved until after President George W. Bush and Cheney end their terms in January and leave office.
Despite that likelihood, Nadler, chairman of the Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, pushed for a possible confrontation.
“Congress has the prerogative and duty to demand the truth,” Nadler said. “Torture is un-American and yet it has been used by this government.”
Without debate, his panel approved a resolution authorizing a subpoena of Addington on a voice vote.
Cheney spokeswoman Megan Mitchell said: “We have not yet received a subpoena. Once we do, we will review and respond accordingly.”
Bush maintains that the United States does not torture, but he has refused to discuss interrogation techniques, saying he does not want to tip off the enemy.
The CIA has acknowledged using a simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding on three terrorism suspects, but says it stopped using that method in 2003.
Waterboarding has been condemned by human rights groups, foreign countries and many U.S. lawmakers as torture.
The subcommittee authorized the subpoena shortly before beginning a hearing on treatment of enemy combatants.
Those who testified were primarily legal and academic figures who discussed what amounts to torture and the scope of the administration’s power to establish interrogation methods.
Former Attorney General John Ashcroft has agreed to testify at a yet-to-be scheduled hearing. John Yoo, a former deputy assistant attorney general, also agreed to testify at a later date after facing a possible subpoena.
Bush has invoked executive privilege in rejecting congressional subpoenas for a number of current and former administration officials, many sought as witnesses in the 2006 firing of nine federal prosecutors.
In March, the House Judiciary Committee filed suit in U.S. District Court asking it to direct White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten to produce subpoenaed documents and order former White House counsel Harriet Miers to comply with a subpoena and testify about the ousted prosecutors.
A ruling is not expected for at least several months.
Cheney’s counsel, Kathryn Wheelbarger, in a letter to the subcommittee, argued Addington cannot be required to testify.
“The office of the vice president remains of the view that the courts, to protect the institution of the vice presidency under the Constitution from encroachment by committees of Congress, would recognize that a chief of staff or counsel to the vice president is immune from compulsion to appear before committees of Congress,” Wheelbarger wrote.
Editing by David Alexander and Eric Walsh
© 2008 Reuters
It is absolutely amazing, of how much bullshit piles up in Washington DC.
Does anyone honestly believe this will come to anything at all?
subpoena Cheney already!
Yes … we’ll all have bleacher seats to watch the slimeballs slither out of this one …
Extridite them to the Hague …
Impeach, indict, imprison…and if they won’t do that, well…
Well, hell– I might as well recycle a recent comment. All I have to do is substitute “Addington” for “Rove”:
Oooh– Democrats threatening to issue subpoenas again!
Addington must be shaking in his boots! After all, if he ignores the threat, they may go so far as to actually issue the subpoena! And if he defies the subpoena– under the advice of counsel, of course, perhaps Weepin’ Mike Mukasey himself– then the Dems will drag out their Big Gun: the Sternly-Worded Letter!
And that’ll pretty much be the end of it.
Forget the damn aide, interrogate Cheney for God’s sakes. Democrats are despicable.
All comments are right on.
What you wanna bet these Dems will lose their nerve halfway through the Ade’s Hearing? Of course they have a lot on their minds: getting a haircut, getting reelected, voting themselves a raise. Aren’t they supposed to be serving US?
“Torture is un-American” ??? Rep. Nadler, surely you jest. No one, and I mean no one, will be held to account for the crimes committed by the American government on behalf of the American people. Just the way it is….
Not only will all talk Dems fail to repudiate the Bush Administration’s torture and secret detentions in secret jails by seeking criminal probes against key Us officials, the Dems wait for the last few months of the Bush term. So the perpetrators run out the clock and have the opportunity to go on killing (yes, several detainees have died because of what was done to them in custody) and torturing with impunity.
Ah, they’re all just a bunch of lying liars. You want to clean up government? Then make lying by a public official as SERIOUS offense.
And once again the Democrats will say “look we are doing something.” As Little Brother points out, yeah a sternly worded letter will do something - be used as a target on a dartboard.
We’ll see…
How many times will the lame dems limp into a power piss off with this administration. They have not won one round, bloodied and punch drunk they bravely fight on. How many ways can you spell ’stupid’?
Sorry, just can’t see anything happening.
The time for “happening” has long since passed. However, the time to clean house in Washington is fast approaching. I’m looking for independent candidates. Wouldn’t it be something if an “Independent Party” was created by default. Simply because voters were so sick of Washington insiders that they voted them all out. Here’s hoping……
Impeachment is the only way to dethrown these war lords. No court involved. No supeonas that have to be enforced. Just send the Congressional cops and grab their asses and drag them into congress kicking and screaming. They even have cells waiting for them on the premises. The down side is that Cheney’s secret service guys seem to be pretty loyal. He even gets to keep ‘em after he leaves office.
Impeachment also eliminates the whole presidential pardon problem. Remember Libby? So even if the congress gets indictments or convictions, what does that really accomplish?
If congress doesn’t start impeachment hearings NOW, they might as well all go home. Warming the chairs in D.C. certainly isn’t getting anything done. Just go home.
