1. The worst is yet to come…2. Opposition from within…3. George Tenet and Michael Hayden misled the public…4. All trails lead to the Vice President’s office. At several points, redactions begin just when the discussion is headed toward the supervision or direction of the program and context suggests that some figure far up the Washington food chain is intervening. Moreover, as Jane Mayer recounts in Dark Side, Helgerson’s report was shut down when he was summoned, twice, to meet with Dick Cheney, who insisted that the report be stopped. Cheney had good reason to be concerned. This report shows that the vice president intervened directly in the process and ensured that the program was implemented. The OPR report likewise shows Cheney’s office commissioning the torture memos and carefully supervising the process. It is increasingly clear that torture was Dick Cheney’s special project and that he was personally and deeply involved in it. And the CIA report has some amazing nuggets that show Cheney’s hand. In 2003, after Jay Bybee departed OLC, Cheney struggled to have John Yoo installed as his successor, but ultimately John Ashcroft’s candidate, Jack Goldsmith, prevailed. Goldsmith quickly backtracked on the torture authorizations that Yoo and Bybee gave. The result? The CIA stopped taking its cue from OLC and instead turned to the White House for guidance. It is remarkably vague on the particulars, and blackouts emerge just as passages seem to be getting interesting. But there’s little doubt that Dick Cheney and his staff were pushing the process from behind the scenes.5. Functioning of black sites…6. The CIA’s waltz with Justice…7. The “prior investigation” canard…
The whole article is worth reading. But 4. stands out from them all. I think Cheney’s making a mistake right now. He still thinks he can evade responsibility for what happened with Valerie Plame, with the prewar intelligence, with the torture memos and program. The longer this goes on, the more evidence is amassed and the looser people’s tongues are getting. He’s making Nixon’s mistake, Clinton’s mistake. He thinks he can cover all of this over. Scott Horton says "… there’s little doubt that Dick Cheney and his staff were pushing the process from behind the scenes." At the rate we’re going, pretty soon, there’s going to be no doubt at all. Maybe Cheney has no control over what’s emerging, but if he keeps lying, he’s going to fall into a very deep hole.
In South Dakota [not far from the Wyoming border], I visited an amazing site. In prehistory, there was a hole with an Artesian Spring at the bottom. Both Columbian and Wooly Mammoths couldn’t resist. Once in the hole, they couldn’t get out. So now there are a bunch of complete Mammoth skeletons in an in situ museum in Hot Springs, South Dakota. Cheney came to mind…
Can we hope then that cheney will become extinct?
Hope? I’m trying prayer…