Cheney’s Dilemma–No dick or that is His Name? (UPDATED)
By Larry Johnson on October 30, 2009 at 10:39 PM in Current Affairs
Pity poor old Dick Cheney. He barely knows who he is. Mind is slipping for sure. Latest evidence that he is living in the land of delusion is his insistence that the Bush Administration was on top of the Afghanistan problem because they undertook a review in the fall of 2008. Great! Someone tell Dickie that we sent forces to Afghanistan in 2001 and he and George Bush diverted U.S. military resources to Iraq for the next seven years.
Now we have further evidence that Dick’s mind was slipping back in 2004. Today’s release of the FBI’s interview notes with Cheney about the leak of Valerie Plame’s name and identity as a covert CIA officer proves conclusively that Cheney’s gone soft in the noodle. Here’s the transcript.
If you can’t wade thru the bullshit, here’s the AP summation:
Vice President Dick Cheney told the FBI he had no idea who leaked to the news media that Valerie Plame, wife of a Bush administration critic, worked for the CIA.
An FBI summary of Cheney’s interview from 2004 reflects that the vice president had deep concern about Plame’s husband, Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador in Africa who said the administration had twisted prewar intelligence on Iraq.
Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, was convicted of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI in the probe of who leaked Plame’s identity to the news media. At the end of Libby’s trial, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said that “there is a cloud over the vice president” in the leaking of Plame’s identity.
Following Libby’s conviction, President George W. Bush commuted Libby’s 30-month prison sentence but rejected Cheney’s vehement appeals to pardon Libby.
The 28-page FBI interview summary was released Friday to a watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which sued to get the material under the Freedom of Information Act.
In the interview, whose participants included Fitzgerald, Cheney told agents that he did not recall having a conversation about either Plame or her husband with Bush.
The vice president said he probably discussed Wilson with Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove, but told the FBI he would not have talked to Rove about Wilson’s wife.
Cheney’s denials that he talked about Plame are among the few things in the lengthy interview with the FBI that Cheney appeared certain about. He repeatedly said he could not recall key events. Among them, he said he did not recall discussing Wilson’s wife with Libby before her CIA employment was publicly revealed by conservative columnist Robert Novak in mid-July 2003.
That Cheney, when he is on the Alzheimer’s express, is a funny motherfucker. He’s miffed at the CIA that they would think he wanted information about Iraq and its quest for nuclear weapons. Why would they think that? Just because he asked his briefer for more information does not mean the CIA will take the VP’s request seriously.
And why in the world would the CIA send Ambassador Joe Wilson to Niger to find out if there was any credibility to the report? What the hell qualifies Joe Wilson? OK, just because he was the acting Ambassador in Iraq and faced down Saddam Hussein and saved American hostages does not mean anything. Just because Joe Wilson was the U.S. point person in Iraq for monitoring Iraq’s efforts to acquire nuclear weapons does not mean he is that qualified. He may have been one of the more informed people in the United States about Iraq’s nuclear activities and its efforts to acquire uranium yellow cake, but that is no reason to send him on a mission to Africa.
And what in the name of Allah does Joe Wilson know about Africa? Ok, let’s ignore the fact that he served as foreign service officer in several countries in Africa, he was an Ambassador in Africa and he was in charge of Africa at the National Security Council. Just because he followed the issue of uranium exports from Niger and their possible use in nuclear proliferation does not qualify Joe Wilson to do anything but drink green tea.
Talk about amateur hour. The CIA sent a former Ambassador, with area knowledge of the two countries involved in a possible sale of uranium, and then, when he came back, sent over a reports officer and debriefed the old has been (a subsequently produced a classified intelligence report). Boy, talk about goofy procedure. (Of course, that is exactly how an intelligence agency operates but why should that little fact trouble the empty mind of Dick Cheney?)
When it comes to who leaked the identity of Valerie Plame we now can make the startling announcement that Dick Cheney is Butterfly McQueen (which means he has no dick). He don’t know nothing bout leakin no name of a CIA gal.
