Cheney and the FBI-The Report and The Numbers.

Hey Vice-Precedence readers. Well, as I reported here on the blog, VP Cheney has defended his former Chief-of-Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby vigorously about his role in the outing of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame after her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson wrote critiques of the Administrations reasoning and evidence for the war in Iraq. When Libby was convicted of felony perjury and obstruction of justice, and sentenced to jail, Cheney was relentless in pressing then President Bush to fully pardon his good friend. However, President Bush determined that Libby was guilty, and only commuted his sentence so he wouldn't have to do jail time. Cheney has always maintained Libby's innocence and was reportedly furious that President Bush wouldn't pardon Libby. You can read all about this here on the blog, and I encourage you to do so. Cheney has always maintained that he didn't tell Libby to out Plame or even know about it. However, recent revelations have thrown serious doubt on what the Vice-President knew and did.

Last week the FBI released the transcript of Cheney's May 8th 2004 interview with them, which was released only after a long-fought legal battle waged by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Patrick Fitzgerald,the special prosecutor investigating the Valerie Plame outing said at the time that "there is a cloud over the vice president." This interview has exposed that cloud.

On questions both big and small regarding his role and what he knew about the Valerie Plame outing, Cheney responded 72 times that he wasn't certain about events or issues. Cheney told the FBI he "did not recall" discussing Plame with Libby prior to her name being published in a column by reporter Robert Novak in July 2003, and said he had no knowledge of Libby's meeting with New York Times reporter Judith Miller before Plame was identified in that paper.

According to the FBI summary, Cheney said there was no discussion of using Plame's employment with the CIA to counter her husband's criticism that the Bush administration had manipulated prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat. There was no discussion, Cheney insisted, of "pushing back" on Joseph Wilson's credibility by raising the issue of nepotism, the fact that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, the same agency that dispatched him to the African nation of Niger to run down the report of an agreement to supply uranium "yellowcake" to Iraq. Cheney also called Wilsons report "amateur hour at the CIA".

It was one example of Cheney being straight-forward and Libby being unsure.

"In a prior FBI interview, you indicated it was possible that you may have talked to the Vice President on Air Force Two ... about whether you should share the information with the press about Wilson's wife?" Fitzgerald asked Libby in his grand jury testimony.

"It's possible that would have been one of the times I could have talked to him about what I had learned," Libby answered.

"As you sit here today, do you recall whether you had such a conversation with the vice president on Air Force Two?" the prosecutor asked.

"No, sir. My, my best recollection of that conversation was what I had on my note card which we have produced which doesn't reflect anything about that," Libby replied.


Meanwhile, Cheney was with his denials of remembering these discussions-evasive. Cheney said he could not recall whether he discussed Plame with infamous White House political genius Karl Rove, Libby and others, he was certain he did not discuss her with former Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage (the original source of the leak).

Among the most basic questions for Cheney in the Plame probe: How did Libby find out that the wife of Bush administration war critic Joseph Wilson worked at the CIA?

Libby's own handwritten notes suggest Libby found out from Cheney. When Libby discovered Cheney's reference to Plame and the CIA in his notes – notes that Libby knew he would soon have to turn over to the FBI – the chief of staff went to the vice president, probably in late September or early October 2003.

According to Nick Baumann of Mother Jones Magazine-a very liberal magazine-there were 22 things the Vice-President "forgot" about the Valerie Plame outing in the report-and this is backed up by reading the full report.

