Comments on: Cheney Linked to Concealing CIA Project
New York Times: Former Vice President Ordered CIA to Withhold Information on Counterterrorism Project from Congress
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- "In the interview Saturday, Hayden called the program extremely valuable and said that it served as an early warning system to help prevent further al Qaeda attacks. "
He added, "no, really! Take my word for it!" - Reply to this comment
- CORRECTION: "what Obama and the SCOTUS and all in Congress are teaching is that there actually ARE men who ARE above the law--whoever is President or VP or whoever they tell to do stuff--for them--the laws, the rules, the punitive measures--DO NOT APPLY. So much for the Constitution huh, Barack?
No wonder Bush said it was just a GD piece of paper--because he and Cheney wiped their butts with it and the next group in helps to flush it. - Reply to this comment
- Just so I get this straight, you don't like GW and Cheney do you? Happy about your vote for Obama right?
- Reply to this comment
- The misleading headline of this article sums it up. Nail Cheney and Bush no matter what the substance of the article says. They sued to call this yellow journalism and it seems it is alive and well at CBS and the AP.
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- CPelzar do they allow mental nut balls to use computer were you must be LOL, THANK GOD MOST OF THESE FOOLS ARE DIEING OFF THANK GOD FOR OBAMA
- Sorry Slow. You dont know what you are talking about. Yahweh is not Allah, as much as you want to say it is.
Allah was created by those that left Yahweh and chose to follow a god they thought was Yahweh.
Yahweh is the God of the Old and New Testament. Yahweh is not the god of the Koran.
- Mortar... you are wrong on this one.
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If you take a few moments to study the Pentateuch -- which is included in the religious texts of Judaism, Christianity and Islam -- you will see that the "God" (by any Name... some ancient scholars don't go with "Yahweh", they simply use "Yah", this is a matter of translation.. not disagreement WHO God is)--- the God referred to is the one that Abraham called upon and hence his descendants called/call upon.
All these religious belief systems come from Abraham's monotheistic origin.
There is only one God. Different religious disciplines/doctrines/ dogmas -- whatever you wish to call them simply use a different Name. This can be attributed to language.
If you wish to debate the principles or path-to-take of differing religions, that is another issue.
It is interesting to note that in almost EVERY religion we know in the world today the VOCAL syllable "Ah" is included in God's Name.
- Slow, you saying it alost always means it is wrong!
Velma, I understand where the name Allah and Yahweh come from. I understand where Islam came from.
The issue is that the person of God (Yahweh), Islam no longer worships Him. They no longer follow Him. They follow someone who they think is Him, but they call Allah.
This is getting into the relationship part of all of this, which would only end badly on a site such as this, filled with so many non-believers. So I will just leave it at that.
- legacy things he can tell people to shut up. He things he is the hall monitor. Very illustrative of who you are, legacy!
- "Bush authorized the warrantless wiretapping program under the authority of a secret court in 2006, and Congress approved most of the intercepts in a 2008 electronic surveillance law. The fate of the remaining and still-classified aspects of the wider surveillance program is not clear from the report."
Okay revisionist historians--this is a LIE. Bush got in trouble in 2004 because he CIRCUMVENTED the secret court and authorized warrantless wiretappings without going through FISA at all. Later he asked for immunity for doing so (summer of 2006) and right after getting immunity, it was discovered that he did not only LIE about wiretaps in 2004 but he had been doing them since 2001. By then, he already had immunity as handed to him by a Republican majority Congress in the summer of 2006 along with Domestic immunity for war crimes concerning the Iraq war.
At some point, Obama and other lawyers will have to ask themselves when is enough, enough? If all men are equal under the law--name one American besides Bush, Cheney et al who could do the things these guys have done and not even face censure? From outing an agent (which is considered treason) to lies about the war to the torture debacle to perks for cronies ala Halliburton--on and on--what Obama and the SCOTUS and all in Congress are teaching is that there actually ARE men who is above the law--whoever is President or VP or whoever they tell to do stuff--for them--the laws, the rules, the punitive measures--DO NOT APPLY. So much for the Constitution huh, Barack?
No wonder Bush said it was just a GD piece of paper--because he and Cheney wiped their butts with it and the next group in helps to flush it. - Reply to this comment
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- Just so I get this straight, you don't like GW and Cheney do you? Happy about your vote for Obama right?
- The checks and balances in our constitution are supposed to prevent abuses of power and information gathering. Clearly they were circumvented here (FISA). We should NEVER just have to 'take someones word for it'. And, ironically, you'd think the Republicans among us would be the most angry, with their strong devotion to the intent of the founders.
And what happened to the fourth estate? Does anyone else recall that the NY Times found out about the secret surveillance program in early 2004, but didn't break the news 'till mid 2005? I.E. AFTER Bush was reelected? Oh, yeah, the 'liberal media' again. LOL.
- The revisionist historians must be "old school", toldyouso29, because they are counting on USA citizens to have short memories, and to not have the ability and/or presence of mind to instigate our own reliable research. They are fighting a losing battle, and I doubt that they have yet to realize this fact.
Good job!