When shown the NY Times article with Cheney’s own handwritten scribbles in the margin (which just happened to become the basis for the talking points subsequently employed by Republican lackeys to attack Joe Wilson and his wife, Valerie, is just a damned miracle) the absent minded Vice President really had no idea why anyone would want to know anything about Valerie Wilson.
Yet his notes tell a different story:
In neat writing above the text of the column, prosecutors say, Mr. Cheney wrote: “Have they done this sort of thing before? Send an Amb. to answer a question? Do we ordinarily send people out pro bono to work for us? Or did his wife send him on a junket?”
If Cheney really did not know much about Valerie Wilson then why did he suggest she “sent him on a junket?”
Why worry about such discrepancies. Let’s remember who the real bad guy is–Joe Wilson. He had the audacity to report the same information that the U.S. Ambassador to Niger and the Deputy Commander of EUCOM had previously reported–Niger was not selling Iraq uranium and had not sold uranium to Iraq. Let this be a lesson Joe, don’t tell the true. We preferred being lied to. That’s why we placed George W. Bush with Barack Obama. We traded one liar for a better liar.
UPDATE: Nick Baumann at Mother Jones took time to list Dick Cheney’s dramatic memory loss:
1. Whether the Wilson trip was discussed during any of the visits he made to the CIA with his Chief of Staff, Scooter Libby.
2. Any reaction he had to Nicholas Kristof’s New York Times’ article about the Wilson visit at the time the article was published.
3. Whether he discussed the Wilson situation with George Tenet at their meeting on June 10, 2003.
4. Who he spoke to about Joe Wilson’s July 6, 2003 editorial (he did remember speaking to someone, but not who it was).
5. What happened to the Joe Wilson op-ed after he wrote on it suggesting that Valerie Plame Wilson had sent Joe Wilson on a “junket,” and put it in his outbox.
6. Any specific advice he gave his press people in the May-June 2003 timeframe regarding the Wilson trip to Niger.
7. Whether he discussed the Wilson situation with Eric Edelman, one of his national security advisers.
8. Whether Cathie Martin, his press secretary, entered his office while both he and Scooter Libby were present and advised both of them that Joe Wilson’s wife was employed by the CIA.
9. Discussing Joe Wilson or Wilson’s wife with his former press secretary Mary Matalin, although he said it was possible.
10. Ever discussing Valerie Plame Wilson with Libby prior to the publication of Novak’s column.
11. Whether Scooter Libby knew about Valerie Plame Wilson on July 12, the day before the publication of the Novak column.
12. If Libby ever told Cheney he had independent knowledge of Valerie Plame Wilson’s covert identity.
13. Dictating notes to Libby on July 12, 2003 that Cheney said looked and sounded like something he might have dictated to Libby.
14. Discussing the Novak column or any of its contents with anyone at the time it was published.
15. Whether he discussed the Wilson trip with Libby as a sort of “boondoggle” or “junket,” although he believed it possible that he had such a conversation.
16. If Libby told him that Libby was not Novak’s source.
17. Libby telling him how he first learned that Valerie Plame Wilson was a covert CIA operative.
18. Whether he told Libby that Valerie Plame Wilson was a covert CIA operative.
19. Waving off Libby when Libby offered to tell him everything he knew about the Wilson matter.
20. Anyone on his staff, including Libby, ever meeting with Judith Miller during the week of July 7, 2003.
21. Having a conversation with Libby during which Libby said he wanted to share the judgments of the National Intelligence Estimate with Judith Miller.
22. Whether Libby told him that certain material in the NIE had to be declassified before it could be shared.
Keep these memory lapses in mind next time you hear Dick Cheney talk about anything that happened prior to last week. Could be dementia or Alzheimers. Thank God he has Government health care.
(Release: November 13)
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Cheney told FBI he had no idea who leaked Plame ID
Associated Press, Friday, October 30, 2009 9:42 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Vice President Dick Cheney told the FBI in 2004 he had no idea who leaked to the news media that Valerie Plame, wife of a Bush administration critic, worked for the CIA….
