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Dick Cheney's Torture Hypocrisy
The disinformation campaign to manipulate public opinion in favor of the invasion, the torture program, and the illegal exposure of a clandestine CIA agent—my wife, Valerie Plame Wilson—were linked events. In their desperate effort to gather material to whip up public support, Cheney and others resorted to torture, well known in the intelligence craft to elicit inherently unreliable information. Cheney & Co. then pressured the CIA to put its stamp of approval on a series of falsehoods—26 of which were inserted into Secretary of State Colin Powell’s speech before the United Nations Security Council. At the same time, Cheney was furiously attempting to suppress the true information that Saddam Hussein was not seeking yellowcake uranium in Niger. After I published the facts in an article in The New York Times in July 2003, Cheney tried to punish me and discredit the truth by directing the outing of a CIA operative who happened to be my wife.
Among other documents Cheney should release is his testimony to Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald about the role he played in the treasonous leak of the identity of a covert CIA officer. His chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, was convicted of obstruction of justice and perjury for his efforts to ensure that the “cloud over the vice president,” as Fitzgerald noted, was not penetrated.
As a witness in the Libby case, Cheney has the legal grounds to release his own testimony. If he feels more comfortable, he can ask permission, though he does not need it, from former President George W. Bush—and ask that Bush release his testimony as well. Because Cheney has called for transparency, why should he or Bush object? Then Pat Fitzgerald can make public the transcripts. It’s time for this coverup to end.
The American people deserve to know the truth at last, not to depend on Cheney’s selective and biased versions. Let us take the former vice president up on his demand for documents and declassify them all. Then, and only then, will we fully understand what he and his henchmen did in the name of the United States.
UPDATE: This article originally stated Wilson's New York Times op-ed ran in 2002. It has been revised to reflect that it ran in 2003.
Joseph C. Wilson IV served as ambassador to two African nations in the administration of George H.W. Bush, and as senior director for African Affairs for President Bill Clinton. He was in charge of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad during the first Gulf War and was the last American diplomat to confront Saddam Hussein before Desert Storm. He is the author of the bestseller The Politics of Truth. He is married to former CIA officer, Valerie Plame Wilson, whose identity was betrayed by senior officials in the George W. Bush administration.
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Come Out of Hiding, Bush
Joseph C. Wilson IV served for 23 years in the US Foreign Service, including as Ambassador to Gabon and Sao Tomé and Principe. After publication of his article, “What I Didn’t Find in Africa,” in the New York Times debunking the Bush administration’s rationale for the Iraq War, his wife’s identity as a covert CIA office was betrayed by senior administration officials. He is also the author of The Politics of Truth.
Push Cheney
Joseph C. Wilson IV served for 23 years in the US Foreign Service, including as Ambassador to Gabon and Sao Tomé and Principe. After publication of his article, “What I Didn’t Find in Africa,” in the New York Times debunking the Bush administration’s rationale for the Iraq War, his wife’s identity as a covert CIA office was betrayed by senior administration officials. He is also the author of The Politics of Truth.
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aBigDeal
"When I, and a number of others, including a four-star Marine Corps general, Carleton Fulford, and the then-U.S. Ambassador to the West African nation of Niger, reported to the CIA that there was no evidence to support the assertion that Iraq had entered into a contract to purchase 500 tons of uranium yellowcake, our conclusions were ignored by the Bush administration. Instead, the president, in his State of the Union address in 2003, proclaimed a falsehood: "Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."
Total B.S. Hey, Joe, it was the British who reported it and to this day, they're sticking by it. But you conveniently left that bit out. Anyway, Hitchens has thoroughly debunked your story: http://www.slate.com/id/2146475/
Saddam wanted something from Niger and it wasn't livestock!
Chetw3
Joe Wilson at the request of the CIA went to Niger along with others went to Niger to investigate if the British report was correct. He was able to determine after careful study that the report was not correct. Joe has been proven to be correct. The Brits can stick to the report all they want but it was a false alarm. The Bush White House accepts the British report as correct as it helps them make war with Iraq. Cheney was very upset that Joe spoke the truth to power.
flemming47
so why is the yellowcake shipped from Iraq to Canada now?
aBigDeal
"The Brits can stick to the report all they want but it was a false alarm."
No it wasn't. You might be able to honestly claim there was smoke and no fire, but the information turned out to be creditable. Nonetheless, Joe asserts the information was false and attributes it to Bush. Both are half-truths. As false as, if not more than Bush's half truth about Saddam seeking yellow-cake.
