Congress, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Politics, Society

Report: Cheney Ordered Concealment of Secret Program From Congress

225px-richard_cheney_2005_official_portraitIt goes without saying that, where there is a story of constitutional or human rights abuse, Dick Cheney cannot be far behind. It is therefore little surprise to learn this week that, according to sources in the recent disclosure of a hidden counterterrorism program, the prior concealment from Congress was allegedly ordered by Cheney.

The Central Intelligence Agency reportedly withheld information about program for eight years on orders from Cheney, who continually fought any disclosures on a host of subjects to either Congress or the courts.

As I discussed on this segment of MSNBC Countdown, it is a crime to withhold such information from Congress — yet another crime that is not being investigated by the Obama Administration.

While covert operations can be limited to disclosures to the Gang of Eight, the National Security Act of 1947 requires such disclosure.

It was previously known that Cheney’s legal adviser, David S. Addington, (another dark character in these scandals) was involved in this matter as well.

Once again, it is astonishing that Attorney General Eric Holder continues to refuse to appoint a special prosecutor to deal with the mounting allegations of criminal acts by the Bush Administration. The blocking of such investigations by the Obama Administration reaffirms the view that our intelligence services live beyond the reach of the law and that our leaders are unaccountable under the criminal laws that they apply to average citizens. While Obama insists that no one is above the law, he has ensured that we have two separate systems of justice for the powerful and the plebes.

In another story, Gen. Michael Hayden who carried out many of the presumptively unlawful programs during the Bush Administration insists that Congress was informed of this particular program, here.

For the full story, click here

235 thoughts on “Report: Cheney Ordered Concealment of Secret Program From Congress”

  2. This is how the DC Examiner reported it:

    QUOTE Carol Browner, former Clinton administration EPA head and current Obama White House climate czar, instructed auto industry execs “to put nothing in writing, ever” regarding secret negotiations she orchestrated regarding a deal to increase federal Corporate Average Fuel

    Browner’s informal directive was previously reported by The New York Times. UNQUOTE

    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Put-nothing-in-writing-Browner-told-auto-execs-on-secret-White-House-CAFE-talks-50260677.html

    Examiner should take out a subscription to the Times for its “reporters.”

    This is how myths are perpetuated in the internet age.

  3. Mike, google it; it is all over the right wing web. The same sentence is repeated over and over. One source said originated with the New York Times.

    But the Times‘s originally attributed the quote to a California official, Mary Nichols:

    http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/05/20/20greenwire-vow-of-silence-key-to-white-house-calif-fuel-e-12208.html?scp=1&sq=browner%20White%20House%20%20put%20nothing%20writing&st=cse

    “We put nothing in writing, ever,” [Mary] Nichols [California official] said. “That was one of the ways we made sure that everyone’s ability to talk freely was protected.”

  6. Mespo,
    Off topic as it was thanks for the link to that video. What I found so interesting watching it was the “smug disdain” on Dr. Gratzer’s face, since he was unable to dissemble the facts to fit his own political perspective. This is not just a private health flack, he is a true believer. Having had much more experience with physicians than the average person, many are chafing under the rule of the private health insurance companies, but the AMA is supported by them. This is the main reason that AMA membership has been dropping in recent years.
    AARP is also losing membership because they too have become financially linked to the insurance carriers they provide.

  7. “Carol Browner, former Clinton administration EPA head and current Obama White House climate czar, instructed auto industry execs “to put nothing in writing, ever” regarding secret negotiations she orchestrated regarding a deal to increase federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.”

    Bdaman,
    What is the source of this quote.

  9. Jim Byrne,
    How this plays out prosecution wise is a topic for legal scholars in the sense of whether Cheney had the power? Whether it was delegated to him? Whether it could legally be delegated to him? Whether he could be held accountable for his actions?
    Finally, was this his plan from the first. Let me answer with my opinions with the caveat that I’m not a legal expert.

    Back on the actual day of 9/11, while Bush was flying around the country in Air Force 1, it was clearly reported that Cheney was in command of the countermeasures and defensive measures being taken. This was in press releases issued by the Administration, with the caveat that President Bush “was being informed.” This to me was telling as to how this administration was set up. Communication was such that Bush, even flying around in his plane, could clearly have commanded the whole response via teleconference calls and yet he delegated that task to Cheney. A “real” President would have been in command and GW Bush wasn’t and seemed to want it that way. So we know that in fact it was Cheney, protege of Rumsfeld running that administration, with GW Bush as the willing figurehead.

    Secondly, you surmise that this was plotted by Cheney (Rumsfeld?)after the Watergate experience was I think on target. The GW Bush administration obviously took the Watergate experience and tried to avoid the missteps that led to Nixon’s resignation. The fact to that Cheney, Rumsfeld, et.
    al were the signatories and movers behind PNAC, which in 1998 actually published its’ plan to make the US into a global empire lends credence. As does the fact that Cheney having led the GW Bush VP search, chose himself.

