All Roads Lead to Dick Cheney

All Roads Lead to Dick Cheney

Most people know that Vice President Dick Cheney is former CEO of Halliburton, which makes billions of dollars a year from oil and primarily defense-related construction contracts (and that war and chaos increase Halliburton's profits, which in turn increase the value of Cheney's stock options). Most people also know that Cheney was secretary of Defense under George H. W. Bush.

Many people know that Cheney was a congressman from Wyoming. Some even know that he was one of the founders of the Project for a New American Century.

Well-read people know that the Project for a New American Century, in turn, called for a new American empire well before 9/11, and lamented that, without a "catastrophic and catalyzing event — like a new Pearl Harbor", transformation of America into an empire would be very slow.

But even well-informed people probably don't know that -- in the 70's -- Cheney was instrumental in generating fake intelligence exaggerating the Soviet threat in order to undermine coexistence between the U.S. and Soviet Union, which conveniently justified huge amounts of cold war spending. See also this article. This scheme foreshadowed Mr. Cheney's role in generating fake intelligence about Iraq by 30 years.

And did you know that Cheney has been perhaps the leading advocate for strengthening the powers of the White House to the point of monarchy for at least 20 years?

Or that newly-released documents show that Cheney was involved in debates concerning illegal wiretaps 30 years ago?

And guess who is the prime architect of efforts to bomb Iran? Yup, Mr. Cheney (see also this article).

And, according to to the Pulitzer prize-winning reporter who uncovered the Iraq prison torture scandal and the massacre against Vietnamese civilians, Cheney is the main guy helping to fund groups which the U.S. claims are terrorists.

To recap, Cheney's past includes:

• Oil

• Defense

• Faking intelligence and using scare tactics about enemies to justify a pre-planned military agenda

• Lobbying to give the president the powers of the king

• Calling for an American empire and lamenting the lack of a "new Pearl Harbor"

• Police state type wiretapping

• Selling war

• Funding Al-Qaeda

Did all of these aspects of Mr. Cheney's background converge in the Iraq debacle? Well, a top official at the State Department stated there was a secret "cabal" involving Cheney, and that Cheney and a handful of others had hijacked the country's foreign policy.

Did they converge on 9/11?

This last question is not merely academic: vice President Cheney was apparently in charge of ALL 5 of the war games which occurred on 9/11 and coordinated the government's "response" to the attacks. See this CNN article; and this essay.

And Cheney is the one who monitored flight 77 for many miles as it approached the Pentagon and -- when a military man asked "do the orders still stand?" -- Cheney responded affirmatively:

"The plane is 50 miles out. The plane is 30 miles out." And when it got down to, "The plane is 10 miles out," the young man also said to the vice president, "Do the orders still stand?" And the vice president turned and whipped his neck around and said, "Of course the orders still stand. Have you heard anything to the contrary?"

Watch the video for yourself (and see this essay).

Mr. Cheney's motive concerning 9/11 was strong. As a well-known writer said:

"For his entire career, he sought untrammeled power. The Bush presidency and 9/11 finally gave it to him . . ."

Postscript: Of course, Cheney has not acted alone in his actions. But he's been an important player in many different arenas and is, perhaps, the most widely-known figure who has had a hand in all of the above-described events. Cheney might not be the ultimate Mr. Big in these crimes, but he appears to have gotten his hands dirtier -- and to be closer to the true seat of power -- even than Mr. Bush.

Original Post by George Washington

Senate Panel OKs Subpoenas For Key Aides

WASHINGTON - A Senate panel, following the House's lead, authorized subpoenas Thursday for White House political adviser Karl Rove and other top aides involved in the firing of federal prosecutors.


The Senate Judiciary Committee decided by voice vote to approve the subpoenas as Republicans and Democrats sparred over whether to press a showdown with President Bush over the ousters of eight U.S. attorneys.

Democrats angrily rejected Bush's offer to grant a limited number of lawmakers private interviews with the aides with no transcript and without swearing them in. Republicans counseled restraint, but at least one, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, backed the action.

A House Judiciary subcommittee authorized subpoenas in the matter Wednesday, but none has been issued.

Democrats said the move would give them more bargaining power in negotiating with the White House to hear from Bush's closest advisers.

"We're authorizing that ability but we're not issuing them," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said of the subpoenas. "It'll only strengthen our hand in getting to the bottom of this."

Republicans countered, however, that subpoenas were premature.

"I counsel my colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, to work hard to avoid an impasse. We don't need a constitutional confrontation," said Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the panel's top Republican.

