Cheney Uncloaks His Frustration With Bush ('Statute of Limitations Has Expired' per Cheney)

[UpInArms]

Source: Washington Post

In his first few months after stepping down, former vice president Richard B. Cheney threw himself into public combat against the "far left" agenda of the new commander in chief. More private reflections, as his memoir takes shape in slashing longhand on legal pads, have opened a second front against Cheney's White House partner of eight years, George W. Bush.

Cheney's disappointment with the former president surfaced recently in one of the informal conversations he is holding to discuss the book with authors, diplomats, policy experts and past colleagues. By habit, he listens more than he talks, but Cheney broke form when asked about his regrets.

"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."

<snip>

"If he goes out and writes a memoir that spills beans about what took place behind closed doors, that would be out of character," said Ari Fleischer, who served as White House spokesman during Bush's first term.

Yet that appears to be precisely Cheney's intent. Robert Barnett, who negotiated Cheney's book contract, passed word to potential publishers that the memoir would be packed with news, and Cheney himself has said, without explanation, that "the statute of limitations has expired" on many of his secrets. "When the president made decisions that I didn't agree with, I still supported him and didn't go out and undercut him," Cheney said, according to Stephen Hayes, his authorized biographer. "Now we're talking about after we've left office. I have strong feelings about what happened. . . . And I don't have any reason not to forthrightly express those views."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/12/AR2009081203306_pf.html

---

I hope I live to see the day this piece of shit is wearing an orange jumpsuit

[bemildred]

1. Now THAT is chutzpah. nt

[polichick]

2. He makes Bush look like a Boy Scout. nt

[DCKit]

7. Or a Puppet. Or a Tool. Or a Mark. Or a Knave. Or a Child, etc....

Thank Dog Bush got a clue in his second term. If Darth Cheney'd had his way, the entire planet would probably be a nuclear wasteland.

But your legacy is still "Worst pResident Ever", Georgie.

On Edit:

There is no statute of limitations on War Crimes or Treason, Dick.

[Beartracks]

25. Funny, I thought "tool" too...

Even though the tool might have become duller than Cheney would have preferred, I think a lot others still got use out if it, er, Bush.

[global1]

34. I Think That Is Really His Intention......

make Bush look good. Rewrite history - create a fictitious legacy of the worst President in history. Soften him up a bit. Ari Fleischer is part of the plan to seed the thought to get people to read the book.

They lied to us for 8 years - what makes anybody believe that they would tell the truth now?

[caseymoz]

39. Because the Bush administration was a failure for Republicans.

So, now the blame starts.

[hedgehog]

3. Gee, I wonder if he'll manage to get all his secrets unclassified.

[bluestateguy]

4. I may swallow my pride and actually buy his book

This could get interesting. What seems clear here is that these two men are no longer friends.

[Sub Atomic]

11. Please don't give them another sale.

Pick it up at the library.

[wordpix]

16. I won't. I'll get it at the library - I don't want this POS to make any more $

[generalbetrayus]

28. Save your money. Just go over to Richard Mellon Scaife's house

and get one for free. He'll buy a million copies and most will end up in the dumpster behind his house.

[WatchWhatISay]

36. Who is the publisher

Regnery or Harper Collins?

[caseymoz]

38. I may borrow it from the library. nt

[ShockediSay]

5. i didn't think there was a statute of limitations on treason n/t

[wordpix]

17. lol

[imnKOgnito]

27. This is exactly why I read all the replies first....

I knew someone had to have beaten me to this particular one.

[santamargarita]

6. Maybe he should take the little Turd hunting

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. The one thing I regret about not being a religious person

is that I don't get to look forward to this son of a bitch frying in Hell.

[JohnnyLib2]

10. !!

:rofl:

[Old and In the Way]

9. If we're lucky, Bush will return the favor and reveal Cheney's

various crimes. Lots of them.

Hey George, how drunk was Dick when he shot his shooting buddy in the face? :rofl:

[bigworld]

12. The Bush Family & friends won't take kindly to this.

Can't wait to watch the sparks fly!

[wordpix]

18. hmmm, maybe a hunting "accident" will befall poor dickhead

[catzies]

52. Agreed. Their motto is "BFEE Loyalty uber alles." n/t

[unkachuck]

13. the organ grinder....

....is pissed off at his chimp?

....somebody has to go down for eight totally fucked-up years that has destroyed our country....somebodys' name has to be uttered with contempt by generations yet to come....

....are we going to have an honest explanation?,no....an apology?,no....any remorse or regret?,no....just more of the same; just a battle for historical spin....

[chollybocker]

14. 'Ladies and Gentlemen, the circular firing squad will now form on the right.'

('Now I have to re-write the whole chapter on Harriet Miers!')