1. Whether the Wilson trip was discussed during any of the visits he made to the CIA with his Chief of Staff, Scooter Libby.
2. Any reaction he had to Nicholas Kristof's New York Times' article about the Wilson visit at the time the article was published.
3. Whether he discussed the Wilson situation with George Tenet at their meeting on June 10, 2003.
4. Who he spoke to about Joe Wilson's July 6, 2003 editorial (he did remember speaking to someone, but not who it was).
5. What happened to the Joe Wilson op-ed after he wrote on it suggesting that Valerie Plame Wilson had sent Joe Wilson on a "junket," and put it in his outbox.
6. Any specific advice he gave his press people in the May-June 2003 timeframe regarding the Wilson trip to Niger.
7. Whether he discussed the Wilson situation with Eric Edelman, one of his national security advisers.
8. Whether Cathie Martin, his press secretary, entered his office while both he and Scooter Libby were present and advised both of them that Joe Wilson's wife was employed by the CIA.
9. Discussing Joe Wilson or Wilson's wife with his former press secretary Mary Matalin, although he said it was possible.
10. Ever discussing Valerie Plame Wilson with Libby prior to the publication of Novak's column.
11. Whether Scooter Libby knew about Valerie Plame Wilson on July 12, the day before the publication of the Novak column.
12. If Libby ever told Cheney he had independent knowledge of Valerie Plame Wilson's covert identity
13. Dictating notes to Libby on July 12, 2003 that Cheney said looked and sounded like something he might have dictated to Libby.
14. Discussing the Novak column or any of its contents with anyone at the time it was published.
15. Whether he discussed the Wilson trip with Libby as a sort of "boondoggle" or "junket," although he believed it possible that he had such a conversation.
16. If Libby told him that Libby was not Novak's source.
17. Libby telling him how he first learned that Valerie Plame Wilson was a covert CIA operative.
18. Whether he told Libby that Valerie Plame Wilson was a covert CIA operative.
19. Waving off Libby when Libby offered to tell him everything he knew about the Wilson matter.
20. Anyone on his staff, including Libby, ever meeting with Judith Miller during the week of July 7, 2003.
21. Having a conversation with Libby during which Libby said he wanted to share the judgments of the National Intelligence Estimate with Judith Miller.
22. Whether Libby told him that certain material in the NIE had to be declassified before it could be shared.

"For years the American people have wondered what role Vice President Cheney played in outing former CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics the organization that got the interview released under the Freedom of Information Act. Now, she said, "we're one step closer" to finding out.

Lots of gaps, lots of forgotten things, lots of questions. So far, no response from the former VP. It would seem from this report that there is a lot the public was unaware of. I myself am wondering what all this will lead to? What will happen next? Will anything happen at all? Has the American public already moved on? Stay tuned here for more on this breaking story. Don't forget to be sure to go to our Facebook page and become a fan and Rate our videos on YouTube.

Thanks!

Cheney and the CIA Plot-Part 3.

Well Vice-Precedence readers-its all coming together. As you know, I have been following the issues with Vice-President Cheney and the CIA. Its ranged from how furious the former VP is over Attorney General Holders investigation into the controversy of torture, the revelation of the CIA Assassination Squad, to lingering issues about the Valerie Plame outing.

I've posted previous blogs on all these since we started it back in June, and I encourage you to go back and re-read those. Now another break in this story-yesterday Federal Judge Emmett Sullivan ruled that the FBI must publicly reveal the majority of its interview with Cheney during the investigation into who leaked the identity of Valerie Plame. He said that limited parts could be withheld to protect national security or personal privacy, but 67 pages will be revealed. Plames name was leaked after her husband former Ambassador Joe Wilson wrote an article critical of the Bush Administrations intelligence reports justifying launching the war in Iraq.


As many of you remember the only person who was exposed and punished for having anything to do with the Valerie Plame leak to the press was Cheney's top aide and dear friend I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. During his trial, jurors found that Libby lied to the FBI and a grand jury about his conversations with reporters. Libby never served a day in jail since President Bush commuted his sentence-but he refused to pardon him and decided he was guilty, as was revealed in the TIME cover story I reported on here on July 29th-"The Final Days of Bush and Cheney".

Now with the court ordering the release of the former Vice-Presidents interview we can only speculate what will happen next. Libby told the FBI that it was "possible" that the Vice-President ordered him to reveal Plames name. Will Special Investigative Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald be put back to work? Will there be more hearings, what will these 67 pages expose? Thanks for reading, and I recommend going back and reading some of our previous blogs to learn more about this issue. Stay tuned here for the latest news on this and other breaking news on the Vice-Presidents.

Matt Saxe

Cheney and the CIA-Part 2. Plus Cheney on Town Halls.

"I just think it's an outrageous political act that will do great damage long-term to our capacity to be able to have people take on difficult jobs, make difficult decisions, without having to worry about what the next administration is going to say,"

These were former VP Dick Cheney's words on Sunday on "Fox News Sunday" in response to the decision made by Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate whether CIA operatives used torture in their interrogations of suspected terrorists, and if it was politically motivated and if by doing this it increased the risks to national security that all Americans are currently living under.

