More Bush-Cheney Misdeeds Rise To The Surface

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In direct contridiction to statements made by former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz during a media camapign earlier this year, Former Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency Director General Michael Hayden said that an internal CIA report expected to be released Monday will show that CIA interrogators did not uncover any imminent attacks.

Hayden made his remarks at a panel discussion on the privatization of US intelligence this morning at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Cheney had said on more then one ocassion that intelligence gained via waterboarding and enhanced interrogation techniques had in fact thwarted subsequent terrorist attacks and in his opinion, saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

Another revolation was revealed today about the Bush Administration following the release of an advance copy of a book authored by former Department of Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge. Going well beyond ambiguous speculation, Ridge states catagorically that the Bush Administrations insisted that his agency raise the national security threat level on the eve of the 2004 presidential election.

It had an immediate impact on the former Presidents approval rating and garnered his victory the following evening. Although not exactly a secret among that segement of America that keeps themselves abreast of such things, this long suspected scenario is nontheless chilling now that we know that the former President engaged in an act of terrorism by using the power of a federal agency for political gain.

Like all of the other Bush Administrations high crimes and misdomeanors, this is likely to be simply one more among many that will also go unprosecuted.
In addition to Hayden, former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and veteran CIA operations officer Jack Devine where also among the panel at this morning discussion at The National Press Club in Washington D.C.

The moderator, bestselling spy novelist Joseph Finder, kicked off the discussion with a brief statement acknowledging

New York Times and Washington Post stories that ran today. The two newspaper stories, detailing CIA’s employment of security contractor Blackwater (since renamed Xe) for a multimillion dollar terrorist ‘assassination’ program disclosed to Congress last month by CIA Director Leon Panetta, essentially refuted a story Finder published on The Daily Beast earlier this week.

Finder claimed that the program "wasn’t much more than a PowerPoint presentation," characterized the Panetta’s disclosure to Congress as a "gaffe," and so much as suggested that Panetta should resign.

Hayden and Chertoff used the panel discussion to defend CIA and DHS’ reliance on contractors, explaining that various factors, such as the need to ramp up new staffs quickly, and statutory constraints on hiring, caused an overreliance on contractors in the period immediately following 9/11.

Hayden described steps he and his deputy, Steve Kappes, took to stanch the flow of mid-career officers out of the CIA ranks into more lucrative contractor jobs, and how the percentage of contractor personnel disproportionately swelled in the ranks of ‘core support’ personnel that form the second echelon of intelligence workers behind ‘core’ personnel who serve as case officers or analysts.

Devine noted that the information technology revolution in intelligence business processes has driven much of the growth in intellgence contracting.
Questions on controversial intelligence issues cropped up when Finder opened the floor to discussion.

Hayden repeated his "look to the future, not back at the past"

mantra when asked about the possibility of a special prosecutor to investigate torture and detention, and also mentioned that Federal prosecutors had already deemed all but one of the referrals for criminal conduct related to detainee abuse as not worthy of prosecution.

Hayden also gave a general description of the effectiveness of the interrogation program included in the soon-to-be released CIA IG report. Hayden stated that six key paragraphs describe how the program achieved ‘modest success’ in learning about Al Qaeda organization and leadership, but did not uncover any imminent attacks.

Neither Hayden nor Chertoff acknowledged that in their roles as Bush administration policymakers, they could have taken action to forestall policies that have resulted or could result in litigation or prosecution.

Cheney Memoir Against His Presidential Loyalty Principal

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Immediately upon leaving office, the release of Department of Justice internal memos cast a far more sinister light on the former President and Vice President's instaiable appitite for war.

While former President George W. Bush quietly took up residence in the Huston suburbs, former Vice President Richard B.Cheney stayed behind in Washington. He and his daughter Liz, embarked on a media tour to sound the alarm over the new administrations "far left" agenda.

However, it soon became clear that the Cheney's focus was to validate the actions of the Bush Administration, and particularly the legal opinions coming out of the DOJ's Office of Legal Council that attempt to justify torture.

For the better part of two months, Liz Cheney defended, or attempted to defend her fathers actions and was usually left without a logical rebuttal, except "at the end of the day, they kept America safe for 8 years, " which most of the country did not agree with. In order for that statement to be true, George Bush and Dick Cheney would have had to pick up a rifle and stand a post in Afghanistan or Iraq, and we all know that didn't happen. However, we do know what happened the last time that Dick Cheney did pick up a rifle.

With Cheney's memoirs taking shape, it's clear that his distain for Geroge W. Bush goes beyond Bush's refusal to grant a Presidential pardon to Cheney's former Aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Bush did however commute Libby's sentance upon conviction in the Federal Court for purgery.

"In the second term, he felt Bush was moving away from him," said a participant in the recent gathering, describing Cheney's reply. "He said Bush was shackled by the public reaction and the criticism he took. Bush was more malleable to that. The implication was that Bush had gone soft on him, or rather Bush had hardened against Cheney's advice. He'd showed an independence that Cheney didn't see coming. It was clear that Cheney's doctrine was cast-iron strength at all times -- never apologize, never explain -- and Bush moved toward the conciliatory."

Some conservatives rebut the argument, noting that Bush was nothing if not stubborn in the face of political and public opposition. Commenting on the story, Joe Scarborough pointed out on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that Bush was defiant about the surge in Iraq despite the polls.

When former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and former White House press secretary Scott McClellan told tales out of school in their own books, Cheney blasted them in the media and said that The presidency is owed loyalty, or at least that was Cheney's view at the time.

That doesn't seem to be the case any longer since his own tell-all book will soon be going to press. Cheney is telling friends that "the statute of limitations has expired" on tensions between them. Last month, Time magazine reported that, Cheney was furious at Bush for not pardoning Scooter Libby, the vice presidential aide who, in Cheney's words, "was asked to stick his neck in the meat grinder" by not disclosing all he knew about who leaked CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to the press.

Cheney is apparently sharing his recollections with groups of friends and associates, sort of prepping them for the disclosures to come in his 2011 book. After one group session, one Cheney associate told the Post's Barton Gellman that the former vice president is mad at 43 for being "shackled" by public opinion:

Told in one session that Bush, in his own memoirs, hoped to explore his personal feelings, Cheney responded that he had no intention of doing that.