Agreed! Impeach, indict, incarcerate, and then deport (to, say, The Hague, where they can all stand trial on international war crimes charges!).
“Congress has the prerogative and duty to demand the truth,” Nadler said.
However, they will drag their feet until demanding the truth is simply so after the fact it’s just trivial and merely a footnote in history. It sure works well around election time though!
Great job Congress, keep on keep’n on, and we’ll vote you all out of office as well!
TO ME THE OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT HEEEEE.
SOUND SO IMPEACHED SINCE 1963 IN ALL THAT CORRUPTING.
IN THAT OFFICE SO MANY LIES SO MUCH ABUSE I FEEL MR CHENEY ALREADY
HAS ON THE NOOSE!
DENNIS M MCCULLOUGH OF
WASHINGTON PENNA 15301
IT MY EYES LETS IMPEACH!
Time for the ’saying’ to cease, and the ‘doing’ to commense. Sworn testimony, a public questioning on record, and no grants of immunity regardless of position in government, and forget any claims to a right of ‘executive privilege’. That is a claim granted only by “We The People”, not taken by what are supposed to be public servants. As taxpayers it is our RIGHT to demand full accountability from our employees.
Have we started to gather on the streets or in the parks or even in the free speech zones yet?
People, we are spending energy here…. talking about the authorization of a subpoena, yakking at each other, members of the choir in cyber-space. When does the time come for real 3-D action, about something which has happened, as opposed to what is authorized? Or, at the least, if you want something authorized why not that which is authorized in what once was our working US Constitution. The dock workers took a day, the truckers are looking forward to theirs….where the heck are the rest of us?
Mainstream has once again brought up Pat Tillman and the lies to this nation and his family as opposed to ‘ the fraudulant story’ of the great football hero saving his troops meant to improve troop sign ups. Though, still claimed as just a mistake in how we reported it, nothing fraudulant.
Numbers can demand answers…and there is power in numbers…..as in mega bucks, big corporations
or the populace coming out in numbers large enough for the powers that be to take us seriously.
Or, we can sit back let it all continue and hope and pray the next bunch, Democrat or Republican, are going to be different. These two parties like the Federal reserve are private concerns, who play by their own rules for there own purposes which as of late have nothing to do with the US Constitution as well as other laws of this land.
So what of a gathering in the real world anyone with some real ideas?
Hmmm. How many times has some congressional committee, or whatever, threatened to subpoena Cheney or Bush and the 40 thieves? I think the current score is Cheney/Bush - 5, congressional committee people or other - 0.
Let me guess how this is gonna turn out…
Cheney/Bush - 6
Congressional committee people or other - 0.
We need new liars.
If they’re in
Vote them out.
Return Congress to the People.
Vote them out each time, every time until we get representation. The bad ones can get day jobs, the good ones can run for some other office.
Look, if you subpoena the guy, you might hurt his feelings. Then Papa Dick will need to intervene and yell at the people issuing subpoenas. Then those people will cower, worrying that Papa Dick might spank them or yell at them some more. They back off, apologize, and Papa Cheney smiles at them, approvingly. Then they feel good about themselves for making Papa happy.
By the way, you can substitute any father figure–priest, god, principal, teacher–into this little story and it still works—because Americans are so amazingly indoctrinated to bow down to Papa. Read Reich’s “Listen, Little Man.”
Subpoena Cheney and tel him officially: “go fu#@ yourself, Dick”.
I bet nothing will come of this posturing by Dems. There is ample proof to support this, since almost 6 years. yawn……
Richard Paine: I feel your pain. Pun intended. Look, we are all feeling your frustration. Most of us have been in the streets, signed the petitions, sent the e-mails, yelled, screamed, and hollered. All to no avail. Most of us know that we will not be heard because nobody is listening. Nobody in this government gives a flying f**k about we the people. Even our vote no longer counts. The whole system is rigged. Any demonstration, no matter how large, will NOT be televised. Will not be heard. Not until the shit hits the fan. And the sheeple are forced to wake up.
When that time comes, community leaders are going to be needed to represent the people in every city and every burg across America. To inform and to lead the sheeple in the direction of their own best interests. That’s what we are preparing for right now. Right here. Our future community leaders are learning the facts, the history, and some of the solutions right here, right now. We are building a network of support right here, right now. We have all we can do to just hang on and stay engaged. We have all we can do to not give up. We do not need to be informed that we are not doing enough. We do not need to be made to feel guilty because we are not in the streets making a lot of noise that will not be heard. We are picking our battles carefully. There are WAY too many battles out there for ALL of us to fight ALL of them ALL the time.
Personally, I am totally focused on impeachment, the restoration of our Constitution, and workers rights. Further, I will fight for my own “representatives” in my area. Sure, I want to end the occupation of Iraq and prevent the invasion of another country by America. Sure, I want the torture to stop and for everybody in this god forsaken government held responsible. And I wish the international community would hold the U.S. government accountable for their crimes. But I have to focus and spend my energy where I am going to get the biggest bang for my buck. And prepare for the collapse of life as we have always known it.
All I can do is all I can do. And all I can do is enough.