===========================
Since this is such old news, wonder what this above article is designed to distract us from, hm… More GOP style election fraud on Tuesday, November 3rd? Another 9/11-like style orchestrated attack and cover up anytime before Tuesday’s election? Remember Cheney was the one that called off fighter planes to respond when the planes attacked on 9/11 while Bush was reading children story at elementary school out west.
There is an internet rumor that to ensure he wins on Tuesday, billionaire NYC Mayor Bloomberg may finance another 9/11-like attack to occur sometime this weekend similiar to the one in 2001 when primary day got rescheduled, remember? When the targeting of Middle Eastern men began and wonder if the Pakistani-Americans will be scapegoated for this one because of anti-Pakistani sentiments generated in U.S. from latest reports? Bloomberg is one of many British/Dutch oligarghy puppets in office to stall fascist policies, etc..
Am worried for everyone we know and love whom are flying and keeping good thoughts for their safety. It is reported that Hillary is flying back from Pakistan right now. Obama is scheduled to stomp in Newark, NJ for Corzine on Sunday, Nov. 1 and my brother in law is flying into Newark from Boston at the same time. Am keeping safe thoughts for all of them.
What do you think? Hope I am wrong……
Uh, wow.
You’re not wrong, you’re completely nuts.
Actually, Cheney was circling the area in an old DC-3 (C-47) that was piloted by Amelia Earhart. He was in the cargo area having a high-level conference with Adolf Hitler and Elvis Presley about outing Valerie Plame and coordinating the 9-11 attacks with his mother ship Alpha (from Algerius Twelve). They were sitting around a card table on Samsonite chairs. How could you have left out these important details?!! Elvis was dictating the signals that he was getting in his dental work from Sam Phillips.
Dude, you really need to have your prescriptions increased.
Thanks for clearing all this up. Those pesky loose ends always bothered me.
Check your trick-or-treat bag, Doll.
Sounds like you got a pixie stick laced with angel dust.
There are internet rumors that Bloomberg is not the only British/Dutch oligarghy puppet, so is Obama, Gore and Scharzneggar, etc…
Check out larouchepac.com
And if Bloomberg actually finances such an attack, it would be with Obama’s blessing as they are carrying out oligarghy’s fascist agenda….
Dunno what to think???
As Bush chooses which putter to use, Cheney casually walks over to the ball and switches it out chuckling.
Larry:
I used to respect your views.Who the fuck cares about Joe Wilson and Valerie, the toast-of-th- town-NY- whores that they were? Under cover?
Since WHEN?
And the next time that you go on the Bachelor show and say that you aren’t “partisan”
I will send emails,
letters, and get others to call you out as a LIAR.
“I’m not partisan”.
That alone makes you a fucking liar.
Our PRESENT commander in chief is going to destroy the CIA. And at this point, I say, “Good riddance to all of you!”
I guess you enjoy seeing your buddies go down.
Where do you live now?
Venezuela?
That stupid hat and mustache made me think you might be hanging with the dictator.
Wow, you’re off the scale with those comments, Tammy. Almost right up there with tyjhw4ha, citing LaRouche.
The insanity never ends! So, you’re claiming to be more an authority on the CIA than Larry Johnson?
And your point of reference is Wikipedia or just blind Bush&Co adulation?
Sorry, but some of us actually remember the Bush years. You can try and rewrite history all you like but 2000-2008 were bad, bad, bad. In fact, you hate Obama? Well, thank your friends–George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
The band plays on.
Looks more to me like he’s been hanging out with Hunter T in Old San Juan. I like the photo.
Ummm … had a bad day, Tammy?
Every time I think of those guys destroying the career of Valerie Plame it makes my blood boil. And I wasn’t in the CIA or knew Ms. Plame. I have no problems with Larry revisiting this and reminding us.
Larry has just reminded me what leaped out a me when I first read that line. Not only did Cheney know that Valerie Plame worked at the CIA, he knew what position she had. Otherwise how could he know that she had the authority, or was assigned to an area that would allow her to be able to send Joe Wilson to Africa? (I know she didn’t but Cheney knew she COULD have).