Even as Democrats derided the White House's offer, Bush spokesman Tony Snow maintained that lawmakers will realize it is fair and reasonable once they reflect on it.

"We're not trying to hide things. We're not trying to run from things," he said. "We want them to know what happened."

Democrats, however, called Bush's position untenable.

"What we're told we can get is nothing, nothing, nothing," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the Judiciary chairman. "I know he's the decider for the White House — he's not the decider for the United States Senate."

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, fighting for his job amid the prosecutor furor, vowed he would not step aside and promised to cooperate with Congress in the inquiry.

"I'm not going to resign," Gonzales told reporters after an event in St. Louis.

"No United States Attorney was fired for improper reasons," he added.

The Senate panel voted to approve subpoenas for Rove, former White House counsel Harriet Miers and her former deputy, William Kelley. The House subcommittee Tuesday authorized subpoenas for Rove, Miers and their deputies.

Snow, in an interview on CBS's "The Early Show," accused supporters of subpoenas of wanting "a Perry Mason scene where people are hot-dogging and grandstanding and trying to score political points."

"I know a lot of people want this 'Showdown at the OK Corral' kind of thing. People might have a beef if we were withholding anything. We're not," he said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

Even as both sides dug in publicly, prominent lawmakers worked behind the scenes to avert a court battle between the executive and legislative branches. Specter said he wanted to find a way for Bush's aides to testify publicly with a transcript — which he called "indispensable" — but would not insist on putting them under oath.

He said later he had not spoken with anyone at the White House about such a compromise.

"The dust has to settle first," Specter said.

Bush is standing by Gonzales, as Republicans and Democrats question the attorney general's leadership. The president insists that the firings of the prosecutors over the past year were appropriate, while Democrats argue they were politically motivated.

The prosecutors are appointed to four-year terms by the president and serve at his pleasure. meaning they can dismissed at any time.

Democrats have rejected Bush's offer — relayed to Capitol Hill on Tuesday by White House counsel Fred Fielding — in large part because there would be no transcript and the testimony would not be public.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the majority leader, said it would be "outrageous," to allow Rove to testify off the record.

"Anyone who would take that deal isn't playing with a full deck," Reid said.

In a letter sent late Wednesday, Leahy and Specter formally asked Gonzales' former top aide Kyle Sampson — who has resigned amid the prosecutors furor — to testify "on a voluntary basis" next week before the Judiciary panel. The panel approved a subpoena for Sampson last week.

Braford Berenson, Sampson's lawyer, wrote Leahy and Specter Thursday requesting a delay until April 2 at the earliest, to give his client "more time to review the matter" and to allow Berenson to take a previously scheduled vacation with his family.

The double-barreled House and Senate actions don't guarantee an impasse.

With authorizations in hand, the Democratic chairmen of the Judiciary panels, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., and Leahy can issue subpoenas at any time. They also could continue to negotiate with the White House, with the threat of subpoenas as a bargaining chip.

Lawmakers know that if they press a clash with the White House, they could be facing months or years of legal wrangling before they learn anything about the role of the president's top advisers in the prosecutor firings.

"If we have the confrontation, we're not going to get this information for a very long time," Specter said.

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Associated Press Writer Betsy Taylor in St. Louis contributed to this story.

Alleged 9/11 mastermind confesses in Guantanamo

LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, confessed to that attack and a chilling string of other terror plots during a military hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to a transcript released Wednesday by the Pentagon.

"I was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z," Mohammed said in a statement read during the session, which was held last Saturday.

The transcripts also refer to a claim by Mohammed that he was tortured by the CIA, although he said he was not under duress at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo when he confessed to his role in the attacks.

In a section of the statement that was blacked out, he confessed to the beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, The Associated Press has learned. Pearl was abducted in January 2002 in Pakistan while researching a story on Islamic militancy. Mohammed has long been a suspect in the killing.

Using his own words, the extraordinary transcript connects Mohammed to dozens of the worst terror plots attempted or carried out in the last 15 years — and to others that have not occurred. All told, thousands have died in operations he directed.

His words draw al-Qaida closer to plots of the early 1990s than the group has previously been connected to, including the 1993 World Trade Center truck bombing. Six people with links to global terror networks were convicted in federal court and sentenced to life in prison.

It also makes clear that al-Qaida wanted to down a second trans-Atlantic aircraft during would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid's operation.

Mohammed said he was involved in planning the 2002 bombing of a Kenya beach resort frequented by Israelis and the failed missile attack on an Israeli passenger jet after it took off from Mombasa, Kenya. He also said he was responsible for the bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia. In 2002, 202 were killed when two Bali nightclubs were bombed.

