Dick Cheney

Cheney Blames Tenet For Creating The Iraq-9/11 Link

How can that be? I thought, "The Bush administration put relentless pressure on interrogators to use harsh methods on detainees in part to find evidence of cooperation between al Qaida and the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime." Tenet once said that he would not be the "Fall Guy." Maybe now would be a good time for him to nail Cheney to the wall. - Jon

Waterboarding was ‘well done,’ Cheney says

Source: rawstory.com

BY JOHN BYRNE
Published: June 1, 2009

On Iraq and 9/11: ‘That’s not something I made up’

Former Vice President Dick Cheney is usually very careful at choosing his words.

Perhaps not so today. In a speech Monday at the National Press Club, continuing along familiar themes of terrorism, Guantanamo and his hatred for The New York Times, Cheney spoke defensively of the administration’s practice of water-boarding detainees.

Letter to the Editor: There's more to the story [about 9/11 and torture]

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20090531/OPINION02/905310309

There's more to the story

Published: May 31, 2009

Barrie Dunsmore's article of May 17 was basically saying that torture has been used for centuries and that Cheney and the CIA claim that torture works. The FBI disagrees. Dunsmore quoted Cheney as saying it has "kept America safe from further major acts of terrorism" (presumably like 9/11).

After describing the pros and cons of torture, Dunsmore said: "I get very nervous when I hear talk of punishing high-ranking members of the Bush administration for war crimes. … The resulting congressional gridlock would inevitably impede Obama's important agenda on which the country's future greatly depends."

The Trauma of 9/11 Is No Excuse By Richard A. Clarke

Richard Clarke, Bush's Counterterrorism Czar and a holdover from the Clinton Administration, weighs in on the Bush Administration prior to and after 9/11, and recent attempts by Rice and Cheney to spin the events and their actions. Clarke gives his own spin, essentially labeling Bush Administration principals as negligent, but not calling for accountability, merely a slight correction of perspective and course. Clarke, in his book and in testimony, is one of the people who placed Cheney in the PEOC while the attacks were in progress (Against All Enemies, 2-19). Here he recalls, "Once in the bomb shelter, Cheney assembled his team while the crisis managers on the National Security Council staff coordinated the government response by video conference from the Situation Room." and quotes Cheney's recent admission that he was, without noting that this contradicts Cheney's and the 9/11 Commission's timeline; "'I'll freely admit that watching a coordinated, devastating attack on our country from an underground bunker at the White House can affect how you view your responsibilities,' Cheney said in his recent speech."

James Ridgeway: Cheney's Bunker Mentality

http://www.motherjones.com/print/24017

Cheney's Bunker Mentality
By James Ridgeway | Sun May 24, 2009 9:43 PM PST

Say what you will about Dick Cheney, at least he's consistent. While he was in office, the Vice President made a practice of exploiting the fear and loss wrought by the 9/11 attacks to advance his own political agenda—and he's still doing it now. During his speech at the American Enterprise Institute on Thursday, according to Dana Milbank's calculations in the Washington Post, "Cheney used the word 'attack' 19 times, 'danger' and 'threat' six times apiece, and 9/11 an impressive 27 times."

In this putative rebuttal to Obama speech on national security, Cheney described how he spent the morning of 9/11 "in a fortified White House command post," receiving "the reports and images that so many Americans remember from that day," and then declared:

In the years since, I've heard occasional speculation that I'm a different man after 9/11. I wouldn't say that. But I'll freely admit that watching a coordinated, devastating attack on our country from an underground bunker at the White House can affect how you view your responsibilities.

Cheney Corroborates His Early Arrival In The Bunker On 9/11

Source: 911truth.org

Hat tip to simuvac who caught this here (no, he wasn't the source for Dr. Scott). - Jon

May 22, 2009
Peter Dale Scott
911Truth.org

Here is an excerpt from the text of what Cheney said at the American Enterprise Institute on May 21, 2009:

"For me, one of the defining experiences was the morning of 9/11 itself. As you might recall, I was in my office in that first hour, when radar caught sight of an airliner heading toward the White House at 500 miles an hour. That was Flight 77, the one that ended up hitting the Pentagon. With the plane still inbound, Secret Service agents came into my office and said we had to leave, now. A few moments later I found myself in a fortified White House command post somewhere down below.

