This is in response to comment #56226 by TAO Walker on 3/1 I really think you put the hammer to the nail.

These thugs will be put down to history as THUGS.

only thing to do to these liers is to IMPEACH, IMPEACH, AND WASTE NO TIME TO IMPEACH.

Margaret from Vancouver, Washington

I watched some of Jordanian King Abdullah’s speech to a joint session of Congress this morning. He gave a very forthright assesment of the total neglet by the Bush administration although not mentioning it by name, regarding the peace process in the Israel-Lebanon-Palestine region. Cheney looked like he was not a happy camper. He could barely muster up a half-hearted, limp applause even when Abdullah received standing applause from the entire assemblage. Obviously the king got his message through.

“Scooter’s” conviction opened the floodgates, finally getting public discussion going about why this story mattered in the first place.  now the trail is being closely tracked, back to Italy’s Berlosconi, stolen documents and official stamps used to forge those nasty Niger bs deals.  Bush personally met with Berlosconi, before 9/11, the CIA unmasked the documents as forgeries, yet they were ‘independently’ resurrected so W could use them to propegate his fear mongering campaign against America and invade innocent Iraq.  A intended goal from the beginning of Cheney’s neo-con wet dream of global domination. Treason.  No honorable opponent of this corupt administration, no man or woman of conscience, no American with pride in what America was and should forever be, especially noone in this congress, should bipartisanly cave.  We all must use every inch of our collective strength to impeach these treasonous enemies within.  As Scooter goes, so should go Shooter, Smirky et al.  They need to cease and desist their impending delusional intentions of furthering wars of ‘pre-emption’ immediately.  They are a clear and present danger and must be stripped of power before, with almost 2 years left to go, they drag us down their pathological path to certain destruction.  Impeach - NOW!

These criminals make Nixon and his gang look like a bunch of little leaguers. If there is A God he’s already made a reservation in hell for Cheney, Rumsfeld, W,and the rest of the Bushco neo-cons .

I don’t see any way around it: either Bush & Cheney lied through their teeth; or they were so utterly ignorant and incompetent that they were fooled. Take your pick.  I’ve taken mine.

Libby convicted---Yeah! Ye-haw! Ya-hoo! One step closer to putting that lying pile of smelly dung (Thanks ‘Trigger finger’ for the mental image of your good neighbor’s appropriate artwork) VP in the adjoining cell. Shouldn’t get too happy-footed though, because we all know that even if you cut the head off a snake it still has poisonous movement. You can surely believe this administration will do ANYTHING to try to squirm out of this one. ‘W’ will probably come up with a pardon to keep any more info about criminal activities of this administration from coming out. That’s all right, though, because it’s similar to Nixon firing the special prosecuter for Watergate, something that so incensed the public it lead to his impeachment/resignation. Improbable as it seems I believe this White House is even more devious, so I imagine attempts at bribery, assasinations, mysterious deaths attributed to suicide, etc, will be the order of the day. This administration, like the mob it is, has a lot of secret ‘black’ operations going on, and will go to any extremes to retain hold on their power. They have shown their under-handed methods too many times to have me believe they will go quietly into the night. They are on the run now so let’s keep their feet to the fire with numerous investigations and further indictments all the way up the chain of command. It is our duty and must not be neglected.

I have a neighbor friend who is a dairy farmer, after a long cold winter like this, out behind his dairy barn he has piled many large tractor loader piles of cow manure. This because he cleans his barn every day, and so he has a big new pile every day.  The manure is warm when he dumps it, but it soon freezes solid.  Before it freezes, he takes a pitch fork out there and he carefully molds each new pile into the face of Cheney.  He is a talented man and from a distance, they all look just like an image of the Vice President.  Pretty impressive, I wish you all could see and smell them.  This is how I will always remember Mr. Cheney and I would imagine historians will also. Just a big load of lying worthless stinky shit.