Joe's a former ambassador, not an investigator. You have to be pretty naive to think that Niger would openly admit to trading WMD materials to U.N. public enemy #1, or cooperate in an investigation.
cbeenthere
Just checked out Slate; thanks for the referral, but didn't you leave some information out? A little misleading huh? Slam dunk huh?
adagio
Two things:1) The British saying something doesn't make it true. They've never released anything that support that claim or shared that information with us. 2) Why would we go to war based on intelligence from another country? Lets through this in for good measure...if what Cheney is saying is true, that he wants some transparency..then why would he not supply what he has on the outing of Valerie Wilson? Wouldn't that settle the issue to everyone's satisfaction? Cheney was gathering as much "evidence" as he could to justify the war in Iraq. The claims of WMD that weren't there. The claims of a link between Saddam and Al Qeada obtained through torture. The claims of an attempt to buy yellowcake, debunked by Joe Wilson followed by the outing of his wife in political retribution. If Cheney is so eager to vindicate himself, let him put everything out. Or would he like to cherrypick that as well?
Thebigkate
to aBigDeal-
I am appalled at your ignorance! And if you use Christopher Hitchens as your main source of information, I can see where that ignorance comes from. You probably get it when you and he are out together getting sloshed!
flemming47
Well all the yellowcake that was shipped from Iraq to Montreal Canada last year, where did that come from?
Why do Canada need to process Iraq's yellowcake?
vis-veritas
The contention that it was "the Brits," is the most flagrant and ludicrous perversion of the truth that I've read in these postings in a long, long time. It clearly illustrates the degree of fabrication that is offered in place of truthful facts by the right-wing propagandists. Chetw3 has the correct information. In fact, that was the obvious reason that Dick Cheney "outed" Wilson's wife as a CIA agent, to get even with Joe Wilson for exposing the administration lie.
JohnnyA
The British report was based on Italian evidence the CIA had previously determined was at best incorrect and at worst forged. The United States knew this evidence was the product of bad intelligence. This talking point had been deleted from several speeches at the behest of the CIA.
Mr. Hitchens put forth a credible argument in support of these actions in 2006, but evidence produced since that time has debunked the gentleman's views.
veracity
oh, malarky. and the FAR BIGGER Cheney-Bush LIE, was that you can NOT reprocess even PURE uranium metal, into weapons-grade U-235, without a MASSIVE EXPENDITURE OF ENERGY. Which is why America's WWII "Manhatten Project" HANFORD and OAK RIDGE nuclear processing plants were located close to huge hydro-electric dams. At one point, the US electric consumption for Manhatten project was greater than ONE TENTH of the ENTIRE US electric production during the later war years!
The "IRAQ nuclear program" story was a propaganda lie, start to finish, you can't run a nuke program without power transmission lines, which can be easily seen by surveillance.
Even today, 7 years later, gross ignorance is still the norm out there in vast swaths of America-land.
bulletsandbutter
If you really research this story you'll find some interesting things. The breakin at the Niger Embassy in Rome where some still unknown agents stole the letterhead to forge the Niger documents. These forged documents were given to the British. The British gave this infoto the US. This was investigated by multiple intel agents and debunked. It was well known that the Niger story was not fact. What Bush said in the state of the union was not true. The fact that the 16 words was not true is why the Whitehouse retracted the 16 words later. The Whitehouse retracted the statement. You conviently left that part out.
Chetw3
Dick Cheney only wants and will only allow release of documents he feels help cover his butt or help him in writing a book. Cheney is by far the worst VP in the history of our country. He replaces Spiro Agnew for this spot. Cheney committed treason in the releasing of a undercover CIA agents name and ordered illegal torture in an attempt to get testimony he knew would not be factual trying to connect OBL to Iraq. In both cases his actions were driven by the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld obsession to invade Iraq at all cost.
Eykis121
Thankfully, Cheney has no input into what is released.
guitarmeggedon
Both Agnew and Nixon were forced from office for their crimes against the country and the Constitution. We used to have standards of conduct for elected officials in this country.