- FISA is unConstitutional...at least on the International front. Why? Because the president is free to conduct foreign policy and military affairs free from ANY restrictions. He owns those powers ALONE!!
Congress cannot tell him which places to invade, or which enemy to bomb. The courts cannot tell him which International calls to bug/listen to and which ones not to. The president owns the foreign policy front. Just as Congress controls the purse strings.
If the president listened to International calls that involved ANYONE (even Americans), he doesnt need a warrant! They are International calls, which means it is international affairs...which belongs to him alone.
It is called the Constitution, folks. Please read it.
- "FISA is unconstituional"
you heard it first here folks. Another brainwashed fool pretending to understand the Constitution.
- ubrew...I am a political scientist, with 8 years of schooling, degrees etc in Constitutional law and US history. I dare say that I know a lot more about this subject than you do.
If you check the Constitution, it states that Congress appropriates money. That power belongs exclusively to them.
It also says that the president has many exclusive powers, including being the commander in chief. He answers to no one on issues of commanding US forces. The ONLY power the Congress has over the military is appropriations. That is it!
The courts have NO power over the president when conducting military and foreign relations. Those powers are exclusively his. If he wants to tap the phones or listen in on conversations between the Russian and French presidents, he need not ask ANYONE if he can do it. If he wants to listen in to Osama Bin Laden talking to "little girl" Khalid, he doesnt have to ask ANYONE to do that. If he wants to listen in to Khalid (while in Afghanistan) talking to a member who of Al Qaeda, who happens to be an American living in Chicago...he doesnt have to ask ANYONE permission to do so. It is an International call, and thus under his power to do so.
Now, if two Americans who are members of Al Qaeda, make a domestic call between them...THEN he MUST get a warrant!!
This is very simple folks. The fact it continues to surface is because liberals continue to want to slam the program and destroy the Constitution.
But there is no legal basis for prosecuting the president or the administration for tapping foreign/international calls. It is his power to do so.
- In case you haven't been paying attention, just in the last week this surveillance operation has been revealed to be much broader and deeper than we've been told. Did it include purely domestic calls, emails, snail mail, etc? That we aren't told. We're told to trust the people who did it! The non-informance of FISA was a violation of the constitution, and you are literally trying to rewrite that history to suggest their surveillance, what we knew of it in 2005, was purely international: It was NOT. Frankly, the time to 'trust the government' on this issue is long past. When they started this program, the Nixon-developed protocol of informing FISA was well established. That they 'forgot' to do that tells me they were breaking the law and KNEW IT. And every year SINCE we've been informed that the extent to which they were breaking the law was broader and deeper than even THEY knew.
Fool me once, fool me twice. I guess 'some people' the government can fool multiple times. I believe your education was misspent.
- AP: "The only piece of the intelligence-gathering operation acknowledged by the Bush White House was the wiretapping-without-warrants effort. The administration admitted in 2005 that it had allowed the National Security Agency to intercept international communications that passed through U.S. cables without seeking court orders."
Busted. It was illegal and they KNEW it was illegal. NOW we are being told that it was FAR BROADER and DEEPER than even John Ashcroft was being told, that it went FAR beyond electronic communications, and that (and I quote): "Most of the intelligence leads generated under what was known as the 'Presidents Surveillance Program' did not have any connection to terrorism, the report said."
Do ya suppose it had any connection to stealing elections?
- ubrew, do you have any PROOF that intelligence conducted, that included a domestic call, did not have a warrant? Do you have proof? If you do, then let the prosecution begin!! Because wiretapping a domestic call without a warrant is ILLEGAL and violators should be prosecuted.
Wiretapping international calls by the president does not require a warrant...it falls under his power to conduct foreign relations and military operations. Those powers belong to him exclusively.
- They admitted it was illegal. Communications that go through the U.S. fall under FISA jusidiction. Only a right-wing fascist with such a completely compromised morality such as yourself would think differently. But, then, you probably voted for Richard Nixon, for whom the FISA laws needed to be enacted.
- ubrew, again with the insults. If you cant make the case you want without insults, it says a lot about you.
International calls, no matter where they originate or end, are international calls and are not subject to any FISA law, Congressional power. Just as international mail, nor matter where it originates or ends up, can be searched by Federal authority WITHOUT A WARRANT!!
The Constitution spells all of this out very clearly. FISA on domestic calls is Constitutional and would pass the SC. FISA on International calls would be declared unConstitutional (which is why no one on the left is pushing it thru the courts to the SC!!!).
Except the parts expressly stated in the Constitution that limit the president's foreign policy powers and commander in chief powers (Congress declares war, the Senate approves treaties, etc), there is no one and no entity that has the ability to govern the president on foreign policy. Those powers belong to him alone.
Just as the power of appropriations belongs to Congress, for example.
As for the other "geniuses" that responded above and besmirched soldiers by calling them idiots, etc...I feel sorry for you.
- Mortarman29 delusionally says:
"ubrew...I am a political scientist.....I dare say that I know a lot more about this subject than you do."
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Oh, stop it.....you're killing us with that foxnewsus propagandus!