Conason is correct. Cheney has no credibility on anything anymore. People need to be patient. Events will move the Iraq war debate to the inevitable conclusion that the current policy is untenable. These things take time to materialize. Did anyone really expect this administration, or Republicans in congress to just roll over?

Democrats would do better to consistently remind the American public that this war is a Bush/GOP collaboration, which of course is reinforced each time Mitch McConnell refuses to allow debate even on empty resolutions. Nothing Democrats do will stop the surge now. Until the rank and file Republicans in the House, and Senate realize the potential damage they are doing to their own future by supporting this policy, nothing will change. They will come to realize this in the coming months, Bush/Cheney realize how little time they have before oversight committees and nervous border state politicians collapse their house of cards.

Meanwhile, sit back and enjoy the show!

Don’t pass too quickly over the cry to impeach Cheney. It has a better chance than impeaching Bush, a frightened phantom at best but still our “commander in chief during a war"--hard to impeach. Going after Cheney could work.

There’s enough to investigate and indict him on--from the secret oil meeting, the WMD strategy of deception and misinformation, cooking the CIA books on pre-war intelligence, the Halliburton rip off connection, firing honest generals, the outing of Plame, deliberate distortions of war reports, etc. These are acts of a traitor. With Cheney on the ropes, facing impeachment in the House, and with the votes likely there in the Senate for a close outcome for removal from office, he could resign or actually get removed and then Bush collapses, the foul wind blown out of him, deflating like a left over party balloon.

Cheney’s the unpleasant source of the implementation strategy for the neocons, Rove the designer. Cheney’s scorned enough by most Americans and lots of politicians that an impeachment try is worth it.  And he’s guilty as hell. Follow the money--and his trail of deceptions.

Comment #56478 by Bert on 3/03 at 2:18 am

One word says it all: Impeach.
------------------------------

Good word Bert, but there’s more than one that applies. Another word, trial. Another word, removal (from office). And another, punishment (to suit the crimes). Of course, the last step requires that the trial step find the defendant guilty...which historically (Andrew Johnson was tried in the Senate, and acquitted by a single vote) has never happened, and is unlikely to happen. But, with the sheer volume of criminality of this Vice-President and President, perhaps there’s some hope.

So, to reiterate, impeachment, trial, removal and punishment. Four verbs that truly say it all. If this country is to ever find it’s way back to it’s idealistic principles, principles made real during the Age of Enlightenment (that’s not today) these four verbs MUST lead the way to the actions required by their use, in this sequence, in strict adherence to law, and they must be done very soon.

If this is not done, when the day comes these criminals are done with abstract nouns (re: The War on Abstract Nouns, aka The War on Terror) and they need other words to declare war on, they’ll declare war on verbs...and if that happens, these words will certainly be imprisoned and tortured to death (hasn’t Bush been torturing words for a very long time?), and the Constitution (or as our President is reported to have called it “just a goddamn piece of paper) will cease to exist as anything other than a soundbite generator for future psychopaths.

Seriously, if these principles (which remain self-evident) and words/verbs are not followed, may god help us all.

All right,Congress, 3!

History will remember Dick Cheney much as it has Aaron Burr.

One word says it all: Impeach.

Little noticed in the news, after making it seem like Cheney was heroic for even going out of the country (he did it to hide really...from the Libby verdict), was the announcement that the bomber who blew himself up was THREE MILES AWAY. I wonder how much explosive material it would take to have ANY effect at that distance, or if ANY human could carry that much. Sounds coincidental rather than planned, but when has Republican ‘spin’ ever been anything other than delusional?

One of the most congenital and prolific liars in the history of the Republic.

Cheney is the most dishonest dispicable person ever to hold public office. Im sure he halled ass out of Afganistan when he heard that explosion. He probably didn’t take the time to wipe himself. Maybe the Taliban that he once supported didn’t get him, but he knows they are still there and he won’t be spending the night anytime soon in Afganistan. So much for the war on terror.