Former VP Cheney did this interview on "Fox News Sunday" his first since the announcement by the AG's office that an investigation was going to take place, from his ranch in his home state of Wyoming. Mr. Cheney went on to say, as he has said many times before, that it is his belief that the Bush Administrations use of "enhanced interrogation techniques"-particularly the controversial type known as waterboarding, in which water is poured on to the face of a prisoner to simulate drowning-prevented further terrorist attacks and saved American military and civilian lives. Many people consider waterboarding torture, while others do not. Waterboarding was used on all three top Al-Queda leaders who had been captured repeatedly, including the "Ringleader of 9/11" Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was subjected to it 183 times. It was clear from his use of the term "enhanced interrogation techniques" that Mr. Cheney doesn't consider waterboarding torture.

Cheney furiously lashed out at the Obama administration saying that this second guessing by AG Holder and others "offends the Hell out of me frankly."

He went on to accuse President Obama of leading "an intensely partisan, political look-back at the prior administration."

"The approach of the Obama administration should be to come to those people who were involved in that policy and say, 'How did you do it?' " Cheney said. "Instead, they're out there now threatening to disbar the lawyers who gave us the legal opinions."

This comment leads many to believe that this was the first confirmation by someone in the Bush Administration that a Justice Department classified report will recommend that two former Justice Dept. lawyers have disbarment proceedings launched against them for giving their approval to the use of the interrogation techniques.

Both of these lawyers are no longer in the Justice Department: John C. Yoo is a professor at UC Berkeley (how the hell does a Bush Administration official land in liberal bastion "Beserkley"?) , and Jay S. Bybee is now a federal judge.

Cheney further went on to say that he doesn't think that CIA agents should be put up on criminal charges for using waterboarding excessively, or for having made mock execution threats on prisoners with an electric drill and a gun.

"So even these cases where they went beyond the specific legal authorization, you're OK with it?" Fox News moderator Chris Wallace asked.

"I am," former VP Cheney answered, making clear that he is not backing down from what he believes to be right.

As to whether Mr. Cheney is willing to help out the Justice Department in its investigation, it would seem the answer is, probably not without a fight.

"It will depend on the circumstances and what I think their activities are really involved in," Cheney said.

In previous blogs I have reported on how many claim Mr. Cheney said President Bush "went soft" at the end of his term regarding his disagreeing with VP Cheney on issues like pardoning Scooter Libby and attacking Iran, and going along more with popular opinion. On Sunday Cheney refuted these reports saying that they were "wrong". However, with all the anecdotal evidence, especially what was revealed in the TIME Magazine cover story article in July, I find it hard to believe him here.

He also gave hints about his still untitled book, saying that it will "lay out my view of what we did" including where he and the President agreed and disagreed. He also gave it a little plug saying:

"Its going to be a great book."

Wow. I have to make sure I reserve my copy-once he's actually given it a title.

As usual with something this controversial people on Capitol Hill and around the country are taking sides. For the most part Conservatives think this whole investigation is overblown and completely partisan, while Liberals think that it needs to be done to cleanse the country of the stain of torture and to reveal the truth. However, well known liberal Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California has misgivings about the investigation.

She said she understood Attorney General Holder's reasons for launching the probe, but "the timing of this is not very good" because the Senate Intelligence Committee, which she is the Chairperson of, is already investigating CIA interrogation and detention techniques.

"Candidly, I wish that the attorney general had waited," she said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Meanwhile in his own party, Senator John McCain (R. of Arizona-do I really need to tell you this?) went on CBS's "Face the Nation" hours after Cheneys interview and while he disagreed with former VP Cheney about the use of waterboarding (he believes its torture, and I think if anyone in the country knows what torture is-he does) but agreed with him about the investigation by the AG office being unneccessary.

"I think the interrogations were in violation of the Geneva Conventions and the convention against torture that we ratified under President Reagan," said the former Republican candidate for President. "I think these interrogations, once publicized, helped al Qaeda recruit. I got that from an al Qaeda operative in a prison camp in Iraq… I think that the ability of us to work with our allies was harmed. And I believe that information, according go the FBI and others, could have been gained through other members."