There in the bunker came the reports and images that so many Americans remember from that day - word of the crash in Pennsylvania, the final phone calls from hijacked planes, the final horror for those who jumped to their death to escape burning alive. In the years since, I've heard occasional speculation that I'm a different man after 9/11. I wouldn't say that. But I'll freely admit that watching a coordinated, devastating attack on our country from an underground bunker at the White House can affect how you view your responsibilities."

-- http://www.realclearpolitics.com/printpage/?url=http://www.realclearpolitics (Emphasis added)
The first radar sighting of a plane approaching Washington was at 9:21 AM. In other words Cheney has confirmed his first account (and ours) that he was taken from his office earlier than 9:36 AM (as claimed in the 9/11 Report, p. 39), and first arrived in the bunker much earlier than "shortly before 10:00; perhaps at 9:58" (9/11 Report, p. 40, citing Cheney interview with Newsweek, November 19, 2001). There were of course no images to watch for some time from the crash in Pennsylvania, as opposed to the Pentagon.

What Cheney said yesterday adds nothing to his first account on September 16, 2001, but clearly discredits his second conflicting account for Newsweek two months later. (Cf. Peter Dale Scott, The Road to 9/11, 197-98, 200-01).

Cheney Speech Reportedly Refers To 9/11 25 Times

I can guarantee that Osama Bin Laden hasn't used 9/11 as much as Dick Cheney has. - Jon

Source: rawstory.com

Published: May 21, 2009

Former Vice President Dick Cheney continued his unprecedented attack on a young presidential administration Wednesday.

Even though Cheney’s predecessor, former Vice President Al Gore, waited a few years before hitting the Bush Administration, the media made sure to remind viewers that such instances were rare, and many hinted that he was wrong to do so, despite waiting. Meanwhile, Cheney, whose popularity ranks lower than most politicians past and present and who may conceivably face future charges for his role in countless alleged illegal acts and decisions, continues to garner tons of attention from the press.

Cheney’s speech at the American Enterprise Institute entitled “Keeping America Safe” - which began after President Obama’s speech ended though it was scheduled before - is garnering live coverage on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel.

Biden accidentally reveals Cheney's post-9/11 hideout

From The Raw Story which quotes a Newsweek blog contributor:

Ever wonder about that secure, undisclosed location where Dick Cheney secreted himself after the 9/11 attacks? Joe Biden reveals the bunker-like room is at the Naval Observatory in Washington, where Cheney lived for eight years and which is now home to Biden. The veep related the story to his head-table dinner mates when he filled in for President Obama at the Gridiron Club earlier this year. He said the young naval officer giving him a tour of the residence showed him the hideaway, which is behind a massive steel door secured by an elaborate lock with a narrow connecting hallway lined with shelves filled with communications equipment. The officer explained that when Cheney was in lock down, this was where his most trusted aides were stationed, an image that Biden conveyed in a way that suggested we shouldn’t be surprised that the policies that emerged were off the wall.

Bush's 'Smoking Gun' Witness Found Dead

The Centre for Research on Globalization writes:

IndictBushNow files Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to get to bottom of story

The cover-up of Bush-era crimes is taking a shocking but not unexpected turn. A fateful move has been made and it is certain to backfire.

A prisoner who was horribly tortured in 2002 until he agreed - at the demand of Bush torturers - to say that al-Qaeda was linked to Saddam Hussein is suddenly dead. Several weeks ago, Human Rights Watch investigators discovered the missing inmate and talked to him. He had been secretly transferred by the administration to a prison in Libya after having been held by the CIA both in secret “black hole prisons” and in Egypt.

(...)

Mr. Libi is suddenly dead. A Libyan “newspaper source” says that his death is an apparent suicide. His friends don’t believe that.

Mr. Libi joins the ranks of others, such as Bruce Ivins and David Kelly, whose convenient and suspicious suicides virtually put an end to painful government embarrassments.

Long Arm of Justice: Fujimori’s Lesson for Bush

Fujimori’s Lesson for Bush
by Jacob G. Hornberger

http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-09.asp

If President Bush and Vice-President Cheney think that time is on their side with respect to crimes committed by their administration, this week’s criminal conviction of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori should put those thoughts to rest. Returning to Peru in the hope of returning to power, Fujimori was instead put on trial and convicted of “crimes against humanity,” including the killing of 25 people by military death squad.

Meanwhile, a Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzon, has opened a criminal investigation of six former Bush officials — Alberto Gonzalez, Douglas Feith, David Addington, John Yoo, Jay Bybee, and William Haynes — for torture allegations arising out of the Pentagon’s operations at Guantanamo.

