Man, I’d love to be a fly on the wall and know what those guys really think of David Addington and John Yoo… to say nothing of Cheney and Bush. Heh ;-))

I hope we get to find out. Isn’t about time for some of these guys to start with competing tell all books pointing out how it’s the other guy’s fault? It looks like some real big poo is headed for the turboprops.

So yeah, Peggy may not have known the specifics, and the state of their marriage is certainly none of my business but she must at least have seen that her spouse was unhappy. So there was plenty of time for Comey and Mueller to hear about the episode, particularly since both of them **needed** to know about it.

Man, I’d love to be a fly on the wall and know what those guys really think of David Addington and John Yoo… to say nothing of Cheney and Bush. Heh ;-))

Not bloody likely!

This “hospital visit” is really turning into the signature event of the Bush administration. On so many levels, symbolically, tactically, strategically…

Well said. I was impressed that more than two full pages of the report are used to describe in detail the events at the hospital. While the description of the hospital visit is found on pp. 24-26, anyone unfamiliar with the incident should start reading at p. 21 (D. Conflict between DOJ and the White House) to understand the full significance of the hospital visit’s attempted end run around acting AG Comey.

To continue the credit card issue from last thread, further sourcing from Wired’s Threat Level blog, NSA Whistleblower: Grill the CEOs on Illegal Spying, Kim Zetter, January 26, 2009:

Former National Security Agency analyst Russell Tice shed new light on the Bush administration’s warrantless domestic spying last week when he told MSNBC that the NSA blended credit card transaction records with wiretap data to keep tabs on thousands of Americans.

… Nov 13, 2001 Cheney joins Bush for lunch, bringing a 4 page text written by Addington that claims foreign terrorists have no access to any civilian or military court, foreign or domestic. (Addington’s text discarded six decades of laws and treaties, reaching back to 1949, including the Uniform Code of Military Justice. But Addington needed backup from DoJ, so he turned to Yoo and Philbin (who wrote that the Preznit did not need approval from Congress or the Courts, and that international treaties did not apply.

p. 164: “Atty Gen John Ashcroft got wind of the proposal. It gave exclusive authority to the Pentagon [read: Cambone, OSP, Feith] to decide which alleged terrorists to try in military commissions. Over Veteran’s Day weekend, on November 10 [2001], Ashcroft took his objections to the WH.

The AG found Cheney and Addington, not the President, at the broad conference table in the Roosevelt Room. Ashcroft minced no words.

He was the president’s senior law enforcement officer. He supervised the FBI. He oversaw terrorism investigations and prosecutions nationwide. There was no way he was going to hand over suspects to tribunals over which he had no say.

“We’ve already spoken to your OLC,” Cheney replied. “They recommend otherwise.”

Who? Ashcroft demanded.
John Yoo.
The AG turned red. Raising his voice, Ashcroft talked right over Addington – no mean feat – and brushed aside interjections from Cheney. “The thing I remember about it is how rude, there’s no other word for it, the AG was to the VP,” said one of those in the room. Asked later about the confrontation, Ashcroft replied curtly, “I’m just not prepared to comment on that.”

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Life is strange. I don’t agree with John Ashcroft’s political views, but I’ve come to respect him. And his wife sounds terrific.