When "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer pressed him about how he could have learned that from a member of Al-Queda, McCain replied with a story telling how he and his good friend Sen. Lindsey Graham, (R-S.C.) had an interview of their own with a captured "high-ranking member of al Qaeda," McCain said that the prisoner told them that pictures of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib had allowed the terrorist organization "to recruit thousands of young men."

However, despite his acknowledgment and his own personal example that the use of these "enhanced interrogation techniques", (and in his opinion torture techniques), were in violation of international law — laws ratified by the United States that he himself has fought for - and were counterproductive — Senator McCain still insisted that Attorney General Holder was wrong to launch an investigation into the matter.

"I believe the President was right when he said we ought to go forward and not back," he said. "I worry about the morale and effectiveness of the CIA. I worry about this thing getting out of control and us harming our ability to carry out the struggle we are in with radical Islamic extremism."

"For us now to go back, I think would be a serious mistake." McCain concluded.

While the interview with Cheney on "Fox News Sunday" focused mostly on the CIA issue, Chris Wallace also asked the former VP about the current health care debate. Mr. Cheney made it clear that he is 100% against President Obamas reform policies. When Wallace asked him what he thought of the Town Hall meetings where there have been all sorts of ugly incidents complete with screaming, name-calling, and crying all across the country, Cheney said he thought these meetings were "basically healthy".

“I think the fact that there’s a lot of unrest out there in the country that gets expressed in these town hall meetings,” Mr. Cheney said, “with folks coming and speaking out very loudly about their concerns, indicates that there are major, major problems what the administration’s proposing.”

Hmmm, I wonder what he thought about the anti-war protesters screaming invective while he was in office? Kind of different when the shoe is on the other foot I guess.

As soon as anything else breaks on this I will let you know. I will say that for my next blog, I will talk some more about this, but I will also be talking about documentary film-making and the frustration I feel about getting "Vice-Precedence" done. I feel its time to say something about it. Thanks VP readers!

Matt Saxe

Uproar over Cheney and CIA and "The Lion" is Gone.

Well, Vice-Precedence readers, its all hit the fan.

On Tuesday night everything exploded over Attorney General Eric Holders decision to investigate CIA interrogation tactics and appoint a special prosecutor to do so.

First of all, former VP Cheney said that the CIA agents who are being investigated "deserve our gratitude." That they "saved lives and prevented terrorist attacks."

Cheney then said Attorney General Holder's action "serves as a reminder, if any were needed, of why so many Americans have doubts about this administration's ability to be responsible for our nation's security."

Notice that "if any were needed"? Big shot at the current administration.

Republicans came to Cheney's defense. Represenative Pete King (R. Long Island, NY) who said about the revelation that agents used mock executions to intimidate prisoners: "I see nothing wrong with this. If it's to save someone's life, it would have been immoral not to threaten."

Congresman King said President Obama was
"giving the impression of an administration that's out of control. By letting Holder do this, he (the President) has either lost control of his administration or we can't believe anything he says." Which to me seems pretty harsh and inaccurate. President Obama has stated many times that he wants to move on from the past. This is Attorney General Holders decision and he made it.

CIA documents released by the Justice Department show that some interrogators knew they might have broken the law with harsh tactics that included the controversial tactic of waterboarding.

"One officer expressed concern that, one day, agency officers will wind up on some wanted list," the documents showed.


Here's how the mainstream press looked at it and reported it:

From the Tuesday, August 25 World News on ABC:

BRIAN ROSS: ...It was clear today that the partisan battle lines have been drawn over the CIA, led on one side by the former Vice President, who has long been the chief defender of the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques.

DICK CHENEY, FILE FOOTAGE: They were legal, essential, justified, successful and the right thing to do.

ROSS: It was at Cheney's request that the CIA made public yesterday two top secret reports that said the detainee interrogations were pivotal. “Detainees have given us a wealth of useful information on al Qaeda,” the report says, “thwarting a number of al Qaeda operations,” including a proposed 9/11 style attack on Los Angeles, on London's Heathrow airport and the capture of a leading southeast Asia al Qaeda leader who reportedly had 70 operatives ready to carry out terrorist attacks in the West.

Nowhere in the reports, however, does the CIA ever draw a direct connection between the valuable information and the specific use of harsh tactics. So, Charlie, there's just enough for both sides to argue about, while CIA officers in the field are left to figure out just what is expected of them.

