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Ear to the Ground

Book: Cheney Deceived GOP Leader on Iraq

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Posted on Sep 17, 2008
Dick Cheney
White House / David Bohrer

How far was Dick Cheney (right) willing to go to get his war in Iraq? Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, quoted in Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman’s new book, says the vice president hoodwinked him during a one-on-one meeting in the Capitol.

Armey claims he was wavering on the Iraq war, until Cheney fed him a bunch of bunk about suitcase nukes and the like.

“Did Dick Cheney ... purposely tell me things he knew to be untrue? ... I seriously feel that may be the case. ... Had I known or believed then what I believe now, I would have publicly opposed [the war] resolution right to the bitter end.”

That’s Armey, in a quote from the book as reported by The Washington Post, perhaps doing a bit of legacy polishing.

One might ask the distinguished gentleman from Texas why he didn’t bother to request any intelligence during his private cherry-picking session.


Washington Post:

A GOP congressional leader who was wavering on giving President Bush the authority to wage war in late 2002 said Vice President Dick Cheney misled him by saying that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had direct personal ties to Al Qaeda terrorists and was making rapid progress toward a suitcase nuclear weapon, according to a new book by Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman.

Cheney’s accusations, described by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas, came in a classified one-on-one briefing in the vice president’s office in the Capitol.

The threat Cheney described went far beyond public statements that have been criticized for relying on “cherry-picked” intelligence of unknown reliability. There was no intelligence to support the vice president’s private assertions, Gellman reports.

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By tj21, September 21, 2008 at 2:29 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Is there any more proof you need, America? Is there anyone with a modicum, an infinitessimal speck of sense that can adequately defend these two criminals? Is there any one out there that dares defend the coward from Crawfordsville? Bush and his cronies have done nothing more than defraud the American public of tax dollars time after time, they have used lies, lies and more lies to garner support for their wicked schemes, they have arrogantly and defiantly refused to abide by court sanction time after time…had enough? How many more wars do you need before you will face the facts? How many more innocent people will die needlessly before we the people of this country rise up and do the right thing?

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By Inherit The Wind, September 18, 2008 at 10:56 am #

I love how Republican leaders show how they were against something, or were “lied to” by the Bush WH only when it becomes clear that the policy is a dismal failure, bordering on criminal?

That’s the story of Armey—ethics and morals came after, not when it mattered and when it counted.

Still, that’s better than an Orren Hatch or a Ted Stevens or a Newt Gingrich who NEVER developed them, even after.

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By Purple Girl, September 18, 2008 at 9:48 am #

Try forming the Word “NO”, it should be relatively easy for Repugs, they spend so much time with their mouths in the ‘O’ Formation while blowing the Corps- just try the ‘n’ sound before it!
Of course there are a Few Dems who should give it a try too….the DLC members, Pelosi, Reid (but we’ll be getting rid of them soon too anyways)
Ever Heard the Phrase ‘Reading is Fundemental’, the facts were there, but the Repugs and their Cohorts in Blue couldn’t be bothered to read it while they were struggling to get their Flag Lapel Pins on after 9/11 (camoflague for Decades of Treason)!

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By nrobi, September 18, 2008 at 4:32 am #

As you all know by now, the neo-conservative cabal run by the shrub and Darth Vader at the behest of the emperor, Karl Rove, have raped and pillaged this country to the point that we are now a debtor nation.
Unless the people, not the Democrats or Republicans win this election, we the people, will never know the full truth regarding the deceptive and misleading practices of this administration.
As for Dick Armey, is he truly the one to blow the whistle on this government?  I think not. For he participated in the run-up to the “war on terror,” with eyes wide shut, and no compunction regrading the loss of life that has already occurred and will continue to occur, if we do not leave the Middle East immediately.
The shrub and Darth Vader, along with the emperor, are war criminals and should be treated by the people of this government as such. We are looking at the back end of an administration that is the most egregious example of an imperial presidency that this country has ever encountered. Even Abraham Lincoln, at his worst, was not half the imperial president that the shrub is.
We, the people, need to shed the light of day on this administration and let these law-breakers and thieves go to prison where they belong. If this does not happen, then a new round of law-breaking and “nation building,” will happen at the expense of the American people.
I for one will gladly escort the shrub and Darth Vader to the World Court at the Hague, no questions asked.
We are now at the crossroads of an era, the new and expanded criminal government called democracy, or a government of, by and for the people, that has at its root, a law abiding and consensus building form of government, that takes into account the people and their needs and not the corporate welfare that has happened under the shrub.

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By mackTN, September 17, 2008 at 10:27 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

That’s why this presidential race is so important.  Democrats must get their hands on the keys to the file cabinets and put this story together.  Bush/Cheney deliberately misled this country into war and plunged us into the worst economic chaos since the depression.  Just how much money do we owe China and is our debt the reason China was able to make an oil deal with Iraq?  Is our debt the reason China continues to export lethal products to our country with impunity?

If Republicans win this election, Bush will be protected like Ford protected Nixon.  And the American people will never learn the truth and never regain secure footing in this democracy. 

But something is throwing the Republicans into a panic.  The past couple of days I’ve picked up signs on web sites and from talk radio that they are worried.  If they have to, the Repubs will stop at nothing to win…the worst is yet to come.

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By Blackspeare, September 17, 2008 at 6:52 pm #

Wow, a high government official accusing of being a liar!  Well, as for Dick Armey——takes one to know one!!!

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By Allan Krueger, September 17, 2008 at 5:27 pm #

SHOCKING and IT COMES IN THE SHAPE OF A MUSHROOM CLOUD! CHENEY and BUSH should be on trial as WAR CRIMINALS!

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