Other plots he said he was responsible for included planned attacks against the Sears Tower in Chicago, the Empire State Building and New York Stock Exchange, the Panama Canal and Big Ben and Heathrow Airport in London — none of which happened.

He said he was involved in planning assassination attempts against former Presidents Carter and Clinton, attacks on U.S. nuclear power plants and suspension bridges in New York, the destruction of American and Israeli embassies in Asia and Australia, attacks on American naval vessels and oil tankers around the world, and an attempt to "destroy" an oil company he said was owned by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on Sumatra, Indonesia.

He also claimed he shared responsibility for assassination attempts against Pope John Paul II and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.

In all, Mohammed said he was responsible for planning 28 attacks and assisting in three others. The comments were included in a 26-page transcript released by the Pentagon, which blacked out some of his remarks.

Mohammed also claimed he was tortured by the CIA after his capture in 2003, according to an exchange he had with the unidentified military colonel who heads the three-member panel that heard his case.

"Is any statement that you made, was it because of this treatment, to use your word, you claim torture," the colonel asked. "Do you make any statements because of that?"

Portions of Mohammed's response were deleted from the transcript, and his immediate answer was unclear. He later said his confession read at the hearing to the long list of attacks was given without any pressure, threats or duress.

The colonel said Mohammed's torture allegations would be "reported for any investigation that may be appropriate" and also would be taken into account in consideration of his enemy combatant status.

In one rambling remark apparently spoken through a translator, Mohammed appeared to express some regret for some of the casualties of 9/11.

"When I said I'm not happy that 3,000 been killed in America, I feel sorry even. I don't like to kill children and the kids," the transcript said.

The Pentagon also released transcripts of the hearings of Abu Faraj al-Libi and Ramzi Binalshibh. Both refused to attended the hearings, though al-Libi submitted a statement.

Binalshibh, a Yemeni, is suspected of helping Mohammed with the Sept. 11, 2001, attack plan and is also linked to a foiled plot to crash aircraft into London's Heathrow Airport. Al-Libi is a Libyan who reportedly masterminded two bombings 11 days apart in Pakistan in December 2003 that targeted Musharraf for his support of the U.S.-led war on terror.

The hearings, which began last Friday, are being conducted in secret by the military as it tries to determine whether 14 alleged terrorist leaders should be declared "enemy combatants" who can be held indefinitely and prosecuted by military tribunals.

If, as expected, the 14 are declared enemy combatants, the military would then draft and file charges against them. The detainees would then be tried under the new military commissions law signed by President Bush in October.

Hearings for six of the 14 have already been held, though only three transcripts have been released. The military is not allowing reporters to attend the sessions and is limiting the information it provides about them, arguing that it wants to prevent sensitive information from being disclosed.

The 14 were moved in September from a secret CIA prison network to the prison at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, where about 385 men are being held on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.

Mohammed's confession was read at the hearing by a member of the U.S. military who is serving as his personal representative.

The transcripts also lay out evidence against Mohammed, saying that a computer seized during his capture included detailed information about the Sept. 11 plot — ranging from names and photos of the hijackers to photos of hijacker Mohammad Atta's pilot's license and even letters from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Al-Libi made a statement through his personal representative largely claiming that the hearing process is unfair and that he will not attend unless it is corrected.

"The detainee is in a lose-lose situation," his statement said.

Binalshibh's hearing was conducted in his absence. Military officials expected some of the 14 suspects not to participate.

Legal experts have criticized the U.S. decision to bar independent observers from the hearings from the high-value targets. The Associated Press filed a letter of protest, arguing that it would be "an unconstitutional mistake to close the proceedings in their entirety."

Mark Denbeaux, a Seton Hall University law professor who represents two Tunisians held at Guantanamo, said that based on the transcripts, Mohammed might be the only detainee who would qualify as an enemy combatant.

"The government has finally brought someone into Gitmo who apparently admits to being someone who could be called an enemy combatant," Denbeaux, a critic of most of the detentions, said in a telephone interview from London. "None of the others rise to this level. The government has now got one."

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, questioned the legality of the closed-door session and confession and whether the confession was the result of torture.

"We won't know that unless there is an independent hearing," he said. "We need to know if this purported confession would be enough to convict him at a fair trial or would it have to be suppressed as the fruit of torture?"

The military held 558 combatant status review tribunals between July 2004 and March 2005 and the panels concluded that all but 38 detainees were enemy combatants who should be held. Those 38 were eventually released from Guantanamo.

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Associated Press writers Katherine Shrader and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.