Mike Whitney
Information Clearing House
September 20, 2008

Editor’s note: Mike Whitney wrote this article on the 4th of July, 2006. Cheney’s portfolio is simply more evidence that the current economic crisis was manufactured in advance. Darth Cheney is either clairvoyant or somebody tipped him off.

Wouldn’t you like to know where Dick Cheney puts his money? Then you’d know whether his “deficits don’t matter” claim is just baloney or not.

Well, as it turns out, Kiplinger Magazine ran an article based on Cheney’s financial disclosure statement and, sure enough, found out that the VP is lying to the American people for the umpteenth time. Deficits do matter and Cheney has invested his money accordingly. Read the rest of this entry »

By Barton Gellman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 14, 2008; A01

14/09/08 “Washington Post” — - This is the first of two stories adapted from “Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency,” to be published Tuesday by Penguin Press. Original source notes are denoted in [brackets] throughout.

Five government lawyers had gathered around a small conference table in the Justice Department command center. Four were expected. David S. Addington, counsel to Vice President Cheney, got wind of the meeting and invited himself. Read the rest of this entry »

Nick Juliano | RawStory.com

New documents from within the Bush administration and US intelligence community during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq reveal that the White House began assembling a case for war before it had compiled the intel that ostensibly formed the basis of that case.

A new report on the documents from George Washington University’s National Security Archive also presents compelling evidence that the Bush administration pressured the CIA and other intelligence agencies to tailor their reports to back-up Bush’s desire to invade. The report suggests the bulk of this effort was run out of Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, backing up numerous other post-war examinations of the path to invasion that saw Cheney as the mastermind of the plan to oust Saddam Hussein.

The Archive published a July 2002 draft of a CIA “White Paper” on Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction. The draft was prepared months before a National Intelligence Estimate on Saddam’s regime, which Congress did not demand until September, although the final “White Paper” released in October purportedly summarized that very NIE.
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Speaking at the Campus Progress journalism conference earlier this month, Seymour Hersh — a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist for The New Yorker — revealed that Bush administration officials held a meeting recently in the Vice President’s office to discuss ways to provoke a war with Iran. 

In Hersh’s most recent article, he reports that this meeting occurred in the wake of theoverblown incident in the Strait of Hormuz, when a U.S. carrier almost shot at a few small Iranian speedboats. The “meeting took place in the Vice-President’s office. ‘The subject washow to create a casus belli between Tehran and Washington,’” according to one of Hersh’s sources.

During the journalism conference event, I asked Hersh specifically about this meeting and if he could elaborate on what occurred. Hersh explained that, during the meeting in Cheney’s office, an idea was considered to dress up Navy Seals as Iranians, put them on fake Iranian speedboats, and shoot at them. This idea, intended to provoke an Iran war, was ultimately rejected:

Read the rest of this entry »

American Monitor

“In the United States of America there is a hidden government about which you know nothing.”

So begins a revealing television exposé aired by CNN in 1991. The hour-long Special Assignment presented the findings of a yearlong CNN investigation into the ultra-secretive Continuity of Government (COG) program, commonly referred to as the “doomsday government” or the “shadow government”.

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George Washington’s Blog 

You may have heard that the Energy Task Force chaired by Dick Cheney prior to 9/11 collected maps of Iraqi oil, Saudi and United Arab Emerates fields and potential suitors for that oil. And you might have heard that the oil bigs attended the Task Force meetings.But you probably haven’t heard that a secret document written by the National Security Council (NSC) on February 3, 2001 directed NSC staff to cooperate fully with the Energy Task Force as it considered the“melding” of two seemingly unrelated areas of policy: 

“the review of operational policies towards rogue states,” such as Iraq, and “actions regarding the capture of new and existing oil and gas fields”. 

It is difficult to brush off Cheney’s Energy Task Force’s examination of arab oil maps as a harmless comparison of American energy policy with known oil reserves because the NSC explicitly linked the Task Force, oil, and regime change.Indeed, a former senior director for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian affairs at the NSC said:

“if this little group was discussing geostrategic plans for oil, it puts the issue of war in the context of the captains of the oil industry sitting down with Cheney and laying grand, global plans”. 

See also this essay. 

Tim Russert, Dick Cheney, and 9/11
During an informal interview in 2007, incidentally, Mineta reaffirmed that Cheney was already there when he arrived in the PEOC, saying “absolutely.”  When he was told that the Commission had said that Cheney did not arrive
until 9:58, Mineta expressed surprise and said: “Oh no, no, no; I don’t know how that came about.” Although Mineta said he “might have been mistaken on the 9:25,” he said that Cheney was definitely there before the Pentagon was
struck, and “so was Mrs. Cheney.”

