WP: OFFICIAL: CHENEY URGED WIRETAPS ("MORE CLOSELY INVOLVED THAN PREVIOUSLY KNOWN")

[DeepModem Mom]

Official: Cheney Urged Wiretaps
Stand-In for Ashcroft Alleges Interference
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 7, 2007; Page A03


Cheney allegedly disagreed with Justice officials on the legality of surveillance. (By Lauren Victoria Burke -- Associated Press)

Vice President Cheney told Justice Department officials that he disagreed with their objections to a secret surveillance program during a high-level White House meeting in March 2004, a former senior Justice official told senators yesterday.

The meeting came one day before White House officials tried to get approval for the same program from then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, who lay recovering from surgery in a hospital, according to former deputy attorney general James B. Comey.

Comey's disclosures, made in response to written questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, indicate that Cheney and his aides were more closely involved than previously known in a fierce internal battle over the legality of the warrantless surveillance program. The program allowed the National Security Agency to monitor phone calls and e-mails between the United States and overseas....

***

Democrats said yesterday that the new details from Comey raise further questions about the role of Cheney and other White House officials in the episode.

"Mr. Comey has confirmed what we suspected for a while -- that White House hands guided Justice Department business," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). "The vice president's fingerprints are all over the effort to strong-arm Justice on the NSA program, and the obvious next question is: Exactly what role did the president play?"...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/06/AR2007060602297.html?nav=hcmodule

(NOTE: The entire article is worth reading. Example: ""How are you, General?" Gonzales asked Ashcroft at the hospital, according to Comey. "Not well," replied Ashcroft....")

[aquart]

1. Impeach Cheney.

Or take him hunting.

[Marr]

2. This is the same man who says we have no right to know who he MEETS with,

to do government business.

These people are so crooked it's insane. Impeach this arrogant old criminal, already.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Can we impeach the bastard now?

I know, I know we lack 67 votes to convict, but god heavens can we at least do more than just posture

[ClintonTyree]

28. Nope, nope.....

'gotta keep our powder dry. Let's not turn this into a political witch-hunt. Mistakes were made but we now have to all band together to solve the problems in a bipartisan way.

:sarcasm:

At least that's the official line from many in Congress. :banghead: There will never be impeachment proceedings against Bush or Cheney. There aren't enough Congressmen/women with the political will to do it. It's a crying damned shame but that's the way it is. I've resigned myself to that fact. :grr:

[LuckyTheDog]

38. Witch Hunt '07!

Let's HUNT those witches!

[ddeclue]

39. Stop insulting fine upstanding witches by comparing them with Cheney!

:)

[LuckyTheDog]

41. OOPs

Actually, I've met witches who were pretty cool.

But you know what I mean.

[Independent_Liberal]

42. So, that's it? You're throwing in the towel?

I can't believe how many people here are giving up already. Everyday you get on here, it's nothing but doom and gloom.

[ClintonTyree]

44. It's not a question of ME "throwing in the towel"..........

it's Congress throwing in the towel. Do you actually think they have the political will to start impeachment proceedings? We've been told that "impeachment is off the table" yet you still believe they're going to have an epiphany and reverse their thoughts on impeachment?

I'm a realist. If impeachment was going to happen the wheels would have been put in motion long ago. Congress is content to let Bush serve out his pResidency unfettered. I know many here keep thinking that Congress will come to it's senses and start impeachment proceedings but that's just pie in the sky wishful thinking. After watching the Congressional Democrats "keep their powder dry" for the past 7 years I have no illusions that they're going to change now. Again, I'm a realist. In a perfect world Bush would have been impeached long ago but it just ain't 'gonna happen now. Dream on if you like, but I'm tired of being disappointed by our Democratic leaders. Besides, how many lock-step RepubliCONS would vote for impeachment? Few, if any.

[Independent_Liberal]

46. I'm saying that we can't give up.

We have to keep fighting and raising hell until the sound gets so deafening they won't have any choice but to start impeachment. We've got to be in the streets, camping out on the steps of the Capitol, lobbying Representatives endlessly, etc. until they can no longer ignore us. I'm just trying to find some people who have the will to do so.

[mod mom]

4. When is Ashcroft testifying?

[Supersedeas]

18. the public has a right to hear what Ashcroft has to say under oath

[Double T]

5. cheney has the face NOT even a mother could trust............

and THAT goes quadruple for the rest of 'US'!!

[RufusTFirefly]

6. Whoa!! That's a shocker!!

(Not!!)

When he has heart surgery, exactly what do they operate on instead?

Dick "Dr. Evil" Cheney is one of the two scariest men on the planet. (The other is Pooty-Poot, who looks as though he could assassinate his own mother with a silencer.)

[Ghost in the Machine]

7. Pooty Poot! That still cracks me up! Our Cartoon President has been a blessing, no?

[proud patriot]

8. Ya know I've tried real hard not to hate

but this beast cheney takes the cake :grr:

[RufusTFirefly]

9. Don't hate. Just go for justice n/t

The secret woid is: Hague

[tbyg52]

14. From your keyboard to.....

Whatever deity you choose, or whoever can make it happen!

[HCE SuiGeneris]

10. evil incarnate -- an absolute bane to america

[Decruiter]

12. Yes. He is a beast and he does take the cake along with the "emperor with no

clothes". God, please wake me up from this nightmare. Is this the "apocalypse" the fundie Christians are banking on? Cheney, pale rider on a very pale horse.

[shanti]

20. THE worst!

:mad: :grr: i've always felt that he was evil incarnate from the very beginning.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

11. If this country wants to retain it's soul...

This thing, this cancer on the government, this replicant, this homunculus, this golem born of shit must face a court of law for his crimes.