Redraider
Here's another lie, that lady was not under cover. One, Chet tries to sneek in the word "agents" when it was just one person. Chet hasn't learned the difference between singular and plural words. Also, he drunk the Democrat/MSM propaganda that she was undercover when she was no longer undercover and according to Novak, she and her husband frequently told people she worked for the CIA. But again, liberals never seem to get facts and details straight.
degatesjr
The issue in the Plame case is that she had Cover for Status in some of her previous overseas posts, and that publicly identifying her as CIA could put sources she'd cultivated in those years at risk of prosecution for espionage by their own governments. In all honesty, though, I don't understand the narrative Cheney was trying to sell: that Wilson's report wasn't to be trusted because his wife was CIA? Where's the upside in this for Cheney?
p2may1
did Valerie Plame work for the CIA...yes...the rest is semantics. Novak ?...the man who knew but didn't have the courage to back up his story about Armitage...that Novak..all of a sudden he is gospel ?..
tiotom77
Obama has been cherry picking information from these files. Cheney goes public about releasing results from the interrogations and Obama releases those "torture" photos. He's read the documents Cheney refers to and refuses to disclose them. What's Obama hiding?
p2may1
what is Obama hiding...you mean those documents that when Cheney was VP ...claimed that he could not release them because they were classified...why didn't Cheney release them ?
vis-veritas
Indeed Cheney was the most infamous Vice-President in in my 6 decade lifetime, and probably in all of history. His duplicity is only out-done by Duhh..bya's ineptness.
maxpower1013
Release em all. Prove torture's "effectiveness" and show all the legal evidence of what the previous administration has done
Chetw3
Torture is illegal no matter the results. Pres Reagan signed an International agreement where our Government promised to bring those involved to court.
cbeenthere
Didn't John Yoo, et. al. in all their brilliance find a way around that? We'll see.
Dave1959
Just another classic case of selective memory and convenient editing by the leftist media !!
Tracey276
Dave1959,
Then why do you read here?
rowland
Tracey-
So you concede the media leans left?
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BlakewilliamsNYC
What is the case the leftist media is making? What exactly is your proof for your observation? All people like you do is make claims without citing in kind of information for your observation - just that the big ole' leftist media is bad again. boo-hoo.
VenusMuse
Yes, amazing how the LEFT forgets - look at Pelosi's memory lapse. The CIA needs to release the minutes/memos of her input - she was fully aware and agreed to what was considered "enhanced interrorgation tactics."
Obama just keeps mud slinging and hopes something will stick. The more the LEFT is focused on the RIGHT, the more the LEFT won't see what Obama is really up to.
nickmagoo
hohoho that's rich...obama (from what i see one of the least idealogue-istic pols out there), who at every turn is being labeled either a fascist or a communist (make up your minds!) or a new world orderer, or the anti-christ, is the one slinging mud...i'm weeping with laughter!
democracy7
Gee, I haven't heard Obama doing any mud slinging, the GOP on the other hand is doing bucketfuls. Your argument is silly. Where is your link that proves Obama is doing the mud slinging?
CorporateRobot
Cheney, Rove, and all the rest of those scoundrels should be hung by their necks in the public square until dead!
This criminal crew has brought our once proud country, America, to new lows.
But, as you can see from the posts by the guy calling himself
"Dave1959, maxpower1013, & aBigDeal", the crap continues.
Just remember that those of us who lost loved ones in that phoney "war" will never forgive this criminal cartel. The damage done to the reputation of Colin Powell can also never be undone.
How these people sleep at night is a big mystery, and whether or not they ever actually hang, their souls are damned!
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Tracey276
if Bush were still President we wouldn't have a chance of EVER being safe AGAIN!
Hopefully, Obama can get our reputation back and not be hated around the World.
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jds8181
Yeah, let's forget about the thousands of Americans who died under Bush's watch on 9/11, 8 months after he took office.
Ritarita
dabeall-
That security
You felt
During the Bush years?
An illusion.
Created by
Loud pot banging.
Remember
They ignored the
Glowing hot intel
For more than a week.
America's biggest
Terrorist hit happened
On their watch.
They were caught
With their pants down.
Why would such incompetence
Make you feel
Safe?
adagio
That's probably because you scare easily. Do your conservative values that you pride yourself on and would never think of abandoning or compromising allow you to compromise the American values of NOT using torture against prisoners? Using torture on people is completely anti-American.Yet conservatives support it. Your conservative values are either being compromised, or they don't represent American values. Which is it?
MimiG1945
Wonder how you and others who support torture will sleep in Hell?
BlakewilliamsNYC
Yeah we were real safe under Bush. I sure felt safe when I was living in Manhattan during 9/11. I felt safe when Bush was getting briefed on the situation and decided to sit in a classroom for an extra 4 minutes. Sadly, if there is another attack on US soil, all the right-wing nut jobs will say "see, Obama has made us less safe", when in fact - it was the policies set in place by G-dub that got us back into trouble.
I can only hope Obama turns things around quickly.
VenusMuse
dabeall - agreed. I'd rather see Bush or Clinton in office anyday.