Thomas Jefferson would puke in sheer disgust at the fact that we have not yet overthrown this government with a proper revolution. Look it up. He thought it was a good idea to throw the bums out and start from scratch every couple of generations or so just to keep those bastards in Washington honest.
Death by a thousand cuts. That’s what has happened to this democracy, this nation, this people. Too tired, appathetic, ignorant, and busy trying to pay the bills to rise up.
No reason to stop fighting, mind you.
borisshootnikoff May 6th, 2008 8:45 pm
you said it all brother/Sister
I second Rebel Farmer - if you want to feel even more inconsequential, take your rant to the streets. One would THINK in a democracy there would be a certain regard for the will of the people, that it might even be actively engaged, but that certainly is not the case. And when you live under fascism, they flat out don’t care what anyone does or says. I’m still wondering if it would be possible to buy them off. Do you suppose there is such a price tag to make them just all resign and go away? If we could just get them to name it, how long do you think it would take us to raise it? Five minutes maybe?
Interrogate Cheney ? Bullshit; waterboard his sorry ass and put him in jail with “Bubba”. Tell “Bubba” that Cheney has big commissary. He he he he ! ! !
borisshootnikoff
This was Thomas Jefferson’s response upon hearing of Shay’s Rebellion ( which was comprised of a band of Minute Men that had lost their land to the bankers because the government wouldn’t pay them for their service to the New Republic)
“I hold that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing…
It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government…God forbid that we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion…The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.It is its natural manure.”
It happens every time I see a picture of Cheney, that Louden Wainwright song starts playing in my head,
“there’s a dead skunk in the middle of the road, stinking to high heaven”.
Is anyone out there with terminal cancer?
I just don’t see anything close to an impeachment happening with the present gang of skunks in power. I just don’t believe anything they say, for a lot of reasons. I ask you to quit hoping for democracy to prevail in this country. It won’t happen. How many times do we need to be fooled by the same fools telling us what we want to hear and then doing nothing about it. How long have we been talked to about this reform and that reform by democrat skunks, only to have those lofty ideas just fade into the next campaign speach years later. Turn it around this time. If we keep doing the same thing, we’re going to get the same results and getting the same results is not working, folks.
Funny, when I look at a picture of Dick Cheney, I think of that old Mac Davis hit, “Oh Lord, It’s Hard to be Humble”(When you’re perfect in every way).
Subpoena my ass. Why, I’ll bet whoever does the landscaping at the Crawford ranch has immunity. We need another nobody that Cheney can “throw under the bus” like he did with Scooter Libby. Everybody knows it was Darth Vader who outed Valerie Plane only the prosecutor didn’t have the balls to go after him like he should have.(or did Karl Rove tell him he wasn’t allowed to?)
Like one of my predecessors said (above), the Congress is just wasting more time and taxpayhers money. Whatever they attempt to initiate with regard to this torture thing is going to drag out well past the Bush/Cheney administration and slowly fade off into the sunset like in an old western movie.
The difference is in the old westerns we used to see at Saturday matinees had good guys and bad guys. Nowadays, where the hell are the good guys? Few and far between, I’d say.
I hate to resurrect something that shed such a poor light on our Congress but has anyone out there seen even one report of the three or more investigative bodies that were put in place following the Mark Foley scandal.
If so, it had to have been published in that section of the paper devoted to what soybeans are bringing at the market
I didn’t get up this morning to waste my time bitching and griping so I think I’ll just go enjoy my morning spot of tea and scrounge around for maybe some good news (and I do mean SCROUNGE)
I’m sorry I took up all this valuable space whereas others could be bickering back and forth. I guess basically, I’m just a selfish bastard.
Go F#&K Yourself….!!!!
Luv…. da’ dick
What happened to dick’s teeth? Maybe he happened to meet a true patriot.
I read the article and most of the comments. A couple of
them favored taking to the street as the first step in taking back our country. The longshoremen on the left coast
stood up and were counted. The truck drivers are getting ready. How about the rest of us. I’m retired so it’s easy for me to just not buy anything. The Smirking Chimp is planning a Natl. Sick-out day for July 24 2008 How many of
YOU are planning to participate??
The only way this is going to work, is if MSM picks up on it. Have a suggestion. Why doesn’t everbody jam the email
in boxes of all 4 major news networks, CNN, MSNBC,CBS, ABC,
and yes even Faux Noise.
The constitution is supposed to protect the people, not the so called government,cheney has steped all over our constitution he should not be able to even go there. Impeach both of them,and war crimes,anything less is unresponsive to the wish of the American people.
Just caught your post good luck. LOL
Wasn’t Addington part of the legal crew who advised on changing US law (with Yoo) so that “we” could use waterboarding to torture? That was before Addington became Cheney’s chief of staff. Evidently, he’s a real S.O.B. I hope he gets what he deserves… a cell at Gitmo.
How is it they all have executive priviledge all the time?
It’s a bunch of crap! If that’s the case, Bill Clinton should have used it and not said anything about Monica. I can’t believe the things they get away with. If we were subpoenaed, you better believe we better show up or we would go to jail. I can’t believe they are so blatant about everything. They are telling us all to go you know what, ourselves.