Thanks for the weekend reading, Larry.
Strangely, although Cheney couldn’t remember virtually anything about anything during that period, he specifically remembered that Tenet told him about Valerie Plame.
Several times he stated that this knowledge was so unimportant to him that he wouldn’t have discussed it with anyone. However, despite his general amnesiac condition, and the unimportance of the information, it was the first thing that leaped to mind when he read the Wilson op-ed.
That means he had the information BEFORE he read the op-ed and is demonstrably lying throughout this whole interview. What a surprise.
Ellen D, might I add that at the time the work Mrs Wilson was involved in was nuclear proliferation and WMD . The collapse of the Brewster and Jennings rolled up a network that a lot of effort was put into. That a person would put a personal agenda before this country’s national security is treasonous. It was SO much bigger than Mrs Wilson and Joe Wilson.
When Mrs Wilson describes her reaction as being punched in the gut, when learning she had been outed by Novack, I can’t imagine her mind unwinding all the people in the way and all the work it betrayed by your own government.
Frog marching is to good a punishment.
Thanks Teak. You’re right. It was treasonous. It jeopardized the lives of all the people in her network, destroyed years of work and gave intelligence information to foreign governments.
Politicians complain about the CIA but it is the CIA that is in constant danger of exposure by stupid politicians.
No wonder the CIA only tells them the bare minimum of what they need to know.
Let’s see. I was a registered Republican. Now I am an independent. I oppose Barack Obama, therefore I am a partisan?
Sweetheart, you need to lay off the sauce. It is clouding whatever judgment you think you have.
The WHOLE country is turning BI-POLAR Larry!
jezzzzzzz louise - or someone stole someone’s name
Wasn’t Obama appointed to head the committee for Afghanistan in 2007? He did absolutely nothing.
I heard on Fox a couple of days ago that Libby was not the one who exposed Valery. I can’t remember the name of the person, but that person said, that he was the one that exposed Valery.
Maybe you’ll be coherent in the morning after you’ve had some sleep, Tammy.
Wow, Tammy. What you have done is quite unfairly criticize after a man who is qualified to speak as an authority on this subject and who also, by the way, provides us with one of the few places on the entire web where a person can comment freely without fear of partisan censoring. It is one thing to level sound criticism but quite another to resort to personal attacks.
The simple truth is that LJ is consistent, which drives a lot of people batsh*t crazy. Never mind that he is also absolutely correct. Your post was entirely uncalled for.
Thank you Larry for telling us the unvarnished truth. I agree with your excellent essay and look forward to many more on this subject.
Get over it Tammy; Dick Cheney is a dick.
Tammy: just because a person is capable of being objective about his party doesn’t mean he’s partisan to other party. Brainwashed by the Neo-Cons, are we?
Tammy’s obviously the partisan, and more inclined to be a FOH: Friend of Hugo.
Tammy, anyone who seriously thinks that exposing a CIA agent, endangering their lives and those of everyy person they had contact with–the network of people that CIA agent developed around the world– thereby undermining years of intelligence, is unimportant, Tammy, cannot be considered very loyal to their country, now can they?
You’re obviously drinking too much, Tammy. Get help for your addiction; it’s pickled your brain and your judgment. It’s not pretty to witness your incoherent meltdowns.
Mr. Johnson,
I have been waiting for 5 years for this transcript.
firesign Theater
Got the waders on.
Great read, The close sounded like a strike at RipVanWinkles Bowling Alley.
Happy Halloween.
LOL!! I LOVE Firesign Theatre.
Hey Teak,
good to see you.
Unfortunately, the Cheney interview was a bit of a disappointment. Damn near plagiarism of the Gonzales testimony, er, I mean Libby testimony, er, i mean Reagan testimony….I don’t recall.
I really wish I had wagered what it was going to say before that first posted date of release, but I’m sure the moment I said “I think he’ll use the ‘I don’t recall’ crap”, they’d have said, “yeah…probably”…no bets.