From the NBC Nightly News Tuesday August 25th:

ANDREA MITCHELL: ...So who's right? The new documents reveal that 30 of the detainees -- a third of those held in the CIA secret prisons -- were subjected to the questionable practices. Cheney says the tactics “saved lives and prevented terrorist attacks.” His proof -- in part, this memo, describing how 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who was water boarded 183 times, admitted to a series of plots: One, in late in 2001, to crash a hijacked airliner into the tallest building on the U.S. west coast, another in early 2002 to send al Qaeda operative and U.S. citizen Jose Padilla to set off bombs in apartment buildings in an unspecified major U.S. city and a never before disclosed plan in 2003 “to employ a network of Pakistanis to target gas stations, railroad tracks and the Brooklyn bridge in New York.

But administration officials say there is no way to know whether the same information could have be obtained from him without waterboarding or whether he would have given it up sooner had he been handled differently. In fact, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told the International Red Cross in 2006 he lied to fool his questioners.

TOM PARKER, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: He made stuff up to deliberately mislead his interrogators and make them stop and took pleasure in the fact that the United States had probably wasted money responding to these fabrications.

MITCHELL: An argument experts say that may never be resolved. But tonight, John McCain who opposed the Bush/Cheney interrogation policies, criticized the Attorney General's decision to investigate CIA interrogators, creating more political headaches for the White House.

While this seems like a new revelation, famous investigative reporter Seymour Hersh talked about this way back in March. Here's a link about his appearance talking about it here in MN.


So we'll see where it goes. Its not surprising to see Mr. Cheney responding so virulently to the openings of these investigations. The question of if he will be called to testify by the special prosecutor will be something we will follow closely here on Vice-Precedence.

I would be remiss in not noting the passing of "The Lion of the Senate" Edward "Ted" M. Kennedy. Senator Kennedy had been one of the Senators of Massachusetts since 1962. That's 46 years. Four decades of service to our country. He worked on over 300 bills that became law. He worked with every VP (who presides over the Senate-I hope you readers know that by now) from that time to today, including on a landmark Job Training Bill in 1982 he co-sponsored with then Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana. In fact, many say that the work that Senator Quayle did with Sen. Kennedy is what brought him to the attention of then VP George Bush and led him to the Vice-Presidency.

In doing research for today's blog I tried to find a comment from VP Cheney on the passing of Senator Kennedy, but I couldn't. However, I (too easily) found some truly hateful things being said about Sen. Kennedy that I really don't feel like reposting here. I am not going spread mindless hate from mindless people.

However I found one that stood out because it's the best known and has even been paraphrased by Jay Leno: I'd rather go hunting with Dick Cheney than go driving with Ted Kennedy.

In reading this and other disgusting comments, I thought about what people on the Left may do when VP Cheney passes. After all, people already love to rip on him and many violently hate the former VP just as much as people on the Right hate the late Senator Kennedy. I can only hope that people on the Left can show better restraint then those on the Right. The problem I have with this is that despicable comments just make people hate each other more. It doesn't make one side better than the other to take shots at a man who has just died. If you disagree with someones politics-thats fine-but try to keep it decent. Senator Kennedy made a lot of mistakes in his life, but he was respectful and polite in the Senate-all while strongly fighting for those liberal causes he believed in. In his 46 years in the Senate he learned how to work in a bipartisan way, as his bill with Dan Quayle shows. He was fiercely partisan, but open to compromise. It can never be forgotten that his direct actions did lead to another persons death, but at the same time he accomplished many great things for this country. We're all only human and all of us fail in some way. Lets look at Senator Kennedys willingness to work with those who disagreed with him as an example to follow and try to be civil to each other out there. Thanks for reading. RIP Senator Kennedy.

Update: Investigation of CIA to Take Place!

Those of you who follow this blog know that I have been following Vice-President Cheneys involvement in the creation of the covert CIA Assassination Squad to go after the top Al-Queda leaders in the wake of 9/11. New CIA Director Leon Panetta dissolved the program which never really got off the ground and carried out no missions. Still, members of Congress have called for an investigation due to the fact that this program was kept a secret from the highest members of Congress involved in national security and many other reasons. This assassination squad was very similar in mission and formation to the teams created by Israel for the purpose of hunting down the terrorists responsible for the tragedy in Munich at the Olympics in 1972. Though I doubt any of them looked anything like Eric Bana. Last week I revealed that it wasn't just the CIA involved in this plan but also the highly controversial private security firm Blackwater was also brought in to work on the program. Even though Director Panetta dissolved the program immediately upon learning of it, its stirred up a hornets nest of interest among many in Washington and around the country.