Garzon was the judge who secured a criminal indictment of former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet, which led to Spain’s extradition request for Pinochet when he visited London. While the request was ultimately unsuccessful, Pinochet was detained in London for a year awaiting the final disposition of the request.

Hersh: Cheney ‘Left A Stay Behind’ In Obama’s Government, Can ‘Still Control Policy Up To A Point’

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/03/31/hersh-cheney-behind/

In an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air yesterday, host Terry Gross asked investigative journalist Seymour Hersh if, as he continues to investigate the Bush administration, “more people” were “coming forward” to talk to him now that “the president and vice president are no longer in power.” Hersh replied that though “a lot of people that had told me in the last year of Bush, ‘call me next, next February,’ not many people had talked to him. He implied that they were still scared of Cheney.

“Are you saying that you think Vice President Cheney is still having a chilling effect on people who might otherwise be coming forward,” asked Gross. “I’ll make it worse,” answered Hersh, adding that he believes Cheney “put people back” in government to “stay behind” in order to “tell him what’s going on” and perhaps even “do sabotage”:

Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh describes 'executive assassination ring'

http://www.minnpost.com/ericblackblog/2009/03/11/7310/investigative_reporter_seymour_hersh_describes_executive_assassinati...

Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh describes 'executive assassination ring'
By Eric Black | Published Wed, Mar 11 2009 11:17 am

At a “Great Conversations” event at the University of Minnesota last night, legendary investigative reporter Seymour Hersh may have made a little more news than he intended by talking about new alleged instances of domestic spying by the CIA, and about an ongoing covert military operation that he called an “executive assassination ring.”

Hersh spoke with great confidence about these findings from his current reporting, which he hasn’t written about yet.

In an email exchange afterward, Hersh said that his statements were “an honest response to a question” from the event’s moderator, U of M Political Scientist Larry Jacobs and “not something I wanted to dwell about in public.”

Cheney warns of new attacks

Cheney warns of new attacks

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090204/pl_politico/18390

Former Vice President Dick Cheney warned that there is a “high probability” that terrorists will attempt a catastrophic nuclear or biological attack in coming years, and said he fears the Obama administration’s policies will make it more likely the attempt will succeed.

In an interview Tuesday with Politico, Cheney unyieldingly defended the Bush administration’s support for the Guantanamo Bay prison and coercive interrogation of terrorism suspects.

And he asserted that President Obama will either backtrack on his stated intentions to end those policies or put the country at risk in ways more severe than most Americans — and, he charged, many members of Obama’s own team — understand.

Hope springs eternal.

This could be a first step toward real justice.

"Obama not ruling out prosecution of Bush officials for crimes in office."
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/090111/usa/us_attacks_politics_bush_obama

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President-elect Barack Obama said Sunday he was not ruling out possible prosecution for abuses committed under the George Bush administration, saying no one "is above the law".

"We're still evaluating how we're going to approach the whole issue of interrogations, detentions, and so forth," Obama said in an interview aired Sunday on ABC's This Week program when asked about alleged abuses under Bush.

"Obviously we're going to be looking at past practices and I don't believe that anybody is above the law," Obama said.

But Obama, who takes office on January 20, added that he wanted his administration to focus on tackling problems moving forward, rather than reviewing policies under his predecessor.

"My instinct is for us to focus on how do we make sure that moving forward we are doing the right thing," he said.

Cheney Calls Iraq 'Significant Success, Masterfully Done' By Blue Texan, Firedoglake January 5, 2009

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/117181

Cheney Calls Iraq 'Significant Success, Masterfully Done'
By Blue Texan, Firedoglake

Posted on January 4, 2009, Printed on January 5, 2009

http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://www.firedoglake.com//117181/

Not only does Dick want everyone to know how proud he is of BushCo's signature policy, he's pissed that the Iraqis took some of the luster off of Rummy's military masterpiece.

SCHIEFFER: Wouldn't it have been better, on reflection, to have a better and larger force [going into Iraq]?

DICK: Well, um, we could debate that forever and we may well. I think that the original campaign was masterfully done in terms of the small, fast moving force as you say, that achieved our inital objectives in taking down the regime and capturing Baghdad, that was a masterful performance.

Cheney: "I Don't Have Any Idea" Why I'm Unpopular

Cheney: "I Don't Have Any Idea" Why I'm Unpopular

The Huffington Post | December 29, 2008 08:39 AM

Plse see for ARTICLE & COMMENTS : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/29/cheney-i-dont-have-any-id_n_153891.html

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