Kol Klink:

see the Asia Times report:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IB28Ak01.html

someone, at least one, is paying attention.

the Iraqis signed off on the American oil deal, and no one noticed that the USA WON the “war” for oil in Iraq.

If us pro-peace citizens would start talking about the Military Budget costing $820,000 per minute and an additional $216,000 per minute for Iraq, we might explosively penetrate the blizzard of flak that Mr.Cheney et Ilk spew into the zeitgeist.

I wonder if Chaney is for this war because he once worked for Haliburton.

This vice president really is gunning for Nancy Paloci and is because he is fearful of losing his position.

Bush made sighning statements and will veto everything that comes across his desk, makes you wonder if this president ever thinks about his job or he just does Chaneys bidding.

The most outspoken vicepresident ever, even Gore did not have as much power aas Chaney.

The solution to a lot of the problems faced by congress could be eliminated by really getting serious about Impeachment, because this administration has really ran rough shod over the American people.

Now we find out about Federal Procestors being forced from their job on a very short notice sounds political to me.

Not to forget about how the Walter Reed Hospital was pushing a problem under the rug, and then have the nerve to put it on the conditions of the building, the conditioon of the wonded veterans was not in the foumula, it says to those retuning from the war, if you are seriously injured you just have to make the best of the sitituation on your own or let your family pick up the pieces and help with your recovery.

Is this being done because the well to do need their tax break?

Margaret from Vancouver, Washington

Last throes of Cheney’s credibility? Huh? Where have you been Joe? Cheney’s credibility was long gone by the time he chose himself for Vice (and we do mean VICE) President. Take it back to his vote as a Congressman against censuring South Africa for the imprisonment of one of the great men of the 20th century, Nelson Mandella! By the way, Dicky was one of two, out of what, 435 congresspeople, to vote against the censure. If it hadn’t been for him, and his other illustrious associate (who’s name eludes me), the vote would have been unanimous. Gotta love that level of certitude, now dontcha.

Anyway, time to stop trying to be engaging with these criminals. Does anyone with a brain even listen to the deeply stupid (and loud) Chainsaw? He’s a man consumed with greed, ambition, and power, nothing else...and as long as you’ve got ambition, tenacity, and a stalwart inability to EVER apologize or equivocate, intelligence is not required. I used to think that he was intelligent, but the more I hear, the more I am convinced he’s as dumb as a rock, but not quite as compassionate. Funny how these “Christians” have no connection at all to the words mercy, or forgiveness, both of which, as far as I know, are cornerstones of christianity. Thus, it can be fairly pointed out, that along with being pathological liars, they are also NOT christians. Big news there, huh?

i cant seem to feel any confidence in the lame attempts by the democratic party, their half hearted attempts are having no success in repairing the damage that is being done in the name of financial power for the few

CHENEY SABOTAGE

Would somebody please investigate the possibility that Dick Cheney intentionally “outed” Valerie Plame Wilson in order to destroy the CIA intelligence gathering apparatus on Iran’s nuclear programs.  After four years, someone surely has access to the CIA’s after-action report on the damage inflicted by the outing of Wilson (along with the front company Brewster-Jennings).  By destroying a legitimate intelligence gathering operation, Cheney could then rely on his own made-up data to justify a war on Iran.

Steve said: “...The case for invasion and occupation of Iraq is so full of lies and deception that it is a challenge to sort it all out...”

This is the essential problem. Everyone who challenges the Bushitter gang of thugs on the war concentrates on the LIES and ignores the truth.

When the man who was in a motel with a floozy tells his wife he was at the library and she finds out that the library was closed, she can’t divorce him just because he lied; she has to get at the truth about where he actually was and what he was doing there. His next story may be that he was with some people planning her birthday party, or he was buying her a gift, so unless she goes after the REAL truth, she will never nail it and know what to do about it.