Today the U.S. Justice Departments Ethics Office has sent a recommendation to Attorney General Eric Holder that he reopen a slate of cases of abuse and torture by the CIA of Al-Queda detainees. This could possibly lead to either Congress or the Ethics Office ordering an investigation into these CIA assassination squads.

Also today the Justice Department will release their internal investigation into how the CIA treated prisoners at Guantanamo in Cuba and other prisons around the world.

Its possible we could learn about who in the previous and this current administration knows about what happened with torture and the assassination squad.

President Obama has stated many times his desire to "not look back" but Attorney General Holder feels these new revelations merit investigation. Could we be seeing Congressional hearings similar to the famous Church Committee hearings in the 1970's which revealed the CIA's abuses? Will former VP Cheney be called in to testify? What is going to be revealed next? Stay tuned here for more and thanks for reading.

More on Cheneys CIA Plot

Hey Vice-Precedence Readers!

I am sure many of you remember my previous post-Cheney and the CIA Plot!-last month. Its a post that got a lot of attention since it was about how new CIA Director Leon Panetta canceled a program in the CIA that was started a few weeks after 9/11 that was later revealed to be the training and formation of assassination squads who would go after the top Al-Queda leaders. The program was kept secret from Congressional leaders on VP Cheneys orders and never really got off the ground due to logistical issues. Director Panetta dissolved the program and then informed Congress about it and about how VP Cheney had ordered people in the CIA to not tell Congressional leaders about it. There are more details in the previous blog if you are interested. Some members of Congress were furious about this program being kept secret from them and are still debating about having hearings about this and calling former VP Cheney to testify.

Well now it has been revealed by The New York Times in an article by Mark Mazzetti that in 2004, Blackwater-the extremely controversial private-security firm, was hired by the CIA for a still unknown part in this plan. Though it is speculated they were used for reconnaissance and training.

The Times quoted Paul Gimigliano, a CIA spokesman, who would not provide details about the canceled program, but said Director Panetta's decision on the assassination program was "clear and straightforward."

"Director Panetta thought this effort should be briefed to Congress, and he did so," Gimigliano said. "He also knew it hadn't been successful, so he ended it."

Blackwater which is located in North Carolina, has since changed its name to Xe Services in an attempt to make the public forget about its negative reputation brought on by numerous incidents. The idea that the CIA needed to bring in a privately owned company for a program involving the assassination of enemies of the U.S. is part of the reason why Director Panetta canceled the program. To read the full article (and I recommend you do because its fascinating) copy and paste the link below into your browser.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/us/20intel.html

One wonders how Mr. Cheney will respond to these new revelations and if they will spur Congress to actually have the hearings that some want to have and call former VP Cheney to testify. Stay tuned here for any breaking news on this subject and thanks for reading.

Matt Saxe

Like Father, Like Daughter?

Hey Vice-Precedence Readers! Matt Saxe here posting a quick blog because I am literally running out the door to St. Louis for the next 4 days. Just wanted to update you on a few things.

1. We now know that this secret CIA program that former VP Cheney didn't inform Congress about over the last seven years that CIA Director Panetta shut down just last month and told Congress about was supposed to be primarily an elite anti-terrorist assassination squad. Yes you read that right. The problem was that the logistics were basically too complicated-in essence the problem that couldn't be solved was: "How do we get these U.S. CIA assassins close enough to there Al-Queda targets without letting it be known they're from the U.S.? Then, once they've killed those bastards-how do we get them out and safely home?" A difficult dilemma to be sure. Before getting in a huge offended huff people-remember the program never really got off the ground, and it is over. It is no longer going on, period. However, this isn't keeping some people from debating about whether or not there should be an investigation into it all and hearings about Cheney keeping it a secret. Stay tuned for more.