Obama can't speak without "a script or teleprompter", what makes anyone think he can lead a country?
p2may1
did you sleep well 9/12/2001...how well ?
democracy7
You mean you slept well because Bush took 400 plus days of vacation while in office? Gee, who was at the helm?
AndreainNY
Your outrage and lust for revenge is exactly what is tearing this country apart. Blame Bush, Cheney, Rove and whomever else you hate, but it is every bit as much your angry obsession that has damaged this country and will continue to damage it.
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adagio
>"Blame Bush, Cheney, Rove and whomever else you hate, but it is every bit as much your angry obsession that has damaged this country and will continue to damage it."<
Actually those guys are more irrelevant to this outrage then you might think. If Obama did this, we'd be calling for his head as well. It's a matter of our laws, knowing that NOBODY is above the law, and what was done in our name. This country does NOT torture. End of Story. Reagan signed an agreement on this very thing. What would Reagan do? What would Washington do?
roger37
Hey Andrea: The people that threaten to tear this country apart are those people who failed Critical Thinking 101. They look at Dick Cheney and don't automatically see Dr. Strangelove.
lmktacwa
Just like your outrage and lust for revenge and angry obsession to impeach a president for a blowjob... Bush war crimes and Clinton's blow job... they are so comparable. Funny, cuz the World Trade Center bombing that happened on Clinton's watch resulted in the apprehension, prosecution and imprisonment of those responsible: Ramzi Yousef, Abdul Hakim Murad, and Wali Khan Amin Shah (still behind bars by the way)... Where oh where in the world is Osama Bin Laden?
CorporateRobot
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you on this AndreainNY. I have to work for a living in between posts. Please do not misunderstand my "angry obsession" that you purport has damaged our country. To clarify, our country has been damaged by criminals, who stole an election (can I get a hanging chad, anyone?) then created a series of false pretenses that took the lives of thousands of American youth, one of which was mine.
Many other American youth have been mangled, physically, and have had their prime years stolen from them. Please also do not think that "stolen" is too strong a term for a 30 year old young man with one functioning leg, half an arm, a road-map face, and a future filled with pain and nightmares.
Oh yes, I was as gung-ho as any other red-blooded American father, whose son was marching off to make our country safe from the terrorists. Can you imagine, though, how I feel now? Now that we have learned that every reason for invading Iraq was phoney, and that the real reasons remain shrouded.
Hatred may be too strong a word, and I refuse to hold it, or revenge in my heart. But JUSTICE? Now there is a term you can put in your brain and turn around and around. Nothing will bring back the children who were lost to this fraudulent "war on terror", nor will the gap in our hearts ever be filled.
But, to read comments that are purely political in nature, defending a quite obvious criminal group, is to leave one with a feeling of desolation. And, you are quite right that I do blame Cheney and Rove, and probably their boss, who at the end of the day is just another knuckleheaded politician who pandered to those who placed him in power.
p2may1
yes outrage and lust for revenge...you mean when the right wingnuts went after Clinton and impeached him ?...that angry obsession ?
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adagio
>"How these people sleep at night is a big mystery"<
They have no conscience. They're socio-paths.
woodnut
Torture has been proven ineffective as a means of acquiring information. People will say anything to get out of being tortured.
Cheney and the Bush administration are for the most part just a bunch of RATS.
Cheney should be in prison for giving up the name of a CIA opperative period. It's not the media. That's a pretty worn out excuse anyway.
blissfulight
Clearly, maxpower1013, you have no clue what you are talking about. After researching your claims, including rereading Hitch's fantastic and well-written (but fictional) tale, and following up with a timeline of events and reports following the yellowcake story, I have to conclude that you aren't cut out for the intelligence analysis business. You obviously didn't take the time to read Ambassador Wilson's story in the NYT, which I would suggest you start with first, nor did you investigate any of the claims Hitch made misconstruing Wilson's visit (funny, how Hitch never actually visited Niger to follow up on his wild and unsubstantiated claims). The evidence is clear, if you had actually bothered to read it: The documents in question, purporting to show that Niger had sold yellowcake uranium to Iraq, were forgeries, passed on by an Italian information broker and con-man to British intelligence, which based their less-than-substantive report on those forgeries, and the testimony of the man who produced them. (The British, in their embarrassment at being had by a con-man, repudiated the forged documents and stood by their original analysis, which was based exclusively on the testimony of the individual who forged the documents, and who spun the tale behind the them; in other words, they are standing by nothing). Despite the fact that U.S. intelligence threw some cold water on the original idea (and the documents themselves), Ambassador Wilson was sent to investigate the claims in question, to verify whether or not Iraq had purchased yellowcake uranium. He found no evidence of Iraqi perfidy, or Niger complicity in the sale of yellowcake uranium (the mines in question are tightly controlled by French consortiums). The intelligence in support of the Bush administration's claims was stovepiped past the rigorous analysis that normally challenged raw information, in the hope that if they (the neo-cons) believe it, it will become. The end result was a long, expensive, and bloody war, and despite scouring the deserts of Iraq and interviewing hundreds of participants in Saddam's weapons programs, NO WMD's WERE FOUND. (This is a nice way of saying that they lied to us, and of course themselves. Which would make Cheney the Vice Chief of Lying. Bush can be forgiven for just being a rube.) Of course, since you are a Feith-based believer, no amount of evidence can allay your suspicions that "something was going on". (There most certainly was something going on: The "market" demanded proof, and for a nice bit of change, a certain Italian fellow found, or rather made the smoking gun to fit the crime.) In the interim, I would suggest that you chew your yellowcake a little more carefully before you swallow it; I don't won't you to choke on the lies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/06/opinion/06WILS.html
http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=complete_timeline_of_the _2003_invasion_of_iraq_94
cbeenthere
Good roundup, but didn't maxpower have "effectiveness" in quotes? Abigdeal should read this and respond.