- Mortarman you need to lighten up! Not to worry it will all come out in the investigations that are certain to come. Why are they certain? Because the Confederate Party made such a case for the removal of the Speaker because she said Congress had been mislead. If the Confederate Party had just objected and let it sit, this might not go forward. They did NOT and thus there is going to be a complete investigation. I have to ask though, if Congress knew about this all, why did the New Director hold a briefing when HE found out about it and why didn't someone in the Confederate Party come out and say it was NOT new info? As for did Cheney know, that goes without question, of course he knew. THIS is GOING TO BE FUN! Watching Darth twist in the wind as Investigations go forward. Wonder what OTHER dark secrets will be revealed about Darth and his Incompetent Hand Puppet?
- by Mortarman29 July 11, 2009 4:03 PM PDT
ubrew...I am a political scientist, with 8 years of schooling, degrees etc in Constitutional law and US history. I dare say that I know a lot more about this subject than you do.
If you check the Constitution, it states that Congress appropriates money. That power belongs exclusively to them.
It also says that the president has many exclusive powers, including being the commander in chief. He answers to no one on issues of commanding US forces. The ONLY power the Congress has over the military is appropriations. That is it!
OK... THAT SETTLES IT, YOU ARE AS BIG A LIAR AS CHENEY!!! You obviously have never read the constitution!
Under the United States Constitution, war powers are divided. Congress has the power to declare war, raise and support the armed forces, and control the war funding (Article I, Section 8), while the President is commander-in-chief (Article II, Section 2). It is generally agreed that the commander-in-chief role gives the President power to repel attacks against the United States and makes the President responsible for leading the armed forces.
Now I don't believe ANYTHING YOU HAVE POSTED! You are suffering from that 'Tangled Web Syndrome'. Your only hope now is to invent more lies to cover your previous lies, and it will just get more difficult. You should probably just go away.
- I have to agree with Ubrew12 in almost all his points and find the arguments raised bye Mortaman25 to be biased and flag waving shows it to be obvious.
The fact is Bush conducted illegal wiretaps.
Another fact is the VP has no constitutional authority as VP so should not be ordering anyone to keep secrets, and should be excluded from working under presidential protections. His job as listed in the constitution is his duty, nothing else.
I've always suspected the American public has been illegally wiretapped for as long as I can remember. Just setting up the systems to do so would have taken years, so how did they get set up so quickly if it wasn't already occurring? We have been under serveilance already. I really think Bush/Cheney and company are traitors. Traitors indeed.
The simple truth is our lives were much better before BUSH/CHENEY and now we will begin the long struggle of restructuring our country because of them.
- So senior members of both parties were briefed, just not everybody - and the small political fish want to play in the big intelligence pond also. End of story.
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- Fred, it would be better if you stuck to the facts...instead of trying to make this personal about Cheney. Did he help obscure information from Congress? Maybe. That is what we are finding out now.
But war crimes? Are you kidding me? There is no information out there that says he is guilty of war crimes.
Mentally ill? Do you have a doctor that says this or have you seen his medical report? You said that 6591Hou did know what was disclosed in those occasional briefings. Well, you do not know the mental capacity or medical condition of Cheney. So yo uare speaking about something YOU know nothing about!
Next...his position as VP? The only power he had as VP was to break ties in the Senate. All other powers resided with President Bush. If Bush let him run something, the powers still resided with Bush. Which means Bush approved everything he did. Which means, it was Bush conducting these things, not Cheney. Cheney had no power!!
The President is the commander in chief...the military ONLY takes orders from him, and those officers appointed under him. Not the VP. Not senators or congressmen. So, anu operations by the military rest with Bush and Bush alone.
He illegally spied on every US citizen? Are you crazy??
And let me tell you something about Halliburton and its subsidiaries. We in the military LOVE them!! Why? Because of the things they do to make our lives better and easier in theater...and to help us stay safe and win battles. Without them, life over there would be much worse for the American soldier.
You speak a lot about things you know nothing about. It might behoove you to stick with what you know.
- by Mortarman29
Didnt Clinton lie under oath?
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Yes he did, he lied about having sex with a woman not his wife.
He didn't know that Monica keeps *** stained clothing as collectors items....dont be fooled, he got set up.
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by Mortarman29
And let me tell you something about Halliburton and its subsidiaries. We in the military LOVE them!! Why? Because of the things they do to make our lives better and easier in theater...and to help us stay safe and win battles. Without them, life over there would be much worse for the American soldier.
You speak a lot about things you know nothing about. It might behoove you to stick with what you know
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The costs associated with Halliburton are astronomical and have added to the $1,000,000,000,000.00 cost of the nobid contracts which helped in the moving expenses of Halliburton out of the U.S. An act I call treason.
- Clinton got set up with a stain on her dress? What did she do, steal the offending substance when he wasnt looking and then put it on her dress?
Lying is lying.
- Clinton got set up with a stain on her dress? What did she do, steal the offending substance when he wasnt looking and then put it on her dress?
Lying is lying.
And Illuminated...the problem with you considering any of this treason is that it isnt treason.
Again, the military loves Halliburton. Unlike the liberals in this country, those people actually help soldiers do their jobs!
