Last week, the New York Times reported that, in 2002, Dick Cheney urged President Bush to illegally deploy American troops to the suburbs of Buffalo to apprehend a group of terrorist suspects (the “Lackawanna Six”). Bush rejected the advice.
Reacting to the news, Lackawanna’s Mayor told the Buffalo News that illegal behavior is exactly what he would expect from the Bush administration:
“I wouldn’t expect anything less of the Bush administration,” Lackawanna Mayor Norman L. Polanski Jr. said in reacting to Cheney’s proposal to send in the troops. “The federal agents did their job and the Lackawanna police did their job. We didn’t need the military coming in. The community reacted cautiously, and nobody got out of hand or made outrageous statements.” [...]
“I wouldn’t expect anything less of the Bush administration,” Lackawanna Mayor Norman L. Polanski Jr. said in reacting to Cheney’s proposal to send in the troops. “The federal agents did their job and the Lackawanna police did their job. We didn’t need the military coming in. The community reacted cautiously, and nobody got out of hand or made outrageous statements.” [...]
“If you bring in the military, you create a panic,” Lackawanna Police Captain Ronald Miller said.
Bobby Green, a lifelong Lackawanna resident, said Cheney’s idea was “kind of crazy.” Andrew Sullivan writes, “What Cheney was doing here was making a point: that he believes that the president can impose the equivalent of martial law inside the country at any moment he feels it’s necessary, even if it isn’t.” (HT: Raw Story)
Jon Stewert Thank You Boston
Colbert Report On 4th of July