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adagio
>"Your self-serving diatribe aside, the facts are your and your spouse ran a game on the American people and tried to leave us less safe."<
Now..all you have to do is to demonstrate how your claim is true? Go ahead. We're all waiting. You've just asserted that the Wilson's "ran a game" on the American people and tried to leave us less safe. The Wilson's backgrounds are well documented and their service to the country is steller. Yet you assert that they "ran a game on the American people". Valerie Wilson's entire career was devoted to keeping us safe, and you claim otherwise? Can you prove that kind of accusation is true? Is there documented evidence to support that claim, or...are you able to read the minds of people and know that they are actually trying to make the country less safe deliberately?
BlakewilliamsNYC
Maybe you should proof read your postings before hitting submit. When you have silly spelling mistakes, it really takes the insight out of your brilliant comment.
Genni2002
Just have no respect for a person that comes with info and explanation after the fact. Why doesn't he stop with this torturing (albeit only irritant, fly swatting type, nausea inducing) us with his presence? Why can't he go back into the hidey-hole he was in during his entire VP tenure?
SixtiethStreet
Heh, yeah mr. "undisclosed location" super secret squirrel is all about the limelight, transparency and full disclosure now.
Cheney's 18% vs. Obama's 70% popularity....I wonder who's gonna win. And 18% was before he left office...who know's where it's at now! My guess is 10% and falling...wheeeee!
cuppajo
Who leaked your wife's name?
Pick one:
You
Richard Armitage
yogendra2
I pick this one:CHAINGANG CHENEY
adagio
>"Richard Armitage"<
Brilliant! Now...who provided that information to Armitage? That's your leaker.
YARROW
I don't for a moment, believe Richard Armitage is soley to blame for the Plame outing, I strongly believe Libby acted on Cheney's advice. One man said Libby didn't go to the bathroom without Cheney's permission
adagio
>"I don't for a moment, believe Richard Armitage is soley to blame for the Plame outing,"<
Not unless people actually believe that Armitage pulled her name out of thin air. He got her name from somebody. And that person had to have a very high security clearance to get it.
aBigDeal
A leak involves a member of the press and a government official. Therefore, communication between two government officials does not constitute a leak, and your point is irrelevant.
YARROW
I wonder how many people believe, Scooter Libbey acted on his own in the outing of Valerie Plame, In my opinion it started with Bush's authorization.
Kilgore-Trout
I love how Repugs are always harping on how safe Bushco has kept them, also with a selective memory......9/11.
But even at that, they sound like five year olds who want to be so protected by mommy. They are always harping on how bad government is, unless of course it's something they need. Hypocrites.
As bad as 9/11 was it never made me afraid one bit. Your chances of getting hit by a bus or for that matter a gun related death, are much, much higher. None of that bothers me either, live your life 'til it ends and don't be cowering in a corner waiting for it. Pussies
Ritarita
Such a good post.
Don't cower.
Ever.
Ritarita
Pussies.
tomforcomm
talk about selective memory, America was attaecked under Bush's watch, and now you guys are saying you feel less safe under Obama? oh please....grow up and start informing yourselves, turn off Fox news and maybe for once you'll learn that the US will not be 100% safe under any president. Cheney's actions now dont even deserve a response from any sane people because he is obviously only trying to revise his own legacy which will know will never be changed.
BlakewilliamsNYC
Well said.
Thank you.
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