- And let me tell you something about Halliburton and its subsidiaries. We in the military LOVE them!! Why? Because of the things they do to make our lives better and easier in theater...and to help us stay safe and win battles. Without them, life over there would be much worse for the American soldier.
Even while they are electrocuting them in the showers IDIOT?
But war crimes? Are you kidding me? There is no information out there that says he is guilty of war crimes.
Waterboarding IDIOT ?
You speak a lot about things you know nothing about. It might behoove you to stick with what you know.
- Rharrin, the use of the word "idiot" by you makes any argument you might have...any point you might have...to be moot.
Is it possible for you to make a point without calling someone an idiot?
- Not with a right wing republican that likes to lie and can't own up to the truth. ( what about the showers do they give you that tingling feeling? )
- Mortarman29 here is the reality of it Clintons approval rating is in the 60 plus percent. That means America says he got set up and we still liked him in fact we as a nation approved of him. That said there is nothing you can say nothing do you understand that nothing to change that fact.
Fact is Bush and his Republicans have less than a 30 percent approval rating and thiere is nothing you can do to change that fact either.
So put it in your pipe and smoke it swallow it or anthing else you neocon nuts do.
Another blood bath for the reactionary party of America in 2010.
- Mortarman29 ridiculously states:
"And let me tell you something about Halliburton and its subsidiaries. We in the military LOVE them!! Why? Because of the things they do to make our lives better and easier...."
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Oooooh....like KBR's Iraq wiring that has electrocuted many soldiers?
Your idea of making "lives better and easier" is pure sickness!
- I have to laugh when I see these war and peace length posts from people like fred-mertz - like who reads this person's opinions ?
- cydygitt,
I had a friend who died years ago in a Blackhawk helo, due to faulty wiring. someone had screwed up.
But do I hate the Blackhawk or the folks making them...or just the guys who screwed up? Those Blackhawks provided rides, brought supplies, etc on so many missions, I cant even count. I love the Blackhawk!
I got to see on the ground exactly what those folks did for me and my fellow soldiers. I worked directly with those contractors. Anything I asked for, I got. Small or large. If I needed a bunker built, they got it done. If I wanted lima beans served in the chow hall, they would get them and they would show up in the meals (the best meals I have ever had in the Army were in the chow halls overseas...much better than the domestic bases and posts!).
If I asked for a rack to be built in my seahut so I could hang my equipment out to dry (which I did), they got locals (who they paid) to craft one out of wood and I would have it the next day.
The little things they did made my life over there so much better and helped in many cases, take the little things out of my hands so I could concentrate on those missions.
If they made mistakes or cut corners, those involved should be prosecuted. But I know myself and my fellow soldiers where I was...we couldnt thank the KBR folks enough!
- by speakinup22 July 11, 2009 8:14 PM PDT
"I have to laugh when I see these war and peace length posts from people like fred-mertz - like who reads this person's opinions?"
Apparently, MoronMan29 does! That's who I was responding to. A lot of what I wrote consisted of quotes from his attack on me. He said a lot of BS, so I corrected his ignorance. It took me about 800 words to do so. You don't have to read it if you don't want to. I don't care.
- fred, you would have to be right to be able to correct someone. As is evidenced by most of your posts...facts are not your friend!
- To Mortarman29:
For the most part, Fred is exactly correct and to quote YOUR own line back to you,'you speak a lot about things you know nothing about. It might behoove you to stick with what you know'!
First, there's no "maybe" about it! He ordered the CIA to withhold the information from Congress for EIGHT YEARS! What part of that didn't YOU understand?!
Second, you claim he has NO power?! REALLY?! He's only the SECOND most powerful person in government! When Republicans want to protect Bush,
THEY claim that Cheney WAS actually RUNNING GOVERNMENT! I wish you people would get your lies...er, 'story' straight!
If that's the case, WHO was nestled in that underground bunker giving
orders the day 911 happened?! It wasn't Bush, he was busy reading some kid's book about a goat!
Who erected his own State Department in the White House to cherry-pick interpretations when he couldn't get what he wanted from State Dept. analysts? That would be, Mr.Cheney!
Third, you say the military ONLY takes orders from Bush because he's CIC! WRONG, pal! They take orders from whoever is FUNCTIONALLY in command at the time! It might be the VP! Or, it could be the Speaker of the House, Secretary of Defense, or the JCS! Whoever is left!
Fourth, who is it, that for years, continued to claim, after it was officially declared to be false, that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were co-conspirators!? That, would be Mr. Cheney, again!
Fifth, ask Scooter Libby, chief of staff for Cheney, who he took a minor fall for concerning the outing of a CIA agent Val Pflame?! Do you think maybe he was protecting Mr.Cheney? I bet he was!
Sixth, it has ALREADY been established that the CIA AND FBI and probably the NSA, as well--- they're just as competent and capable, no point leaving them out--- HAVE been spying on the general public for years!
Where have you been away to?! Mr.Mueller has told Congress a couple of times!
Seventh, who illegally failed to divest himself from Halliburton years
after he was supposed to? Yep, that would be Cheney, again! About them:
so you think they're doing a great job, huh? WRONG!