While we are remembering Tim Russert and his years as moderator of “Meet the Press,” we would do well to recall his interview with Vice President Dick Cheney at Camp David on September 16, 2001, just five days after the 9/11 attacks.1 In fact, Cheney himself, during an interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer the morning after Russert died, reminded us of that Camp David interview, saying: “I always, when I think of Tim and think of ‘Meet the Press,’ that’s the show that always comes to mind. . . . It was a remarkable moment in American history.”2  

Commenting that he himself “remember[ed] that interview vividly,” Lauer asked: “Anything stand out from that interview?” In his reply, Cheney said: “We went back and reminisced to some extent about what had actually happened on the morning of 9/11. So it was—it was a remarkable moment in my career.”3 

It was indeed. In reminiscing about his movements that morning, Cheney contradicted what was to become a crucial element of the account that the 9/11 Commission would give of those movements.  

In praising Russert’s tenure on “Meet the Press,” Cheney said: “He would ask you tough questions, he would remind you of quotes you made previously in other settings or on earlier shows, so you never got away with anything going up vis-à-vis Tim.”4 

Given Cheney’s appraisal of his interview with Russert as a “remarkable moment” in both American history and Cheney’s own career, we should apply Russert’s method to this interview, reminding ourselves of exactly what Cheney said, then comparing it with what was said about Cheney by the 9/11 Commission.  

Read the rest of this entry »

AP | MSNBC.com

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush’s former spokesman, Scott McClellan, will testify before a US House of Representatives’ committee next week about whether Vice President Dick Cheney ordered him to make misleading public statements about the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame’s identity.

McClellan will testify publicly and under oath before the House Judiciary Committee on June 20 about the White House’s role in the leak and its response, his attorneys, Michael and Jane Tigar, said on Monday.

In his new book, “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception,” McClellan said he was misled by others, possibly including Cheney, about the role of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby in the leak. McClellan has said publicly that Bush and Cheney “directed me to go out there and exonerate Scooter Libby.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Rumsfeld, Cheney, Bush

CorbettReport.com

The first video, regarding the whereabouts of Donald Rumsfeld on the morning of 9/11, reveals that Rumsfeld was in the Pentagon as the largest attack on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor unfolded. In a startling admission on which he was never pressed, however, he states he was ‘out of the loop’ that morning and unaware of Flight 77—the hijacked jet streaking towards the heart of the American capital—until it actually hit the very building he was sitting in. In his well-researched article Donald Rumsfeld on 9/11: An Enemy Within Matthew Everett makes it clear how this startling revelation from the second in command of the U.S. Armed Forces goes well beyond mere incompetence. Rumsfeld’s inability to be contacted by his own staff during that crucial half hour as Flight 77 bore down on the Pentagon directly affected the Air Force’s ability to respond to that or any other threat that morning. As the video reveals, the protocol dealing with the very events which unfolded that day—namely, those dealing with the authorization to shootdown hijacked civilian aircraft—had been mysteriously revised mere weeks before 9/11. Nor can ‘Rummy’ claim ignorance of the high terror threat level in the U.S. at that time. In fact, as he revealed to Larry King in December of 2001, he was actually briefing members of Congress in a startlingly prescient talk on the likelihood of a large terror attack that would transform America in the very near future which began just minutes before the first plane hit the World Trade Center.

Read the rest of this entry »

L.A.Times.com WASHINGTON — In a long-delayed report, the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday rebuked President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for making prewar claims — particularly that Iraq had close ties to Al Qaeda — that were not supported by available intelligence.The report, which was opposed by most Republicans on the panel, says the president and other members of his administration repeatedly exaggerated evidence of an Al Qaeda connection to take advantage of the charged climate after Sept. 11. It is the most pointed reproach to date of the Bush administration’s use of intelligence to build the case for the Iraq war. But the document stops short of calling for any follow-up investigation or sanction.”In making the case for war, the administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when, in reality, it was unsubstantiated, contradicted or even nonexistent,” said Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), chairman of the intelligence panel. “Sadly, the Bush administration led the nation into war under false pretenses.” Read the rest of this entry »

Former White House Aide’s Revelations Make Out Case for Obstruction of Justice by Rove and Libby in Valerie Plame Case

Demand accountability, email your reps today:
House Reps

Senators
Wexler.House.gov
(Washington, DC) Today Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) called for former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan to appear before the House Judiciary Committee to testify under oath regarding the devastating revelations made in his new book on the Bush Administration’s deliberate efforts to mislead the American people into the Iraq War.