    Finally, let’s look at my speculation as to the GW Bush psychology. GW may have had his father’s first name, but due to his erratic behavior and distinct lack of sobriety (bot as a person and as a scholar)was not first in his Father’s affections. GW resented GHW and felt him a failure for not only being a one termer, but for not finishing the job with Saddam. GW a failure in life, who had failed despite every advantage, was also a known bully as boy and man. As a boy he killed small animals and on the athletic field was a dirty player. That type of man is drawn to the type of men who have a facade of being tough and macho. Cheney and Rumsfeld are just those kind of men and both were sly enough to play upon GW’s fragile ego and compensatory large vanity.

    Cheney/Rumsfeld ran the GW Bush Presidency and had a perfect subject for manipulation. Are they legally culpable for the crimes that were committed by that administration, I would say yes. My caveat is though, with a media controlled by CPA’s
    and crazily conservative (R. Murdoch anyone?)people, even if these guys were convicted, they would serve no jail time and be “rehabilitated” within their lifetimes. What makes my blood boil is not so much the need for justice to be done (only because for people of that class it seldom is), but the wasted lives of those American soldiers killed and maimed by their arrogance and stupidity. Also the perhaps one million dead civilians of two country’s murdered because of greed and the imperialist aspirations of fools who believe they are smart. As General Smedley-Butler said: “War is a racket.”

  11. Speaking of the government that is for the people by the people. I hate to be off topic here, but our family just went thru and has been confirmed the swine flu. Read and watch how our government has acted in the past. Original 1976 60 minutes interview. SHOCKING

    http://loveforlife.com.au/node/6636

  12. “The Department of Justice will follow the facts and the law with respect to any matter,” said Matthew Miller, a department spokesman. “We have made no decisions on investigations or prosecutions, including whether to appoint a prosecutor to conduct further inquiry.”

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124736381913627661.html

    will follow the facts and the law
    “We have made no decisions on investigations

    However the facts and the law are clear. What or who is the problem?

    Obama,Obama,Obama

  13. They all do it. Doesn’t matter Repub=Dems=Repubs. Replace them all, They put thier pants on the same way.

    Carol Browner, former Clinton administration EPA head and current Obama White House climate czar, instructed auto industry execs “to put nothing in writing, ever” regarding secret negotiations she orchestrated regarding a deal to increase federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.
    Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-WI, is demanding a congressional investigation of Browner’s conduct in the CAFE talks, saying in a letter to Rep. Henry Waxman, D-CA, that Browner “intended to leave little or no documentation of the deliberations that lead to stringent new CAFE standards.”

  17. rafflaw,

    I looked over the court order (CREW v Cheney). It doesn’t appear to answer the question of the OVP being one of the Executive or Legislative. In addition, it was not presented as a judicial question, and would therefore, be considered dicta.

    I think Cheney’s a slippery snake. Think of an evil genius, and take it one step further. -I think he planned this for the last 30+ years.

    The duties of the VP are so ill defined…what better place for an evil genius to operate. -The VP does not take his orders from the President any more than you or I do.

    “Vice Presidents have only a few statutory duties. Since 1949 they have served on the National Security Council, and they are on the Board of Regents of the Smithson-ian Institution (which operates various museums in the capital). They name five cadets to the U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, and Air Force Academy. They appoint senators to various independent commissions, including the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission, the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, and the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations.

    Vice Presidents are usually assigned by the President to chair various commissions. They generally chair the Space Council; other commissions deal with nondiscriminatory practices in government contracts and efforts at deregulating the economy. They usually serve as the White House liaison with the National Governors Association and the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The Vice President participates in cabinet meetings, a custom established by Warren Harding. Since Eisenhower’s time, Vice Presidents have presided over cabinet meetings in the absence of the President; Richard Nixon chaired 20 such meetings during Elsenhower’s illnesses and trips.

    Until the 1960s, Vice Presidents had their main offices on Capitol Hill near the Senate chamber. President John F. Kennedy asked Lyndon Johnson to take a suite of offices in the Old Executive Office Building, and today the Office of the Vice President is located on the second floor of that building. He has smaller offices in the Capitol and in the West Wing of the White House.

    In 1970 the federal budget allocated funds for the first time to the Office of the Vice President under the line item “Special Assistance to the President.”
    http://www.answers.com/topic/vice-president-u-s

  18. You know, I almost never go “off topic,” but I cannot contain myself here. Take a look at the smug, Dr. David Gratzer, psychologist and putative expert on the Canadian healthcare system, from the conservative Manhattan Institute (apparently a wholly owned subsidiary of the health care industry.) It’s unique only for the smarmy, over-the-top arrogance of a congressional witness who gets schooled in the art of cross-examination by Dennis Kucinich. It would be on my required watching list for a trial practice class on how to effectively and completely handle a complete ass, and he did it in two minutes:

  19. Bdaman,
    I don’t know if Prof. Turley would have control of those interviews. I would think that MSNBC and any other media outlet would have control of the interview video.

  20. It’s all smoke and mirrors, Look at what happen the last time this came up in the court of public opinion. Look for Cheney to hit the air waves this week and call for all CIA documents to be released, then Obama saying he wants to look forward and not back.

Comments are closed.