The Inspector General of the DOD says they failed to account for $2 billion dollars they were paid! Most of the infrastructure worked they
are connected to, is a disaster! The electrical wiring they're responsible for has killed approximately 16 U.S.service members in their quarters in Iraq! It's bad enough our troops get killed by the enemy, they shouldn't get it from their logistical support apparatus, too!
And WHO is it that helped arraign that no-bid contract!? YEP! Our man--- Dick Cheney who use to sit on the board of directors!
I submit to you, pal---that if KBR WEREN'T over there, you'd be getting
better meals, living in better, safer quarters, your lives would be easier, and less of you would be getting killed!
Eighth, Mr. Mertz claimed that Cheney is mentally ill--- and technically YOU are correct on this sole point, in that Fred can't be sure about that, however; if one is basing it on everything we've seen him do AND say, then I believe we can concede this final point to Fred! Because IF actions speak LOUDER than words--- than Cheney IS mentally ill!
Finally, YOU are the guy who doesn't know what he's talking about, and I'm glad I'm not serving with you over there, because you'd get me killed! Good luck, anyway pal!
- To stn_sage:
For the most part, Fred is exactly correct and to quote YOUR own line back to you,'you speak a lot about things you know nothing about. It might behoove you to stick with what you know'!
---You might not want to stick by him...he is almost always factually challenged!
First, there's no "maybe" about it! He ordered the CIA to withhold the information from Congress for EIGHT YEARS! What part of that didn't YOU understand?!
----------Cheney ordered it? Cheney had no power to order anyone to do anything. Cheney isnt in the CIA's, nor the military's nor anyone else's chain of command (except his private staff). So, whatever he might have been doing, it was ordered by the POTUS...not by him. He had no power. The only legal power that a VP has is to break ties in the Senate. All of the power in the administration belonged to Bush. Also, if Bush ordered the CIA to keep things from Congress, then I would like to know more. I of course, am a law and order conservative...so if laws are broken, people should be held accountable. Even if they lie under oath about sex!
Second, you claim he has NO power?! REALLY?! He's only the SECOND most powerful person in government! When Republicans want to protect Bush,
THEY claim that Cheney WAS actually RUNNING GOVERNMENT! I wish you people would get your lies...er, 'story' straight!
------First off, you are in error when you call me a republican. I neither an a GOPer nor am I a fan of Bush and his administration. But, the Constitution only gives one power to the VP. Any other things that he does, he does under the power of the president...which means it is the present ordering and authorizing...not the VP. This is Constitutional Law 101.
If that's the case, WHO was nestled in that underground bunker giving
orders the day 911 happened?! It wasn't Bush, he was busy reading some kid's book about a goat!
-------He was put in safe hiding in case Bush died. At that point, he would become the president and have power. Until then, the VP is just the first runner-up in a beauty pagent...holding no power unless the winner can no longer finish their term.
Who erected his own State Department in the White House to cherry-pick interpretations when he couldn't get what he wanted from State Dept. analysts? That would be, Mr.Cheney!
-----------He had no power to do anything like this. If anything like this did happen, then Bush did it because he alone had the power.
Third, you say the military ONLY takes orders from Bush because he's CIC! WRONG, pal! They take orders from whoever is FUNCTIONALLY in command at the time! It might be the VP! Or, it could be the Speaker of the House, Secretary of Defense, or the JCS! Whoever is left!
-----------That would only happen if the President was incapacitated. As long as he isnt dead or incapacitated, the VP has no power because it all belongs to the president. You are wrong again.
Fourth, who is it, that for years, continued to claim, after it was officially declared to be false, that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were co-conspirators!? That, would be Mr. Cheney, again!
-----------So? Biden says things all the time...anyone listen to him?
Fifth, ask Scooter Libby, chief of staff for Cheney, who he took a minor fall for concerning the outing of a CIA agent Val Pflame?! Do you think maybe he was protecting Mr.Cheney? I bet he was!
-------Maybe. so what?
Sixth, it has ALREADY been established that the CIA AND FBI and probably the NSA, as well--- they're just as competent and capable, no point leaving them out--- HAVE been spying on the general public for years!
Where have you been away to?! Mr.Mueller has told Congress a couple of times!
-----No, it has not been established. If it had, folks would be in jail right now. Just because CBS News believes it has happened and writes articles that makes it look like it has happened...doesnt make it the truth! Friends of mine work in those agencies on many of these same projects. They laugh at the idiocy of the articles on this because the press really has no clue!! And is almost always wrong about this.
- Seventh, who illegally failed to divest himself from Halliburton years
after he was supposed to? Yep, that would be Cheney, again! About them:
so you think they're doing a great job, huh? WRONG!
The Inspector General of the DOD says they failed to account for $2 billion dollars they were paid! Most of the infrastructure worked they
are connected to, is a disaster! The electrical wiring they're responsible for has killed approximately 16 U.S.service members in their quarters in Iraq! It's bad enough our troops get killed by the enemy, they shouldn't get it from their logistical support apparatus, too!
