Comments on: Will Dick Finally Get Busted for His Leaks?

By: maryo2

maryo2 — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:30:04 +0000

I have not seen speculation on why Cheney did this leak.

What was Cheney doing in November 2007? He was spiking the NIE.

Why did he leak the video to 60 Minutes? He was playing the fear card to blunt the impact of the NIE. Any other ideas as to why?

By: oldtree

oldtree — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:25:13 +0000

I have a new prediction; Shooter will abdicate to a middle eastern country upon indictment. McStrayCoque will be anointed vice president. King George will tell everyone that there is a new “terra organization with ties to saddam”, name of Al Queso that is ready to attack with great terror at our border with Mexico. There will be a further action at Canadian borders declaring that Al Berta is a known terrorist group with leanings to both Pakistan and Iran, and clearly harboring designs on our northern borders. Hawaii will be given to the Chinese as repayment for the loan.
Martial Law is declared and John McStray becomes president because that is how it is done in the new amerika.

By: bmaz

bmaz — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:10:45 +0000

Right. And this is exactly why I (and Mary too) have been saying that there must be some type of certification or testimony, from someone high enough up for it to be valid, that full and complete disclosure of all the things behind the TSP etc. have, in fact, been disclosed. Anything less than that and you can bet the farm that Congress is being hoodwinked again.

By: maryo2

maryo2 — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:09:16 +0000

I can’t find a position called “inspector general of the National Security Agency.” There is a Lt General of the NSA. There is an Inspector General of the DOJ. But there is no IG of the NSA - is there??

more VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY: None of them [Senator DeWine, Senator Graham, Senator Specter and Senator Brownback] have been briefed into the program.

But Senator Graham was Chairman of Senate Intelligence Committee 2001–2003. When did the illegal wiretapping start? I thought February 2001. So who was briefed from 2001 through 2003?

By: earlofhuntingdon

earlofhuntingdon — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:00:25 +0000

That line, “Unable to predict the cost or consequences of …” is pretty well known in the private sector. Its variants often come up in determining what to disclose to auditors, in preparing board summaries, and in contemplating SEC “disclosures”.

As aggressive as Addington is in corkscrewing interpretations of laws Cheney doesn’t want to comply with, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was used to avoid Congressional disclosures.

By: maryo2

maryo2 — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:47:41 +0000

Sen. Pat Roberts = Chairman Senate Intelligence Committee (2003-2007)
Rep. Pete Hoekstra = Chairman of House Intelligence Committee (2004-2007)

Sen. John Rockefeller = ranking minority member
Rep. Jane Harman = ranking minority member

By: maryo2

maryo2 — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:22:18 +0000

Cheney goes on to list those who were briefed and assuming “top elected leadership of the Congress of both parties” = Majority and Minority Leaders, and not Armed Services Committees chairman and ranking minority member, then indeed the House and Senate Armed Services Committees are not on the list.

Based on your saying “it is theoretically possible they used such an interpretation to avoid any disclosure at all” then what is interesting is that Cheney implies that the people on the list decided as a group that the value was less than $25 million and thus did not have to disclose to the Armed Services Committee. I wish we could see documents showing their calculations. Surely the ASCs want to see them now (hint hint Rep. Skelton and Sen. Levin)

Cheney: “inspector general of the National Security Agency … top elected leadership of the Congress of both parties, the chairman and ranking member of the Intelligence Committees of both Houses briefed into this program since the very beginning; when you’ve got the attorney general of the United States and the Office of Legal Counsel, there’s a lot of work that’s gone into this.”

Assuming “top elected leadership of the Congress of both parties” = Majority and Monority Leaders of House and Senate, and not Armed Services Committees

By: bmaz

bmaz — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:52:16 +0000

The statute (50 USC 1431) requires notification of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees only; not even the “Gang of Eight”. But it gets better than that (not really, that is a term of speech meant as a joke). As I pondered in the indemnity post, the Administration may well have circumvented that apparent need to disclose to the Armed Services Committees by taking the stance that, since there was no way to know what the value of an indemnification agreement was, that it had no value and was thus not required to be disclosed. That is a very possible way around the requirement to report if in excess of 25 million dollars; it is theoretically possible they used such an interpretation to avoid any disclosure at all.

By: Neil

Neil — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:42:56 +0000

FYI

2008 Comcast Customer Privacy Notice
For Cable Television, High-Speed Internet, and Phone Services
http://www.comcast.com/customerprivacy/

By: phred

phred — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:40:29 +0000

And by the way MadDog, as I am sure is the case at Phred’s, here at Casa de bmaz the cheesehead is at half mast and a state of mourning prevails. Football just won’t be the same without Brett Favre.

It is indeed. It took all my willpower and restraint yesterday not to go hopelessly off topic in a fit of wailing and gnashing of teeth… I’m looking forward to seeing what Aaron Rodgers can do, but I will miss Brett all the same…