The only use in it is the contradiction to the rest of the posted facts of the case and its complete coincidence that Libby doesn’t recall either. “Vigorously pursue” he said….
Is everyone on the sauce tonight?
Must be pre-Halloween psychosis, sowsear!
It’s no wonder we aren’t all a little psychotic, with all of the curve bending and mind bending going on.
I’ll have a glass of Merlot please.
Be careful! Last time I blogged on the sauce, Larry turned me into the secret service!
I still love ya, Larry! I will tell my grandkids all about it one day! My employer thinks I am a terrorist now because they visited me and work, but it has made life interesting for sure. I still depise Otrauma, but I no longer blog while drinking rum! Haha.
Ear Wax on the rocks is my preference, sowsear, whats yours?
Larry the transcript reads like Tenent did not know about the Amb, Wilson Itinary or the briefs regarding his trip, as represented by Cheney.
Wow. pg 7 it talks about fraudulent documents, The Italian letters?
I can just see the faces of those agents as they left. Proverbial sand, indeed. Cheney is a lying sack of puss.
I think some people need reminded what happened under the Cheny/Bush presidency. It seems some can’t remember how it went down or would rather not hear it. Though they LOVVVVVVE to hear of personal attacks on say, Pres.Bill Clinton over and ever and over!!
that’s IT
the CHENEY BOTS and OBOTS are soooo thin skinned they can’t HANDLE hearing anything bad said about their masters!
Of course! And they’re related (sorta) so the narcissism must be in their dna from way way back! lol
not ever, but over. anyway, cheny is the one out there blabbing and making an ass out of himself
We all had “hope” that when a Democrat got into office after Bush and Cheney, this episode would finally be revived and investigated. Obama decided not to go there. Guess he may need some Cheney advice in the future. After all, he likes the eavesdropping stuff (can be useful politically) and he loves the Patriot Act. He even likes the secret prison stuff. Obama seems to like alot of the Republican shenanigans he campaigned against.
That because he’s owned by the same cartel that brought us Dubya II. This is the same tired old song, different botley crew singing backup vocals.
yeah its called the british/dutch oligarghy and there are others in our us government to install fascist dictatorship via bogus Green technologies — privatization of governmental assets and properties…..
larouchpac.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd1kjPtwjs0
Obviously I don’t hang out in the right bars. Where did British/Dutch Oligarchy come from? Can anyone give me this conspiracy theory in 25 words or less?
Random thought echoing in an empty chamber–it’s all imaginary. My comment to which he was replying was merely about business in general.
The only thing I can think of is the Hanseatic League, which was a trading empire consisting of German, Dutch and English traders. They were big back in the 1300’s and for a while after that. Who knew they have been working towards world domination since they faded from sight?? Here is the Wiki link to the basic facts about the Hanseatic League. Frankly, I am not worried. Heh.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanseatic_League
Not a BETTER Liar Larry
just more Audacious!
bravo btw
This entire episode was infuriating!
While there have been others in my lifetime, to reveal Plame’s identity was as low as one can go!
Admittedly, it was very easy and went off like clockwork, with the felons and fall guys towing the line. Libby bounced through the press line at the court house like he was getting an Academy Award!
Cheney isn’t senile, but he is mental!
I must say!
Shades of Ed Grimley; “I’m getting Mental;”
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Ed+Grimley&hl=en&emb=0&aq=f#
Cheney knows exactly what he’s doing — he’s just shameless!
Yeah, sadly I think DAB has hit the nail on the head here. Dick Cheney knew he lied then; he knows he’s lying now; he’s just shameless [I would add sick].
It’s still painful to recall what happened to Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame under the Bush/Cheney administration.
DICK CHENEY committed an act of TREASON.
Larry: Thanks for this. It’s absolutely hilarious. Unfortunately it’s all true and the man started a needless war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and bankrupted the U. S.
Larry,
as might be true for many, it is certainly true for me…I know you because of the betrayal of the Wilsons, the agency, and the crimes related. In that strange conundrum I’m thank to have met you and thanks for your friendship over the last few…
Funny how Dick Cheney has such a determined mine for everything but, This.
