by Larry C. Johnson (bio below)

Is that what our Vice President was thinking? Maybe he figured, “if it was good enough retort for Pat Leahy, it is good enough to tryout on America.”

What else are we to make of the spectacle over the last few days? The only thing more amazing than Cheney’s stonewalling and hiding since flunking his hunter’s safety course on Saturday is the shock and surprise being expressed by many in the media, and even Republicans, over the Vice President’s audacious behavior.

After reading the Washington Post Editorial page today (a bastion of neo-con support), I did a quick check of the Calendar to ensure it was really Valentine’s Day and not April 1st. What is it about the last four years that Washington Post editors did not understand?

Neither Mr. Cheney nor the White House gets to pick and choose when to disclose a shooting. Saturday’s incident required immediate public disclosure — a fact so elementary that the failure to act properly is truly disturbing in its implications.


Looking back on past Cheney misdeeds (and the accompanying lack of condemnation by the Post) can’t we forgive Cheney for concluding he could pretty much do as he wills? The record is pretty clear:


… Continued below:

  • it is okay for the White House to pick and choose which laws they will abide by (ignore FISA and the Fourth Amendment);
  • it is okay to pick and choose which intelligence secrets should be leaked (Valerie Plame, good but NSA domestic spying and secret prisons, bad); and

  • it is okay to pick and choose which intelligence to accept (ignore the intelligence community when it tells you there is no link between Saddam and Bin Laden or that Iraq is not trying to get uranium in Niger).


So what’s so wrong with “peppering” a 78 year old man with a shotgun?

Maybe, just maybe, the Post has seen the light and realizes that in America no man (or woman) is above the law. Just because we are a nation at war with Islamic extremism, that does not give the President, the Vice President, or any American carte blanche to decide which laws to uphold and which laws to ignore. Props to the Post for a good first step.


……………………………………………………..


Larry C. Johnson is CEO and co-founder of BERG Associates, LLC, an international business-consulting firm that helps corporations and governments manage threats posed by terrorism and money laundering. Mr. Johnson, who worked previously with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism (as a Deputy Director), is a recognized expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, crisis and risk management. Mr. Johnson has analyzed terrorist incidents for a variety of media including the Jim Lehrer News Hour, National Public Radio, ABC’s Nightline, NBC’s Today Show, the New York Times, CNN, Fox News, and the BBC. Mr. Johnson has authored several articles for publications, including Security Management Magazine, the New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He has lectured on terrorism and aviation security around the world. Further bio details.


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