----Read my other post. I can only give my firsthand account of what KBR did for us. They did a great job and we were very thankful. If it is found out by the IG (I am a former IG) that regulations have been broken or money diverted, then those responsible should be prosecuted. I have no problem with that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And WHO is it that helped arraign that no-bid contract!? YEP! Our man--- Dick Cheney who use to sit on the board of directors!
------------So? Nancy Pelosi arranged for a seafood company to have exclusive rights to one of our territories. And that company has her husband involved with it. Should she be prosecuted?
I submit to you, pal---that if KBR WEREN'T over there, you'd be getting
better meals, living in better, safer quarters, your lives would be easier, and less of you would be getting killed!
---------Well, you can submit to me all you want. But I spent 21 years in the military. I served over seas on many occasions. And my interaction with KBR was great and I would highly recommend what they did for me and my troops.
Eighth, Mr. Mertz claimed that Cheney is mentally ill--- and technically YOU are correct on this sole point, in that Fred can't be sure about that, however; if one is basing it on everything we've seen him do AND say, then I believe we can concede this final point to Fred! Because IF actions speak LOUDER than words--- than Cheney IS mentally ill!
----------Wow! Guess we could save money out of health care because you too could diagnose mental illness in folks just based on news accounts. That is amazing!
Finally, YOU are the guy who doesn't know what he's talking about, and I'm glad I'm not serving with you over there, because you'd get me killed! Good luck, anyway pal!
------You obviously are noncombat, arent you?
- The Department of Justice needs to launch a Criminal Investigation of Cheney and lets find out EXACTLY what he did and did NOT do. That will end this guessing for all time.
- Too funny the rabid dog liberals in a frenzy....
Got to protect LYING old Nancy Pelosi...
Obama's had a tough week...people found out about the absolutely STUPID orders he's given to Marines in Afghanistan....his commie health care plan is starting to get shot down in flames by democrats...Putin in Russia ate his lunch and told him to get lost...he's being called out for spporting DICTATORS and THUGS...he went to Africa and letured them like a stuspid snob all the while avoiding the country of his birth like the plague and people are snorting....Palin pulled a dodge on him and he can't drive his cow manure truck at her anymore....ROFL!
So they have to drag Dick Cheney out and try to pin something on his ONCE AGAIN and throw up some smoke and mirrors in the press.....
IT'S HILARIOUS WATCHING THIS IDIOT IN OUR WHITE HOUSE AND HIS MACHINATIONS AND LIES....totally pathlogic...
- Fred, it would be better if you stuck to the facts...instead of trying to make this personal about Cheney. Did he help obscure information from Congress? Maybe. That is what we are finding out now.
- what a surprise...cheney keeping more secrets.
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- Oooh! Lying to congress. I'm not a lawyer but that sounds like it might be illegal.
Maybe Madoff and Cheney can be cellmates.
- We can only hope that they send Cheney to an actual prison and not one of those country clubs for elite, wealthy criminals.
Also, I's like to see Cheney be forced to remunerate the Plames for their lost careers. I think a couple million would be good.
- Keep dreaming about Cheney going to jail. The tooth fairy is real also...hanging out with the Easter Bunny.
- So it looks like bonehead was lying about the CIA telling congress everything maybe we should have him testify under oath.
LOL....
These reactionaries must have though that when the elections were coming they could lie and everyone would belive them.
Bye the way who cares if Cheney doesn't go to jail but want to bet it hurt the reactionary party of America in 2010. I smell another blood bath for the Republicans.
- Of course the NYT is reporting this. They have also reported national security "news" that have gotten American agents killed. The NYT seems to favor terrorists.
People or organizations that favor terrorists, and aid and abet them with propaganda, are abusing their First Amendment rights and need to be closed down. We need to see the NYT Publisher, Editor and Reporter who broke pro-terrorists stories handcuffed and on a perp walk.
In this case, the NYT is in a witch-hunt. It is an act of malice against those who hold political views different than the NYT.
- So, what's the big deal? Congress pased the patriot act TWICE with full democratic support...the article states plainly that the intelligence leaders and major congress members of both houses were briefed...
Once again the commies at CBS manufature information that EVEN THEY realize they are sensationalizing for nothing...
But look at the stupid libs....they're jumping on this like flies on a leftover hunka hamburger meat from McDonalds....
Hilarious!
- If the bush/cheney fascist regime's lips were moving...they were LYING!
Time for massive WAR CRIMES/TREASON TRIALS for everyone of them now!
Nothing like a first class hanging for treason after a first class trial.
- Oh my goodness - look at the frustrated liberals come out of the woodwork.
Cheney terrifies them, as does Palin. You can always tell when a liberal is scared of someone, they start to call them liars and inept without reason.
And yet they like Obama. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
What fools they are.
- Uhhhh, Bogus Potus, you are absolutely laughable since you're sponsoring the biggest pathological liar on the planet who has re-invented himself about 9 times already...as well as lied like a rug on every political issues he ran on and every action he's taking right now...
But you just honk on there....Obungler won the liar trophy from everybody else the minute he posted a FORGED birth certificate, and a FORGED military draft card, IRS forms claiming property taxes on property that doesn't even belong to him but in fact belongs to his partner Rezk who is in jail for fraud, and IRS forms that have his social security number blacked out that would obviously show a foreigner filing taxes with his wife who is a US citizen...