Stranger even more is that Libby got the same B1S1 virus and amnesia for details that emerged from other mouths and documents.
Clearly from the trial documents (all of which are easily available at the Department of Justice website: http://www.justice.gov/usao/iln/osc/ ) there was testimony from Cathrine Martin and others who connected Cheney and Libby to gaining info about Plame at the same time.
AP reported that Cheney is supposed to have “appeared surprised to hear that Libby learned about Plame’s identity from him”. But who in the hell knows what that means. Clearly when he wrote his notes on the Wilson article, he’d put his mind into this. Nobody presumes a “junket” out of the blue. Futher, if you look at the government’s exhibit of Cheney’s notepad, he calls for this to be “vigorously pursued”. Who forgets something they wanted to “vigorously pursue”?
http://www.justice.gov/usao/iln/osc/exhibits/0125/GX528B01.PDF
Cheney lied to the FBI with the same old, “I don’t recall” we’ve heard from Gonzales, Libby, ..damn, I don’t have the time to list those who use this.
Yet, he is so certain everywhere else.
He is so certain that it was “amateur hour at the CIA”. He was so certain that Iraq had WMD. He was so certain that we’d be greeted as liberators. He was so certain that he could get his oil grubbing hands on Iran before the end of his Presidency, but alas, that hasn’t happened.
This man is a pathogen of the highest order and those who fall into believing his claptrap need to be deprogrammed. He’s a chickenhawk deferment jackass who should have never been allowed to be a “defense secretary” or anything else defense without military background. Hell even that jerkoff Rumsfeld served in the military.
So, now that the spleen has been vented, what next? Obama isn’t going to prosecute this lump of turd any time soon. Baltazar Garzon just had his wings clipped on Universal Jurisdiction. (Note: Anyone who disagrees with Universal Jurisdiction has no right to go to war in another country without being a hypocrite)
Dick Cheney may have forgotten but the files, video, audio, and countless other records of this treason are there for you to examine. He said in 1999 that he wanted Middle East oil, especially in Iraq,
In the fifth paragraph of Cheney’s comments we clearly see what his motive was to invade Iraq, to hassle and provoke Iran and to hold Afghanistan without plan for counterterrorism, but to hold ground to invade Iran:
http://www.energybulletin.net/node/559
Dick Cheney
There in Lies the Prize
To the myopic and short term memory world, these comments are long gone. Damn, that was 10 years ago. Yet doesn’t take a second of a WWII video for you to feel the Great War, does it.
Gone are the Iran Contra days, Watergate, Archibald Cox and why we have FISA. We have Glenn Beck, Keith Olbermman, Lou Dobbs now, who cares about FISA.
The problem isn’t Dick Cheney, the problem is us.
We don’t even know how to deal with a Dick Cheney, imo. We hope our “representatives” will deal with him, but clearly Pelosi wasn’t going to, Conyers wasn’t able to, Biden wouldn’t want to, and Obama isn’t going to.
I know for 8 years I’ve busted ass to let people know who these jerks were and to those who listened, thank you, and to those who didn’t thank you too. I’ve learned too much. But all the same, what can we do about our Dickey boy?
We have no problem shutting away “brutal dictators” around the world, but what about when we get a war criminal in our highest offices, will we have the gonads to do the same thing? Apparently not. We will allow these smooth talking conjobs get on Sunday shows and wax over our Grey Matter with nonsense that won’t solve a thing. (THEY DON’T KNOW HOW TO FIX HEALTH CARE-EITHER SIDE).
But, I’ll keep taking notes and doing my best to be fair witness to the people who are interested in keeping it honest about the Real Dick Cheney.
Thanks again to Larry, Susan, Valerie, Joe, and those who at least tried to stop this petulant asshole. I still don’t know why Fitzgerald didn’t go after Cheney…Nobody should be above the law. We got rid of kings 230 years ago. Yet we prop them up still, King George III would be proud of King Obama the I and King George the Lesser.
Happy November everybody.
TT007