Dick Cheney’s Dark Plan For America Topic Of Sunday Morning Talk
Is it any wonder that Dick Cheney still remains the ‘Darth Vader’ of politics. The sinister plan of what Cheney was developing still has not been disclosed, but one can sense from the statements and actions of others that it would have probably been unconstitutional, and also likely to have precipitated more anti-Americanism from those who already have reasons to feel deep animosity against us.
The head of the CIA has accused former US Vice-President Dick Cheney of concealing an intelligence programme from Congress, a top US senator says.
The existence of the programme, set up after 9/11, was hidden for eight years and even now its nature is not known.
Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein confirmed CIA chief Leon Panetta told Congressional committees he had abandoned the project on hearing of it.
He said that Mr Cheney was behind the secrecy, Sen Feinstein said.
There has been no comment from Mr Cheney.
The California senator, who is chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee, told Fox News Sunday that Mr Panetta told her about the programme to her on 24 June, shortly after hearing about it, and said he had cancelled it.
The Bush administration may have broken the law, Sen Feinstein said, adding that Congress should never be kept in the dark, even though the country was still in shock after the 9/11 attacks.
“This is a big problem,” she said.
“I understand the need of the day… but I think you weaken your case when you go outside the law.”
The claims come amid an increasingly bitter row between the CIA and Congress over whether key information was withheld about other aspects of the agency’s operations.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has claimed that the CIA misled her about interrogation methods including waterboarding, while other senior Democrats have quoted Mr Panetta as admitting that his agency regularly misled Congress before he took office.
Details of the newly-revealed secret programme have still not been divulged, but sources say it did not relate to the CIA’s rendition programme, interrogation methods or a controversial domestic surveillance project.
Officials quoted by the New York Times say the programme was launched by anti-terror operatives at the CIA soon after the 2001 attacks, and involved planning and training but never became fully operational.
Another unnamed official told AP it was an embryonic intelligence-gathering effort, aimed at yielding intelligence that would be used to conduct covert operations abroad.
Mr Panetta – who took over directorship of the CIA under President Obama’s administration – is said to have learnt about the programme only on 23 June.
The next day he called an emergency meeting with congressional intelligence committees to tell them about its existence and to say that it was being cancelled.
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At what point is a plan a plan? If it is simply a concept in the minds of two CIA officials that is bandied about, does that have to be reported to Congress? No, it is NOT yet a plan.
If it is a preliminary draft of an idea that it shared with the executive branch for its consideration, it is NOT yet a plan and does not need to be reported to Congress.
If it is NOT approved by the White House, but is seen as a possible template for a future plan (hence, maintain secrecy), it is NOT a plan.
If the White House approves it and it requires immediate implementation, THEN is when Congress should be notified—because it is a plan in every sense of the word.
There is preliminary planning (note: key word, preliminary) going on all the time at the CIA—that is their job. Are we to expect that Congress is to be bogged down with every brainstorm that arises? That would be utter nonsense.
While our enemies catch our guys, torture and chop their heads off, we are looking into our secret CIA programs that have kept us safe.
This is a war not a “paint ball” contest.
To all liberal democrats, please keep your heads in the sand or under your bed and we’ll let you know when the coast is clear.
Things are not going well for Obama and the liberal Congress at this time, so yes they are trying to divert attention away from their own failures and continue the Bush/Cheney bashing.