[whistle]

13. Fuxk'em, impeach the bastard

[KharmaTrain]

15. Truth And Reconciliation Tribunals

Impeachement? That's all? Is that all you people want for this violation of your privacy? Even if there are votes to convict, do you really want Chenney to walk away from all his illegalities with a mere wrist slap?

I don't think any of us are that surprised that Crashcart is behind the most heinous crimes of this regime and the evidence is starting to really pile up. This is now beyond a political situation, it's demanding criminal investigations and actions. If the Congress can't handle the "sensetive" aspects (they're scared shit of taking on Crashcart), the it has to be done through other methods. The Plame civil suit is one start...but many other steps and suits need to be started...for various reasons.

Here's hoping CREW or some other watchdog group puts together a class action suit...on behalf of those whose rights have been violated and can do the things many here want to see and that Congress will never do. It will provide subpoena power (Paula Jones anyone??) that would compell Crashcart to testify under oath and also force Rove and other enablers to testify as well...and unlike avoiding a toothless Congressional subpoena, ignoring a civil case holds real teeth and penalties.

It's also time to start prodding our international friends to begin their own investigations. Yes, many are still scared shit of this regime, but the evidence is there as well...as its time to start compiling evidence for future war crimes trials in the Hague...no doubt Crashcart's name would head the list of those invited to sit in the dock.

Cheers...

[Hubert Flottz]

16. You can bet your ass the Bushies didn't just tap overseas calls.

I'll bet Karl knew every fart that everyone in our party let. Everything about BushCo is "Political"

[EVDebs]

19. Now you've got insiders in the NSA sprinkled about doing GOP b.s.

And you thought these supresecret agencies couldn't be compromised ? Who watches the watchers ?

[Roland99]

17. It's all that Law School learnin' Unca Dick got while deferring his Vietnam draft.

[porphyrian]

21. I wonder if anyone will do anything about it in our lifetimes. - n/t

[sofa king]

22. Probably not.

Especially if it's the kind of surveillance I'm beginning to suspect it was: the tapping of the political opposition, rather than terrorists.

If that was the case, it means there's far, far more at stake this election cycle than most of us realize. By egregiously breaking the law in order to win the White House, the Republicans can now never surrender it. They can't steal the White House indefinitely without the support of the military. And they won't get that without some sort of truly cataclysmic man-made disaster which distracts the public and the armed forces from the reality that America is now an oligarchic criminal dictatorship.

This weatherman predicts a nuclear winter this year.

[porphyrian]

24. I hope you're wrong, and I'm disgusted that it's a possibility. - n/t

[disndat]

23. Congress dutifully

investigates, WaPo reports, Gonzales get a slap on the wrist, Libby may eventually get pardoned, nothing else happens. Cheney knows he can get away with his horrible crimes,because he has powerful support by the Iraq war hawks, MSM and the Bush has a veto proof Democratic Congress. We will have to wait until '08 when the Democrats will take back Washington DC. In the meanwhile, over 3500 of our troops killed and more are being fed into the Iraq meat grinder. Is this fascism or what?

[robertpaulsen]

25. K & R! Investigate, impeach, indict, & IMPRISON THE BASTARD!

:kick:

[BuyingThyme]

26. kcik

[Mr. Ected]

27. I Know A Guy, Ex-Navy, Republican Through and Through

Worked with Cheney, reported to Cheney, knew Cheney.

He says he never despised a man moreso than Dick Cheney.

Truth.

[krispos42]

29. Impeach Bush and Cheney at the same time

President Pelosi takes the oath and immediately cleans house of cronies.

President Pelosi orders new, crony-free departments to make public thousands of documents regarding all of this.

Public is so horrified they demand Bush and Cheney go to prison.

Bush and Cheney are tried and sent to prison.

Public, disgusted with the enormity of the documented crimes of BushCo, vote Democrats in office for the next three decades.

[dogday]

30. Dead-eye Dick killing our rights

[barbtries]

31. this sentence cracks me up:

"Cheney allegedly disagreed with Justice officials on the legality of surveillance."

HA! i really doubt that. more like cheney doesn't give a flying fuck about the legality of any gawd damn thing, anymore than he cares about morals, ethics, people's lives and livelihoods, or anything at all but his own lust and greed for power and wealth and greasing whatever wheels it takes to continue raking it in.

i am constantly persistently shocked and outraged at all this administration gets away with. it is sickening.

[Supersedeas]

45. what Cheney thinks is the law -- don't you understand that boy.

[Jackpine Radical]

32. For everyone who thinks Cheney has no heart...

Hey, dummies. Why do you think they drive a stake through the chest of people like that when they bury them?

[EST]

33. For priapism.

So he'll have an eternal woody and can keep on fu*king everyone a century after he's dead.

[graywarrior]

34. Sad thing is nothing will change. He'll remain in office til 1/2009.

But I pray there is a burning hell he roasts his ass in for all eternity....along with his heirs.

[Independent_Liberal]

43. So you're saying we should be like the "Good Germans"...

...and be silent and complicit as our country descends into fascism? Apparently that's what DU wants.

[9thkvius]

35. If we had to choose between impeaching one or the other...

I say impeach Cheney rather than Bush. Cheney has done so much more damage in the long run than Bush. Besides, it took the disgrace of his VP to bring Nixon down, maybe the same might work for Dubyah.

We can only hope.

[NastyDiaper]

36. Impeach him before he Nukes Something.

I used to be kidding on this.

[april]

37. I hate all of this IMPEACH the sob 's they lie cheat & steal

everyday more of the same shit ..it needs for us to take to the streets with rage ..after we send countless letters emails everyday ..we need to organise ourselves and pull together with a united voice!!!

[happygoluckytoyou]

40. HIS MOM HAD MORNING SICKNESS.. AFTER HE WAS BORN