It’s a magician’s act; distract and divert with one hand while the other does the trick: the Bushitter thugs have to keep on lying because the truth is too ugly and too vicious. Also it means admitting that they covet, lie, murder, and steal. There is no point to rambling on and on about the lies, which are after all, just lies and have no purpose save to divert. Concentrate on the truth.

I mean maybe I’m stupid or somethin’ but your title really threw me.  Are you sayin’ that some folks actually found credibility in DICK CHENEY!  I mean whaz zat bout’?

It occurs to this old Indian that most if not all of the puzzlement, incredulity, angst, and downright despair that has come to weigh-down so much of the commentary and discussion about the perilous condition our condition is in today derives largely from a failure so far to grasp the sheer magnitude of what is taking place.  While so many continue to conceptualize and address it in political terms, and thus limit their range of responses to political actions that’ve already proven not only ineffective, but increasingly irrelevant, those driving the process have succeeded completely in their efforts to not only characterize but to actually make of it a genuine existential crisis.

This was clearly the intent from the outset.  No wonder it has such a grip on the minds of that hard-core thirty percent of end-times obsessed religionists for whom the entire world, if not the whole cosmos, is caught-up in just exactly that kind of all-or-nothing scenario, here in these latter days.  No wonder, too, that anyone trying to comprehend the shape, content, and direction of current events from any lesser point-of-view (be it economic, ethnic, ideological, nationalistic, scientific, or supercalifragilistic) is dead-certain to come-up more-or-less woefully short of an understanding anywhere near sufficient to the demands of this undeniably dire situation.

The Bush/Cheney junta flack who boasted openly of their total management of “reality” got flogged in effigy for such “hubris.” Here on the Rez we didn’t miss the irony of it all.  You had someone not only rubbing the mediocracy’s nose in it’s own shortcomings, he or she was at the same time giving the reporter, and indeed all of us, a perfect illustration of the permanently behind-the-curve position to which the fourth estate had been summarily relegated. That had to’ve smarted something fierce.

When you’re working to a timeline you calculate in centuries, in an arena you see as global, even interplanetary, everybody else’s “reality-based” horizons become petty, trivial, unworthy even of notice, much less serious consideration.  People with fifteen-second attention spans, wrapped in the illusory comfort of their “personal space,” have in-a-sense volunteered for the ruthless exploitation, by more far-seeing (and -reaching) individuals, to which they are invariably subject. 

There are of course definite limits to the actual lengths such grand strategists can “putch” their after-all only wannabe world-shattering schemes.  These limits originate within the already crippled and inevitably inadequate personalities of the schemers themselves.  Those who would rule by fear are always the most fear-ridden among us.  This fatal flaw works its way into everything they attempt, until things reach a point not very far from where they are today....and beyond which none of us will consent to go on living.

HokaHey!

I agree with Sam Snedegars post...up to a point.

Sam is assuming that we now have or will have control of Iraq oil. That is far from a foregone conclusion.

I do not believe that we can protect our ‘enduring bases’ in Iraq and if we cannot do so we will not control Iraqi oil.

Cheney might be a fair hand at shooting lawyers but the Iranians invented chess. The neo-cons are way out of their depth.

Imperialisim is an expensive endeavor and needs to pay handsomely to off set costs. We lost the Nam but it was for peanuts compared to Iraq (no disrespect intended for all of our troops that sacraficed so much.) If we blow this one we could easily end up a second rate power. This one is for all the marbles. Since it is for all the marbles I believe its time to fire these amature incompetents and hire some pros that might be able to accomplish the real goal of Iraqi oil control.

“Little Miss Sunshine” world tour 2007!

It’s so rare, but so appreciated (like a breath of fresh air), when someone in power has the guts to speak the truth. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., did that. On January 25th., he said Dick Cheney was “delusional”, and he was right.

Off-topic, but crucially important news:

Demands for an investigation into coercion of nations by the US during the vote against Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), have been growing following the revelations by a former ranking official of the Bush administration acknowledging that India’s votes at the IAEA in 2005 and 2006 had been “coerced.”