“The admissions made by Scott McClellan in his new book are earth-shattering and allege facts to establish that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby – and possibly Vice President Cheney - conspired to obstruct justice by lying about their role in the Plame Wilson matter and that the Bush Administration deliberately lied to the American people in order to take us to war in Iraq. Scott McClellan must now appear before the House Judiciary Committee under oath to tell Congress and the American people how President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and White House officials deliberately orchestrated a massive propaganda campaign to sell the war in Iraq to the American people.”
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posted on  BlackListedNews.com

“Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor”  

The web site of the neoconservative based Project for a New American Century think tank has been taken down. The think tank in their own documents advocated the virtues of using the U.S. military as a global police force. They also endorsed preemptive war as a way to shape the world and even lobbied to get Bill Clinton to invade Iraq back in 1998. Contributors and signatories associated with the think tank included several high profile figures in George W. Bush’s administration including Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, John Bolton, Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney, Richard Armitage and Richard Perle. Documents originating from this think tank have been the subject of a great deal of criticism by the 9/11 truth and anti-war movements. It now looks as if the neoconservatives whose agenda has been faltering as of late have decided to pull the plug on the web site for the purposes of damage control. If not, than somebody forgot to pay their Internet provider. We’ll let you be the judge of which is the more likely scenario.

In 2000, the think tank released a 90 page document entitled Rebuilding America’s Defenses. In the document, the think tank actually advocates a catastrophic and catalyzing Pearl Harbor event in order to seek faster global transformation using U.S. military might. In addition, one of the core missions outlined in the report is “fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theater wars.” What luck for the neoconservatives that a catastrophic and catalyzing event occurred on September 11th, 2001 that made one of their core missions in their report become a reality.

Read the rest of this entry »

http://airamerica.com/clout

According to Richard, tonight’s representative of the movement will be Dr. Peter Dale Scott. The topic of discussion will be Cheney’s actions on 9/11, the possible Stand Down Order, and the Wargames. The debate starts at 9pm EST. Good luck to Dr. Scott.

Aidan Monaghan | 911blogger.com

The following is a response from the U.S. Secret Service to a Freedom of Information Act request for the arrival time of U.S. vice president Richard Cheney at the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) on September 11, 2001, as well as the names of all those granted entry there that day.

Dear Requester:

Read the rest of this entry »

Jon Gold | 911blogger.com

As we all know, Norman Mineta’s testimony was never investigated or mentioned in the 9/11 Report. You would think that the “young man” that was involved in such an important moment during the 9/11 attacks would be named, and brought before the 9/11 Commission. He was not.

This clip is from C-SPAN’s 5/26/2005 taping of the “Washington Journal”. The caller clearly states that at the time the Pentagon was hit, Cheney was aware of the incoming plane according to Norman Mineta’s testimony. At the end of this segment, Lee Hamilton says that Cheney was “in the key position at the time”. Prior to that, he said that “the Vice President was in the operation room”, and “when the impact did occur.” To me, this sounds like Lee Hamilton just confirmed Norman Mineta’s testimony.

BAGHDAD — Amid tears and wails, mourners in the southern city of Najaf on Tuesday began burying victims from a suicide bombing that killed nearly 50 worshipers and injured dozens of others just before evening prayers Monday in nearby Karbala.

In Baghdad , a long-anticipated Iraqi national reconciliation conference began with great fanfare, then quickly dissolved into the usual sectarian and political stalemates that have marred several similar gatherings in recent years.

But Vice President Dick Cheney gave an upbeat view of conditions in Iraq as he concluded his unannounced trip to mark the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion. Cheney also defended the toppling of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein as part of the struggle against terrorism following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

This month, an exhaustive Pentagon-sponsored review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents captured during the 2003 US invasion found no evidence that Saddam’s regime had any operational links with the al Qaida terrorist network.

Read the rest of this entry »

You can support Robert Wexler by signing up at WexlerWantsHearings.com
Vote with your wallet

FOLLOWING 9/11, PRESIDENT BUSH AND SEVEN TOP OFFICIALS OF HIS ADMINISTRATION WAGED A CAREFULLY ORCHESTRATED CAMPAIGN OF MISINFORMATION ABOUT THE THREAT POSED BY SADDAM HUSSEIN’S IRAQ.

By Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith | publicintegrity.org

President George W. Bush and seven of his administration’s top officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, made at least 935 false statements in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

Nearly five years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, an exhaustive examination of the record shows that the statements were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.On at least 532 separate occasions (in speeches, briefings, interviews, testimony, and the like), Bush and these three key officials, along with Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, and White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan, stated unequivocally that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (or was trying to produce or obtain them), links to Al Qaeda, or both.

This concerted effort was the underpinning of the Bush administration’s case for war.It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to Al Qaeda. This was the conclusion of numerous bipartisan government investigations, including those by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (2004 and 2006), the 9/11 Commission, and the multinational Iraq Survey Group, whose “Duelfer Report” established that Saddam Hussein had terminated Iraq’s nuclear program in 1991 and made little effort to restart it.

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Tom Brokaw promotes his book at town hall in WA. He talks about his close friend and member of the CFR Dick Cheney. Some questions are asked around the 9/11, the pentagon, missing trillions, John Ashcroft, Norman Mineta, investigation, conspiracy, Sibel Edmonds, whistle blower.