We! The People Webzine: The Case Against Cheney by Ron McBride

The Case Against Cheney

by Ron McBride
January 30, 2007

Since day one, we have, for the most part, all assumed that it was the Vice Presidents office that leaked the information about Valarie Plame, violating the federal law that bars the "outing" of intelligence operatives.

Vice President Dick Cheney wrote a memo that effectively confirms his intimate involvement in strategizing about how to counter the inquiry into the Bush administration's politically motivated outing of CIA operative Valarie Plame. This was revealed in the former vice presidential chief of staff "Scooter" Libby's trial on charges of obstructing a federal investigation.

This blatant conspiracy to punish a critic of the Bush administration is just like one of the articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon in the seventies, who by the way was Dick Cheney's boss at the time. One could say he learned at the knee of the master.

Cheney is the architect of the arguments for going to war. He is the one who used the media to defend his choices, even when there was evidence that he was wrong. Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, who had become a critic of the White House and its pre-war claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction in a New York Times opinion piece that appeared in the summer of 2003, had ticked Cheney and crew off, and they like children in their spitefulness decided to get even, thus the leak to the press about Plame.

In all fairness, while Bush in his 2003 State of the Union address only fuzzed up the works with his remarks, it was Cheney who made the pre-war declaration that, "We know Saddam Hussein's been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons, and we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons." It was the vice president who continued to claim, long after Bush had dropped the line, that Saddam Hussein was a nuclear threat.

It was Cheney who had a little war going on with the CIA, because he felt they weren't coming up with more evidence of Iraqi WMDs and al-Qaeda connections. It was he who badgered CIA briefer to get him the evidence, and when they didn't provide what he wanted demanded that someone else brief him until he found someone who would say what he wanted to hear. Even the Republican lead House Intelligence Committee complained in a letter of reprimand, "These visits are unprecedented. Normally, vice presidents, including yourself, receive regular briefings from (the) CIA in your office and have a CIA officer on permanent detail. There is no reason to make personal visits to the CIA."

There is no one in Washington more vicious and vindictive than Dick Cheney. Along with his henchmen, former Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Sec. Of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, White House political czar Karl Rove and, more importantly, his (Cheney's) Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby they are the core of a so called Conservative Advocacy for American World Leadership (read domination). They are worst in my opinion than the so-called Mafia.

Cheney, former Nixon yes man, former congressman, former Sec of Defense, has since he became Vice President burning bridges to our NATO allies, he has taken every opportunity to thumb his nose at old Europe and our allies there. How the rest of the world views the U.S., has taken a pounding since Bush took office in world opinion, and Bush, Cheney and the rest of the neocon gang are doing nothing to change that view.

Cheney set out to increase defense spending significantly so he could carry out his global ambitions, under the guise of modernizing our armed forces for the future, to challenge regimes hostile to his interests and values (read pocketbook), to advance his vision of America's unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to security, prosperity, and his personal principles. That his greedy agenda, had destroyed world opinion of America was just too bad. That his ill-conceived agenda was adding one-half Trillion (not millions, not billions, but trillions) to the National Debt annually was just too bad. That Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution places the power and the duty to raise and support the military forces of the United States in the hands of the Congress, instead of leaving it up to the whims of the Corporate Elite was just too damn bad.

Dick Cheney is a "radical conservative", one who believes that any American who opposes his views is an enemy of America (his America) and should be locked up in detention camps (read concentration camps).

One wonders when, not if, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald (who heads the investigation into the Valarie Plame Affair) will get fired. His investigation is turning up more and more evidence that Cheney has lead the campaign of lies and deceit that has come to dominate the Bush Administration.

Today I call for George W. Bush to stand up for once in his life, to put a stop to the obvious campaign to prove Vice President Dick Cheney "not guilty." To salvage some respect if not for you for America. To immediately demand the resignation of Vice President Cheney.

I realize that you all adhere to the words of Ben Franklin, "We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." But if you insist on maintaining this façade then you will understand other words by that same famous statesman, ""They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." We The People will not give up our essential liberty, we will fight to make things right at home and in the world, and we are done preaching we will be impeaching.

Ron McBride
WeDemocrats.org
Founder & Chairman
Publisher of WE! the People online magazine
ron@wedemocrats.org

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Ron McBride is the author of numerous articles on Democracy. He is founder and Chair of WeDemocrats.org. His writings may be found at We! The People http://wedemocrats.org/wtp/wtp.htm, www.WeDemocrats.org and www.MyTown.ca/mcbride/ plus blogs such as http://www.dailykos.com:80/user/WeDemocrats and http://www.mydd.com:80/user/WeDemocrats