- Oh my goodness - look at the frustrated liberals come out of the woodwork.
Cheney terrifies them, as does Palin. You can always tell when a liberal is scared of someone, they start to call them liars and inept without reason.
And yet they like Obama. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
What fools they are
------------------------------
Right Democrats are scared of the Draft Dodger and the Quitter. Dude go look for some more cool aid and WMD's
- by justsane-2009 July 11, 2009 2:39 PM PDT
what a surprise...cheney keeping more secrets.
I'm really surprised to hear this too. Cheney seems like such a righteous man.
- It's the LAW people and was written BECAUSE we had yet ANOTHER Republican President, Nixon, who couldn't seem to tell the Representatives of the PEOPLE the truth. If this Report is True that Cheney did not reveal a Program like this to the Congress and Senate, someone is going to face some REAL heavy Judicial Review. It does make sense though when you look at the way Cheney acted right after he was taken out of office.
- Here's the spin Fox News is trying to put on this story:
FOX NEWS: "A former intelligence official who was familiar with former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden's tenure at the CIA said Hayden never communicated with the president or vice president about the now-canceled program and was under no restrictions from Cheney about congressional briefings. The official said Hayden was briefed two or three times.
Exactly what the counterterrorism program was meant to do remains a mystery. The former intelligence official said it was not related to the CIA's rendition, interrogation and detention program. Nor was it part of a wider classified electronic surveillance program that was the subject of a government report to Congress this past week.
The official characterized it as embryonic intelligence gathering effort, and only sporadically active. He said it was hoped to yield intelligence that would be used to conduct a secret mission or missions in another country -- that is, a covert operation. But it never matured to that point."
It's hard to believe that a (so-called) news organization would distort the truth concerning a topic of national security and treason. How disgusting is that?
- by IThoughtItWasFunnyNOPE July 12, 2009 6:02 AM PDT
And Obama's own website put wording on it that says he's a 'native born' citizen....being so careful not to claim being a 'natural born citizen' and commmitting further FRAUD...
I thought the story was about Cheney being linked to keep information about the CIA from congress for 8 years?
So why are we bringing up more BS about Obama?
Are you conservatives so desparate to protect Cheney that you are willing to toss charges at Obama in an effort to protect a criminal?
Whatever happened to personal accountability and being held responsible for your actions?
Lets focus on the news story ad leave Obama out ot it.
- by speakinup22 July 11, 2009 8:11 PM PDT
Oh my goodness - look at the frustrated liberals come out of the woodwork.
Cheney terrifies them, as does Palin. You can always tell when a liberal is scared of someone, they start to call them liars and inept without reason.
And yet they like Obama. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
What fools they are.
________________________________________________________
Well, I guess its your dream so I'll let you live it.
On a related point I would really love to see a Palin Cheney ticket in 2012. You seem to put up quite a bit with your posts, so maybe you should write the RNC and start a movement to obtainthis ticket.
After all, if the so called Libs are terrified it would be an esy win over Obama! Correct!!!!
Go fo it! Make my day and get the GOP to champion this ticket!
Plain and simple Obama Biden would crush them in an election.
- by o_the_potus July 11, 2009 8:49 PM PDT
"I don't think you can document one lie that President Obama has told. And please don't start listing the times that he has changed his position."
-----------------------------------------------
barrack entire life has been half truth, outright lies and embelishments.
Until the libs see him for who he really is, they'll never see the light.
There's no doubt that Cheney did not disclosed everything to congress. Can't really blamed him because some of the lib members would leaked the information and put our country at risk, not to mentioned our troops.
- Here's a recent headline in The New York Times: "Deals with Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back." Read on: "Four western companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power."
There you have it. After a long exile, Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total, and BP are back in Iraq. And on the wings of no-bid contracts -- that's right, sweetheart deals such as those given Halliburton, KBR, Blackwater. The kind of deals you get only if you have friends in high places. And these war profiteers have friends in very high places.
Let's go back a few years to the 1990's, when private citizen Dick Cheney was running Halliburton, the big energy supplier. That's when he told the oil industry that, "By 2010 we will need on the order of an additional 50 million barrels a day. So where is the oil going to come from? While many regions of the world offer great oil opportunities, the Middle East, with two-thirds of the world's oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies."
Fast forward to Cheney's first heady days in the White House. The oil industry and other energy conglomerates have been handed backdoor keys to the White House, and their CEOs and lobbyists were trooping in and out for meetings with their old pal, now Vice President Cheney. The meetings are secret, conducted under tight security, but as we reported five years ago, among the documents that turned up from some of those meetings were maps of oil fields in Iraq -- and a list of companies who wanted access to them. The conservative group Judicial Watch and the Sierra Club filed suit to try to find out who attended the meetings and what was discussed, but the White House fought all the way to the Supreme Court to keep the press and public from learning the whole truth.
