The Saddam Tapes - VP Cheney now argues Iraq Is not part of War on Terror

Just in case you've been living in a cave, I'll remind you that the CIA destroyed video tapes of the interrogations of Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

Well, I have been told, by a government source I trust, that similar tapes of interrogations of Iraq War detainees have been in the hands of: the Defense Intelligence Agency, the CIA, the Army Office of the Inspector General (as a result of Abu Ghraib investigations), and most importantly, the Office of the Vice President and the White House. Journalist Seymour Hersh has, in the past, reported the existence of some of these tapes.

However, the big news is that the Office of the Vice President and the White House also had possession of some VERY INTERESTING tapes of the interrogation of Saddam Hussein. The mental image of Dick Cheney and Dubya eating popcorn, laughing, and playing with Saddam's pistol, while sitting in the White House theater watching the tapes, is something I can't get out of my mind. Is this what America is about?

Related to that and the other tapes from Iraq is the reported other-worldliness of internal government discussion (both in the Executive Branch and in the Senate Intelligence Committee) on whether or not these tapes are subject to the order of Judge Brinkema to produce videotapes of government interrogations of Al Qaeda terrorism suspects.

The Office of the Vice President has explicitly and specifically argued over and over again that Iraq is part of the War on Terror. Well, in more proof of VP Dick Cheney's residence in Bizarro World, comes news that his office has been arguing that any tapes from detainees captured in Iraq are not subject to Judge Brinkema's order...

..why?

Well, of course, because "the War in Iraq is not part of War on Terror operations against Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda Iraq is not proven to be a part of its namesake parent organization Al Qaeda." That's right friends, after nearly six years of telling us that operations against Iraq are part of the War on Terror, the VP is arguing internally that they legally are not part of that war.

Gerald Ford was right, Cheney has lost his mind with paranoia over terrorism. I'm willing to bet that Cheney personally approved Jose Rodriguez's decision to destroy the CIA videotapes after White House Counsel Harriet Miers apparently told the CIA not to destroy them. That would allow the White House to plausibly avoid direct responsibility and still ensure the disappearance of the tapes. At the very least, given Cheney's past refusal to cooperate with Judicial Branch orders, it would keep any inquiry from reaching a conclusion before Bush/Cheney Co. leave office.

Note to Judges Brinkema & Kennedy: you need to explicitly add videotapes of interrogations of terrorism suspects detained in Iraq and interrogated by the CIA, DIA, US Military, and/or US contractors (my reports are that Blackwater, and other contractors have participated in some of these interrogations - however Blackwater may have passed its responsibility for such operations to its new intelligence subsidiary Total Intelligence Solutions. The same sources say that part of the inspiration for setting up the new subsidiary was to legally shield Blackwater's principles and huge earnings from direct liability for such actions) to your order.

Welcome to the newspeak of 1984, where war is peace.

Time for the United States to Invade Dick Cheney!

Props for this idea from Keith Olbermann:
Cheney Above the Law?













It's time for President Bush to invade Dick 'It's Vice President Skeletor to You' Cheney and democratize him to create: A FREE, PEACEFUL, AND DEMOCRATIC DICK CHENEY!

According to the latest assertion by Dick 'Skeletor' Cheney, he's not: an Executive Branch official, a legislator, or a judge... Hmmm... What is he?..


I know! A "Rogue Nation!!"

..And since, just like Iraq he: refused to grant the inspectors access, kicked them out, and even tried to destroy them (in this instance, by abolishing their office) - remember how the UN Weapons Inspectors & Scott Ritter were treated similarly by Saddam Hussein? - in this case, officials of the Information Security & Oversight Office (ISOO), of the National Archives, sent there under an Executive Order from the President regarding proper accounting for and the preservation of secret Documents - it's time for the President to send troops to Cheney's "undisclosed location" (obviously somewhere in Snake Mountain), invade Dick Cheney and democratize him to create: A FREE, PEACE-LOVING, AND DEMOCRATIC DICK CHENEY!

Note to the troops: Unlike the first Gulf War, I wouldn't risk starting the campaign to FREE CHENEY with a rapid end-run to an entrance from the rear!



It's reportedly filled with BioHazard horrors beyond the nightmares of the most fevered member of Al Qaeda...

It's high time to form an international coalition and invade Dick Cheney, to make the free world safe for democracy once again!

Now we just need to get Bill O'Reilly onboard with the idea!

Dick Cheney is above the Law of Man - Does that Make Him God?

Dick Cheney apparently thinks he's God!

Dick 'Skeletor' Cheney and his allies are the single biggest danger to the history and values the United States, both at home and abroad...

While George W. Bush may well be the single worst American President in history, 'Cheney and friends represent the single gravest threat to the American Constitution and the 'American experiment' since the Civil War. At the same time, 'Cheney and friends' may very well be the single greatest threat to world peace since the end of the Second World War...

Doubt me? Scooter Libby & Valerie Plame, Cheney's assertion that he can declassify information whenever it suits him politically, his sending 'Torture Tsar' Alberto Gonzales on a nocturnal mission to Ashcroft's hospital-bed for some arm-twisting to try to maintain apparent justification for an unconstitutional spying program, lastly his recent refusal to even allow Congress know who he has met with (while instructing the Secret Service to destroy the visitor logs) aren't enough?..

Now, he's once again making up his own rules on secret documents and even the very basis of Constitutional American government. Witness Dan Froomkin's - Cheney: Neither Here Nor There?, in today's Washington Post.

It seems Dick Cheney is not just ABOVE-THE-LAW, now his office is asserting that it is ABOVE EXECUTIVE ORDERS FROM THE PRESIDENT as well!!

The only explanation I can fathom is that when Bush says he "speaks to God," he really means he speaks to Cheney...

Moreover Cheney's completely delusional. Since he entered office, he's been using any excuse, including claims of "Executive Privilege" to give the once-Republican-controlled Congress a facial excuse to avoid pressure to investigate his doings. Now that a Democratic Congress isn't buying that, he's asserting he's not part of the Executive Branch, but the President is!!! (Apparently he failed Schoolhouse Rock - he was probably out torturing wild animals for fun)

HELLLLLOOOO Skeletor, earth to Cheney: you cannot avail yourself of claims of "Executive Privilege" if you AREN'T part of the Executive Branch!

This man is an outright crook. I don't care WHAT his intentions are. The fact is that evil means to achieve even the best ends are simply E V I L !

If ANY HUMAN BEING BELONGS at Guantanamo Bay, it is the man President Ford said had "terrorism fever" since 9/11: Dick Cheney. Let him share a room with Osama bin-Laden, they already share the same respect for: the most basic human rights, democracy, and just rule flowing only from the consent of those governed.

Note to Cheney: try reading Article 2, Section 1 of the US Constitution- it establishes the Office of Vice President in the Executive Branch... Oh yeah, that's right, who needs to adhere to an old and cumbersome Constitution when we have the theory of the Unitary Executive? Yup, as George W. Bush once said: If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator.

In Annie Hall a young Woody Allen said it best about people like Cheney: "What an asshole...."