Cheney's To-Do Lists, Then and Now

[marmar]

From the NY Times, via Truthout:


Cheney's To-Do Lists, Then and Now
By Adam Liptak
The New York Times



Sunday 11 February 2007

Returning to the White House after the Memorial Day weekend in 1975, the young aide Dick Cheney found himself handling a First Amendment showdown. The New York Times had published an article by Seymour M. Hersh about an espionage program, and the White House chief of staff, Donald H. Rumsfeld, was demanding action.

Out came the yellow legal pad, and in his distinctively neat, deliberate hand, Mr. Cheney laid out the "problem," "goals" while addressing it, and "options." These last included "Start FBI investigation - with or w/o public announcement. As targets include NYT, Sy Hersh, potential gov't sources."

Mr. Cheney's notes, now in the Gerald R. Ford presidential library, collected and synthesized the views of lawyers, diplomats, spies and military officials, but his own views shine through. He is hostile to the press and to Congress, insistent on the prerogatives of the executive branch and adamant about the importance of national security secrets.

Fast forward three decades and that same handwriting appears on a copy of the Op-Ed article in The Times that set in motion events that led to the perjury trial of I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff.

Then, as in 1975, Mr. Cheney played a central role in managing the White House's relationship with the press. It was not precisely the same, however. In 2003, for instance, Mr. Cheney was not protecting secrets but authorizing Mr. Libby to peddle them to Judith Miller, then a reporter for The Times, in an effort to counter the points made in the opinion article, according to Mr. Libby's grand jury testimony. But his combative relationship with the press and the goals that animate it have not changed. ......(more)

The rest of the piece is at: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021107C.shtml

[Monkeyman]

1. Can someone please take his get out of jail free card