In a talk just over a week ago at the Institute for Defence (sic) Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, Stephen G. Rademaker — who left his job as Assistant Secretary for Non-proliferation and International Security at the U.S. State Department last December - said, referring to India’s changing attitude towards non-proliferation, “[t]he best illustration of this is the two votes India cast against Iran at the IAEA. I am the first person to admit that the votes were coerced.”

[snip]

Professor Abbas Edalat of Campaign Iran said today;
“The revelation that the US coerced India into voting against Iran on this crucial issue is of global significance. It brings into question the entire legitimacy of the decision by the Governors’ Board of the IAEA to refer Iran to the Security Council and the consequent passing of Resolutions 1696 and 1737 and any future resolutions against Iran the UN might pass.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArt icle&code=20070301&articleId=4970

Cheney is a legend in his own mind.

I am incredibly disheartened. Why do the Democrats still need time to come up with an effective strategy to counteract Cheney and Bush? Were they not swept to power precisely because the American populace repudiated the policies of this Republican President, Republican Vice-President, and the previous Republican-led, rubber-stamp Congress? I will be the first to give them that latitude if I had some assurance that they were all sailing in the same direction regarding Iraq. But, from what I have seen on TV and read in the papers, the Democrats are so incredibly fractured and so easy to pit against each other that I have little confidence in their ability to put up an effective front against Cheney and Bush. They are a CASTRATED MAJORITY because they can’t come anywhere close to a consensus. Well how’s this for a starting point towards consensus - UPWARDS OF THREE-FIFTHS OF THE POPULATION WANT THE UNITED STATES TO PULL OUT OF IRAQ! I can’t understand what the Democrats are so terrified by! Bush, Cheney, and their mouthpieces have no credibility whatsoever (except with their fanatical base). Even if the Republican spin machine tries to paint them as unpatriotic by not supporting the troops, they seem to forget, OVER 60% OF AMERICANS WANT US OUT OF IRAQ. Isn’t that a SOLID MANDATE? The Democrats had better be careful. After 6 years of this administration’s insanity the people that gave them the majority have very limited patience. It is IMPERATIVE that they step up to the plate and prove that the United States is still a representative democracy, not a messianic autocracy.

Cheney’s credibility ? He’s never had a tiny bit of that luxurious item in his life. Stop talking funny !

I feel like I have awakened from a restful and peaceful sleep and have now plunged into a nightmare.  It’s all very surreal to me.  Never in my wildest dreams did I ever envision America such as it is now.

“...Rather than engage in honest debate over a saner course in Iraq, the vice president has resorted to the same discredited rhetoric used by him and his allies from the beginning...”

Iraq is not the debacle you depict. Iraq is where the USA got the oil. While lying is bad, there is really no way that Cheney or Bush can be allowed to “come clean” and admit to the truth, which is that they coveted oil, lied us into a war so as to steal (control of) oil, and killed hundreds of thousands in the process.

It really doesn’t matter whether we ever pump any oil out of Iraq; what matters is that we control it and COULD pump it at a price we designate in DOLLARS, not euros or yen or juan or francs or pesos. The oil amounts to the same thing as the Indiana tycoon’s gravel pit or gas wells: it doesn’t matter whether he ever quarries or moves one rock or one truck of gas so long as he has it, he can use it for collateral to build office buildings and shopping malls and make money money money.

So we have been in a “war” for longer than we were in WW2 and have only around three thousand casualties? that is about one percent of what we sustained in a real war, and easily worth it if you talk about what will happen if we DO NOT steal control of oil somewhere on earth. Yes, we might survive with coal alone, but not in the profligate way we have done for forty years.

Do we REALLY want to hear the truth from Cheney and his sock puppet? We used to hear it from Scheer, but no more . . . we only hear it now from Palast, who publishes overseas with someone who cares more about the truth than about keeping on making mountains of money out of lies and evasions.