[Grins]

15. Stephen Hayes? 'Yer shitting me.

Stephen Hayes is his "authorized biographer"? Oh, that's perfect. One lying criminal lying for another.

[wordpix]

19. "The Lies that Bind Us" - book title

let's hear more book titles :)

[UpInArms]

21. Lies of the Lying Liars

by the Puppetmaster

[irislake]

20. It will never happen.

Too bad. Millions wish it all over the world. Pure evil.

[The Backlash Cometh]

22. Cheney is a real ego-maniac.

Do you all think he's our generation's Hitler?

[wordpix]

23. he might have been, had he been president when younger

As veep, he did not have ultimate power. And as a sick old man, he just didn't have it in him to load people into cattle cars and send them off to die.

[Mind_your_head]

35. He ONLY ordered a war on an oil-rich mostly defenseless country

cattle cars not needed. That doesn't mean that the people of Iraq and Afghanistan have been treated any less cruelly.

-------

I have a PROBLEM with people who have been treated cruelly thinking it is okay to treat other people with the same cruelty that has been served up to them.

[David Zephyr]

24. Hey Dick Cheney: There's no statute of limitations on murder.

Cheney: "the statute of limitations has expired".

Err...sorry, there's no statue of limitations on murdering ways. One million dead in Iraq because of you.

[Hawkeye-X]

26. The statute of limitations will never run out on you mofo.

Especially if you conspired to commit murders all over the world.

[Betty]

29. Pure evil

and he's getting off scot free. The worse the crime, the less the punishment.

[rumpel]

30. ...

:popcorn:

[goclark]

31. Orange would be my favorite color for that evil man

ROFL at the vision of the orange jumpsuit ~ How sweet that would be!

[Norrin Radd]

32. Limited hangout.

[Mind_your_head]

33. *cough* read: bullshit whenever the cheney speaks..

cheney is one d*mn evil dangerous bastard.

[Libertas1776]

37. So

Darth Cheney was angry that his young apprentice, Herbertwalker, had crossed over to the slightly less dark side?

[Hekate]

40. Oh do tell all, Dick. A nation awaits your insights with bated breath and handcuffs ready....

Don't hold yourself back, you evil old git.

Hekate

[Solly Mack]

41. America's love affair with its war criminals continues

Otherwise they'd be in prison...or on their way. Instead it is books deals, newspaper articles about book deals or he said this/he said that gossip, teaching jobs, TV spots, sitting on the bench....

[SpiralHawk]

42. "Commander AWOL was a weenie chickenhawk. Sneer." - xVP Dickie 'Five-Military Deferments' Cheney (R)

[leveymg]

43. There is no SOL for murder and treason. Go ahead, publish your memoires, Dick.

[Sanity Claws]

44. Did he really refer to the statute of limitations?

That's an admission that a crime was committed and he did it.

I'd say that's admissible evidence.

[Peace Patriot]

45. "The statute of limitations has run out." Hm. That fits with my theory of an immunity deal

that was given to Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, brokered by Daddy Bush (with top military brass, and insider politicos and corpos involved), to stop them from nuking Iran, and to get them to leave the White House when the time came. I think Daddy Bush got involved because Junior was in big trouble, in way over his head with these two. Their goal all along had been nuking Iran. The military thought that was nuts (for a lot of reasons, including that Russia and China might have come in, on Iran's side.) The CIA was furious about a number of things, including the outing not just of one agent but of their entire WMD counter-proliferation project (which probably got some CIA agents or foreign assets killed--maybe a lot--and crippled their ability to track WMDs). They were about to take the Bush Junta down. Daddy Bush intervened. Circa 2005 (behind the scenes during Katrina). He formed the Iraq Study Group as the cover for the intervention. (Leon Panetta was a member of the ISG, by the way--one of the bits of evidence that he is no "inexperienced" civilian, brought in to head a highly secretive agency against whom the Bush Junta had declared war.) After that point--2005-2006--Cheney/Rumsfeld were no longer in charge of foreign policy (Bush Jr had never been), Rumsfeld resigned (late '06) and the talk of nuking Iran went away.

It is very curious, indeed, that Bush Jr issued not a single pardon in his last weeks in office. I think the reason is that he didn't need to. The principles were all immunized. How far down the chain that immunity goes is an interesting question. It obviously did not include Libby (about which Cheney has done considerable whining), and this is probably because Libby was the point man for the war against the CIA.

"I have strong feelings about what happened. . . . And I don't have any reason not to forthrightly express those views."--Cheney (according to his authorized biographer).

It'll be interesting to see how far he actually goes in describing "what happened." He may already be violating understandings connected to "the deal" by being so visible, criticizing Obama (who clearly had to have agreed to "the deal" to be permitted into the White House*), and threatening exposures.

