I just finished reading Ron Suskind’s latest book “The One Percent Doctrine” http://tinyurl.com/y6hsnl
I would call it a must-read for those wanting some inside glimpses on many of the Bush Administration players and the background on a number of events and decisions. I’m going to break my notes and thoughts into different posts this week: Suskind and Bush was yesterday, today will be Suskind and Cheney, followed by Suskind and Tenet and concluding with Suskind and Miscellaneous. Each post will focus on material in Suskind’s book about that individual.
PART TWO – Let’s start with passages and information that struck me about Dick Cheney
* Cheney moved to redefine suspicion as evidence — evidence was an unreasonable threshold for preventative action (Cogitator: 9/11 DIDN’T change everything — but it did allow power-driven, hubris-laden miscreants to substitute their standards and values for those that served this country well for over 200 years)
* A Cheney quote about action: “It’s not about analysis, it’s about our response.” (Cogitator: this is so telling coming from a card-carrying member of the we-create-what-is-reality cabal — see Iraq as THE prime example of such idiocy)
* Cheney after 9/11: “the real action would happen in the shadows.” (Cogitator: little did we know he meant EVERYTHING, not just foreign intelligence activity)
* the expansion of presidential power was pushed by Cheney from the get-go, not after 9/11 (Cogitator: it’s so curious how he perceives filling a so-called vacuum–he runs the process of locating the vice-president nominee, ends up choosing himself and proceeds to expand the role and power of the position while simultaneously advancing the reach of the president–is this ‘being’ president by proxy?)
* 30 years ago, Cheney and Rumsfeld, in theri respective government positions, were working at marginalizing the CIA. (Cogitator: only this time it was a ten fold push to get everything under DoD–Rumsfeld & Cheney–control, thereby allowing even greater dominance and manipulation)
* Cheney had Saudi informational packet removed from Bush’s in-box in April, 2002, resulting in an Bush having no idea why he was meeting with Saudi leaders (the meeting took place in Crawford) (Cogitator: how a President–or any leader–would allow such an act of deception to take place and then leave such a person in position is unfathomable)
* Cheney and Rumsfeld felt the U.S. could handle Iraq alone and didn’t want the meddling influence of the international community. Wolfowitz, Feith and others thought Saddam to be an easy mark and simply a demonstration model to show the new resolve of the United States and its post-modern rules of international behavior (Cogitator: It is unacceptable for Bush, whether he was in absentia about this or in cahoots, to lead or be led down the primrose path–this vividly demonstrates Bush’s lack of capability)
* Cheney’s rants about Iraq/Saddam were for setting the stage, the CIA was concerned about Cheney’s charges. Saddam already had yellowcake (500 tons) and was being monitored by UN inspectors. Why would he need more? (Cogitator: this is absolutely damning–Saddam didn’t need more yellowcake and, ultimately, he wasn’t seeking such. How much CIA time was spent on writing and then re-writing and going on wild goose chases per Cheney’s instruction?)
* in the view of Cheney’s office and the Pentagon’s civilian leadership, the major impediment to war–now that Bush had decided to make a public “case”–was turning out to be the CIA (Cogitator: wasting the CIA’s time actually put this country in a greater danger risk, plus the CIA’s role is NOT to play partisan politics)
* many government officials from many departments: “…were realizing that their jobs were not to help shape policy, but to affirm it. (Cogitator: EVERYTHING was politicized beginning in 2000, something the David Broder-types still cannot accept)
________________
Cogitator: Add James Risen’s “State of War,” “Cobra II” by Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor, “State of Denial” by Bob Woodward and now “Tempting Faith” by David Kuo to the mix and a poisonous, incriminating broth of Mayberry Machiavellian-ism, incompetence, willed ignorance, sadism, childish fantasy and the most relativistic of morality boils over, making the White House and Pentagon little more than cesspools.
Dick Cheney’s self-selection as Vice President of the United States has led people to wonder who is actually in charge of this country—this for the very first time in our history. Cheney possesses far greater intrinsic capability than George Bush, which makes his descension into behavior and actions similar to a banana republic generalissimo so much more tragic—for him, our country and the world. With Bush in some ways propped up at the helm, and with Cheney and Rumsfeld as his crew, this country and this world have been savaged by a most imperfect storm.