2. It looks like Liz Cheney-Vice-Presidents Cheneys daughter who is helping him with his still untitled book might be getting into the family business. She is an outspoken Republican and is getting a lot of media attention. She recently made some sharp comments on President Obama's visit to Russia, and may be considering a run for Congress.

"I've spent a lot of time promoting democracy around the world," Cheney told the Washington Times on Monday, declaring herself willing to consider the idea of running for political office. "It has made me really grateful for our system and has given me a real understanding of how important it is to participate."

We'll see what happens and keep you updated. Thanks for reading! I'll be back on here posting soon.

Cheney and the CIA Plot! Plus more Birthdays.

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog readers! Well, over the weekend and in the last 24 hours there has been a lot of discussion about former Vice-President Cheney and if 8 years ago he illegally concealed from Congress and the American public a counterterrorism program the CIA was just starting.

New CIA Director Leon Panetta, who as I have already reported in this blog, has been very critical of the former VP's recent comments about how the Obama Administration is handling national security, put a halt to the program last month on June 23. The day after the program was dismantled, Director Panetta had meetings with both the Senate and House Intelligence committees who learned of the existence of this program for the first time and let them know that he had stopped it. This all is happening as the House is about to enter a debate into whether or not more government officials need to be informed about these kinds of secrets.

No one has yet revealed exactly what this program was meant to do or how it was going about it. It is known that the program was created very soon after the attacks on 9/11, at a time where a lot of ideas were being tossed around since no one knew if another attack was imminent and the general feeling of the country was-"Let's do something! Anything!"

Now some Democrats are calling for an investigation to decide if what VP Cheney did was legal. Of course there has been a lot of arguing along partisan lines on whether or not this deserves an investigation. I get the feeling that in a way, the Obama Administration almost doesn't want to dredge this up because it could damage their ability to work with Republicans on what they want to accomplish domestically in the economy, health care, and the environment. After all, this program was created 8 years ago, and never really got off the ground it seems. Director Panetta canceled it last month and Congress has been informed about it. It is over.

In fact, in an article in the NEW YORK TIMES an anonymous CIA officer says that no one in the agency protested against Director Panettas decision to terminate this program which is now causing all this debate.

“Because this program never went fully operational and hadn’t been briefed as Panetta thought it should have been, his decision to kill it was neither difficult nor controversial,” the official said. “That’s worth remembering amid all the drama.”

So maybe this isn't as big a deal as some people seem to think it is? Or is that just naive?

Does the fact that Cheney gave direct orders to CIA directors to not let Congress know about this effort demonstrate how important it was to the White House? Or does it say that the Administration felt that this program was so small and insignificant, that they felt they didn't really need to let Congress know? Does any of this matter at all since the program is deader than a beheaded zombie? What do you think?

As of today, former VP Cheney and no one on his staff at the time have commented in any way about this new controversy. Cheney has a history of wanting to keep government secrets....well, secret. Even going to the Supreme Court over the issue. What happens now? Well, people have their opinions of course:

Conservative: National Review: Michael Goldfarb writes, “From what I can tell this Cheney scandal story . . . is the mother of all nothingburgers. It’s hard for me not to see it as a ploy by Democrats to distract from the fact that the stimulus bill is a dud, healthcare is going badly and cap-and-trade looks like a disaster. The base always enjoys beating up on Cheney and the press likes that stuff too.”

Liberal: First Draft: Liberal Blogger Athenae writes: “Even with this major scary new revelatory whatever, no matter what it ends up being about, in about two weeks we’re going to have a resolution declaring it’s all okay, and nobody needs to go to jail or apologize or anything. I’d love to be proved wrong, by the way, but I don’t think I will be.”

I wonder if since Cheney's not talking about it now, if he will in his book? Congressional hearings on secret CIA programs would be a hell of a way to drum up some publicity for the still unknown titled book-and that's a secret that he's done a great job of keeping.

Well, what do you think? Please let us know, and also, let us know about things you'd like us to address here on the blog-we value our readers.

On another note-HAPPY BIRTHDAY former VP and President Gerald Ford and more importantly-JASON KLAMM! Co-producer and co-writer of "VICE-PRECEDENCE:Being Number Two in the White House" the documentary film, the book, and of course, here on the blog. Imagine that-one of the producers of the first ever documentary on the Vice-Presidency sharing a birthday with a Veep. Thanks for reading folks.