Bear in mind that most of these "players" must have considerable dossiers on each other. This may be how they got Rumsfeld out. (Did he do 9/11? That's my guess, that he was the main perp, and somebody has the goods on him for that.) And this may also be how the immunity side of "the deal" is guaranteed. If there is any move to prosecute Cheney, Rumsfeld or other principles, they will unleash a Pandora's box of dossier material (and head for the UAE, where the sheiks have posh penthouses all furnished and everything**).

If my theory is correct--and this "deal" occurred--we may have been spared Armageddon (by a powerful insider coalition with a mix of motives), but "the deal" at the same time, in a sense, sacrificed our democracy. It restored the illusion of democracy and normalcy, but "we the People" were entirely excluded from it all, including our right to hold our leaders accountable and to prosecute vast criminality in high office.

"Impeachment is off the table." (WHAT "table"?)

----------------------------------

*(--to not get Diebolded, or "Swift-boated" or "scream-taped.")

**(Paraguay is out, as a refuge for war criminals. They rescinded their non-extradition law, and their immunity for the U.S. military, and elected a leftist government--like all sensible countries are doing in South and Central America. Democracy is becoming real south of the border; not so much here.) (Note: Halliburton moved its headquarters to the UAE about a year ago.)

[DebbieCDC]

55. Excellent points, PeacePatriot

[Roland99]

46. Obama is "far left"???

Well, when one is way to the right of Hitler....

[Blasphemer]

47. The man is sheer evil

Bush didn't show sufficient resolve = He didn't expand the war into Iran. Cheney wants to save the country from danger? He and his crooks created the dangers (nternal and external) that exist.

[E-Z-B]

48. Anyone know what Free Repubyuck is saying about this?

[supernova]

49. Memoirs to reveal Dick Cheney thought Bush had gone soft on war on terror

Source: The Guardian

The rift came to light as Cheney, the driving force behind many of Bush's hardline actions – the invasion of Iraq, the torture of terrorist suspects – discussed his forthcoming memoirs with former colleagues and policy experts.

What emerged from the latest account of Cheney's disgruntlement was that the former vice-president thought Bush had gone soft in the last years of his presidency as he veered away from the "you are with us or you are against us" approach following the September 11 attacks in 2001.

In the last days of his administration, Bush halted the waterboarding of terrorist suspects, closed secret CIA prisons, sought congressional approval for domestic surveillance, and put out feelers to Iran and North Korea, governments he previously denounced as part of the "axis of evil".

According to those who have been speaking to the former vice-president, the shift stuck in Cheney's craw.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/13/dick-cheney-george-bush-memoirs

---

I hope he reveals all his illegal doings in the name of "clearing" his name.

And it's good to know even W has his limits. :P

[wtmusic]

50. And Dick knows a thing or two about going soft

[supernova]

51. Yuk!

He's like the anti hard.

[Peace Patriot]

58. Naw, I don't think Bush has any limits. I think the 'white hat" CIA was on him.

He was just saving his own skin, on Daddy Bush's advice.

[Liberal_in_LA]

53. Cheney, preparing his memoirs, unloads on Bush for bowing to public opinion

Source: L A Times

Former Vice President Dick Cheney is writing his memoirs. That in itself is something of a surprise, because Cheney has long -- and openly -- disparaged people who do. The presidency is owed loyalty, or anyway that was Cheney's view when folks like former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and former White House press secretary Scott McClellan told tales out of school.

But now, writing his own account of his eight years as George W. Bush's vice president, Cheney is telling friends that "the statute of limitations has expired" on tensions between them. As Time magazine reported last month, 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.


Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/08/cheney-unloads-on-bush-.html

[The_Casual_Observer]

54. Who's incompetence allowed 9/11 to happen? Where was cheney?

cheney is a bag of shit.

[Peace Patriot]

59. I don't think it was incompetence. And I think Rumsfeld was the operative,

and Cheney was complicit--handling the political side (to segue it into stealing Iraq's oil and slaughtering hundreds of thousands of people), and handling Bush Jr. Bush Jr was the incompetent one--just Cheney's tool. But when they started making war on the CIA, and the CIA began gearing up nto retaliate and take the Junta down, starting with Junior, Daddy Bush intervened, and brokered an immunity deal, to get rid of Rumsfeld, get Junior out of Cheney's clutches and put the lid back on Pandora's Box.

[Demeter]

56. Give Yourself Enough Rope, Darth Cheney!

and we'll see you hang, you unspeakable excuse for a human being.

Cheney is proving that Dumbya wasn't as dumb as we thought.

[MetaTrope]

57. Maybe Cheney and Bush will spend a weekend together duck hunting?

One can dream...