Sorry, but W, Dick, and Karl look like masters of the game, still.  30 percent of voters still kneel to them, and another 25 percent (enough to have a funcitioning majority) are maleable by scare-mongering or splintered on other issues.  Now they’ve cuckholded a supposedly Democratic controlled House.  Few Democrats will dare vote to cut off funds or terminate the occupation, for fear of an awkward withdrawal, whose disgrace would be compounded by hounding from the Right.  This would gain them no votes or contributions in 2008.  Obama will muddle forward on a platform that becomes indistinguishable from Nixon’s “peace with honor,” which will translate to an open-ended multi-year improvisation.  The “surge” has already resulted in scattering US troops in dangerous mini-posts, which will be indefinite hostages to a stay the course posture, and make any withdrawal doubly-messy.  In reality, we have close to zero power to engineer a stable outcome in Iraq, but the White House still has near complete dominion over the means to keep us stuck their or sink us even deeper.  A breakthrough with China gave us cover to exit Vietnam in the 1070s.  No such windfall is likely to present itself in the case of Iraq.  The “mainstream” leaders are terrified of losing face, and feel compelled to keep some sort of permanent presence, so our 2008 elections are unlikely to yield a decisive change.  The people loyal to the Administration’s aims will be rewarded with appointments and sincecures.  Dissenters will be at risk of obsucrity, poverty, and life-long threat of slander from the demonizers of the Right.  Credibility and candor do not translate to money in the bank.

Conason makes good points about the Democrats trying to find an effective way to stop Bush and Cheney from continuing their killing and destruction.

Limiting Bush, Cheney, the neocons and war profiteers (and all the connections between them) is difficult.

The case for invasion and occupation of Iraq is so full of lies and deception that it is a challenge to sort it all out.

Now, as the same players who pushed the invasion of Iraq plan to attack Iran, the situation is getting more complex and dangerous.

For more on this, the article below may be helpful:

“Will Bush, Cheney attack Iran? When and why?”

By Steve Hammons
Columnist, PopulistAmerica.com
Populist Party of America
February 2, 2007

http://www.populistamerica.com/will_bush_cheney_attack _iran_when_and_why

If the stated objective before the war was to create and maintain permanent military bases in the heart of the middle east; then the mission has been accomplished. Everything else is just noise.

Imagine a holiday that crossed all borders all religions all races all species. The grandest holiday of all. Everyone everywhere dancing in the streets.  It almost happened in Pakistan on Monday.

The neocon agenda is worldwide domination through the use of military force, and to act preemptively if required. That is, to keep the detractors in line.  The invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan is part of this ongoing process; to establish themselves strategically in this region. The objective is to control the resources in the region and to contain those nations which challenge its hegemony.

Dick Cheney appears to have a lead role in this quest for world power. He is not shy about pursuing his aims with vigor and expresses contempt for those who disagree with his methods. He expects obedience from all Americans, and that includes his opposition. The recently elected Democrats are no exception. And, most of them have apparently fallen in line and agree with the leadership provided by the Executive Branch.

Power is concentrated in the Branch and that is why they can continue to act with impunity and ignore the wishes of Congress and the will of the American people.  Dick Cheney knows these things. The U.S. is an empire with intentions.  It is also a military industrial complex. This Complex would die if men like Cheney were not there to protect it and its interests.

It is obvious that Cheney et al. don’t care whether Americans have confidence in them or not. This is nothing less than a coup.

Arrest Cheney for war crimes. He lied about WMD, he lied about so much. What about his role in 9/11? For suspending our Bill of Rights? For eviscerating the Geneva Conventions?

Lack of confidence? Is that all you can come up with? I am pretty confident that Mr. Darth Vader is trying to take over the world, starting with the Middle East. He’s a tyrant, a dictator. He’s no better than Hitler.