Think about it. These secret meetings took place six months before 9/11, two years before Bush and Cheney invaded Iraq. We still don't know what they were about. What we know is that the oil industry is enjoying swollen profits these days. It would be laughable if it weren't so painful to remember that their erstwhile cheerleader for invading Iraq -- the press mogul Rupert Murdoch -- once said that a successful war there would bring us $20 a barrel of oil. The last time we looked, it was more than $140 a barrel. Where are you, Rupert, when the facts need checking and the predictions are revisited?
- It Was Oil, All Along
06/27/2008
by Bill Moyers and Michael Winship
Oh, no, they told us, Iraq isn't a war about oil. That's cynical and simplistic, they said. It's about terror and al Qaeda and toppling a dictator and spreading democracy and protecting ourselves from weapons of mass destruction. But one by one, these concocted rationales went up in smoke, fire, and ashes. And now the bottom line turns out to be....the bottom line. It is about oil.
Alan Greenspan said so last fall. The former chairman of the Federal Reserve, safely out of office, confessed in his memoir, "...Everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil." He elaborated in an interview with The Washington Post's Bob Woodward, "If Saddam Hussein had been head of Iraq and there was no oil under those sands, our response to him would not have been as strong as it was in the first gulf war."
Remember, also, that soon after the invasion, Donald Rumsfeld's deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, told the press that war was our only strategic choice. "...We had virtually no economic options with Iraq," he explained, "because the country floats on a sea of oil."
Shades of Daniel Plainview, the monstrous petroleum tycoon in the movie "There Will Be Blood." Half-mad, he exclaims, "There's a whole ocean of oil under our feet!" then adds, "No one can get at it except for me!"
No wonder American troops only guarded the Ministries of Oil and the Interior in Baghdad, even as looters pillaged museums of their priceless antiquities. They were making sure no one could get at the oil except... guess who?
(cont.)
- by rednomo July 12, 2009 8:29 AM PDT
It Was Oil, All Along
_______________________________________-
Yeah, unfortunately this is true. The issue is Big Oil apparently controls our government as well as big business.
Does anyone really believe that the people would have supported an invasion of Iraq if they would have been told the justification was to overthrow the government so big oil could pump the oil out and make billions?
- Inspectors General Confirm Bush Admin Carried Out Massive Illegal Surveillance, More Than Previously Known
addingtonA congressionally-mandated report by Inspectors General of five separate intelligence agencies confirms that the Bush administration carried out ?unprecedented,? massive surveillance activities beyond the warrantless wirteapping program that had previously been revealed. The Bush administration authorized the program without fully notifying Congress:
Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., told The Associated Press she was shocked to learn of the existence of other classified programs beyond the warrantless wiretapping.
Former Bush Attorney General Alberto Gonzales made a terse reference to other classified programs in an August 2007 letter to Congress. But Harman said that when she had asked Gonzales two years earlier if the government was conducting any other undisclosed intelligence activities, he denied it.
?He looked me in the eye and said ?no,?? she said Friday.
As ThinkProgress previously reported, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey?s testimony before Congress implied that ?other programs exist for domestic spying? outside of the NSA program. Gonzales even stated in 2007 that ?other intelligence activities? existed. The new report found Gonzales? statements to be ?incomplete and confusing? and ?inaccurate,? though not intentionally misleading.
Attorney General John Ashcroft had originally given authorization for the program based on a ?misimpression? of what activities the NSA was actually conducting. The lack of full disclosure led to the showdown in Ashcroft?s hospital room in 2004, which almost caused a mass resignation at DoJ.
According to the report, top Cheney aide David Addington could personally decide who in the administration was ?read into? the classified program. The inspectors general interviewed more than 200 people inside and outside the government. But because the inspectors general ?lacked the authority to compel testimony,? five former Bush administration officials ? Ashcroft, John Yoo, George Tenet, Andrew Card, and Addington ? refused to be questioned.
Most of the intelligence leads generated under what was known as the ?President?s Surveillance Program,? which began shortly after 9/11, did not have any connection to terrorism, the report said. Moreover, the information produced was of ?limited? value to intelligence officials.
White the IGs? report does not yield any details about the secret programs, Radar reported in 2008 that a program called ?Main Core? was engaged in massive data collection of Americans:
According to a senior government official? ?There exists a database of Americans, who, often for the slightest and most trivial reason, are considered unfriendly, and who, in a time of panic, might be incarcerated. The database can identify and locate perceived ?enemies of the state? almost instantaneously.? ? One knowledgeable source claims that 8 million Americans are now listed in Main Core as potentially suspect. In the event of a national emergency, these people could be subject to everything from heightened surveillance and tracking to direct questioning and possibly even detention.
Glenn Greenwald notes that there likely ?will be no consequences? for any of this ?rampant and blantant? lawlessness because the Obama administration ?opposes all Congressional investigations into Bush-era crimes and, worse, is engaged in extraordinary efforts to block courts from adjudicating the legality of Bush?s surveillance activities by claiming that even long-obsolete and clearly criminal programs are ?state secrets.??
- Oooh! Lying to congress. I'm not a lawyer but that sounds like it might be illegal.
Mike Huckabee on GOP "rock stars," 2012, health care reform and more.
