WHEN CHENEY WAS PRESIDENT
.
DICK CHENEY NOMINATED HIMSELF FOR VP,
THEN TOOK COMMAND ON 9/11
YOUTUBE: MICHAEL MOORE
"'Fahrenheit 9/11' - My Pet Goat"
The Commander-In-Chief at the time of the worst attack on American soil in U.S. history.
DID CHENEY EVER LET GO OF POWER?
YOUTUBE: THE CORBETT REPORT
"Where was Cheney on 9/11?"
His alibi don't check out, chief.
Did Dubya Ever Retake Control?
Geezer Power of the GeezerPower blog has an interesting post about a recent study of the studies of the collapse of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. It seeks to prove, like many studies of the studies, that the collapse of the Twin Towers could not have happened as officially described, in purely engineering terms. I don't know. I'm not a structural or mechanical engineer, architect, steelworker or demolitions expert. I wasn't there on 9/11, though I was there for the first bombing of the WTC. I used to live two blocks away. They caught those guys. Those guys said their buddies were coming back, to finish the job. It was known that planes could be used as bombs, and that the WTC was a target. So, nu?
They can do all the engineering studies in the world, but what it comes down to for me is "My Pet Goat."
Dubya's alibi still places him within the continental United States, and on camera, conveniently. He is, apparently, as conscious as ever, and no more incapacitated than usual. He is in constant contact with the world outside the Florida grammar school, as evidenced by a message he receives while reading the children's book aloud.
The message was about a plane hitting the World Trade Center, just a few minutes earlier, on 9-11-01. Dubya appears dumbstruck, but goes back to reading to the little kiddies as if nothing had happened. Finally, seven minutes later, mission accomplished, alibi in place, Dumbya THEN reluctantly gets up off his little chair and heads for the door, apologizing to the kids.
All that is on film, which we all saw in "Fahrenheit 911." Niggle the details but the facts are indisputable: On 9/11, The President was conscious, able-bodied, in the US, in communication with his staff in Washington DC, and aware of the attacks in NYC & Washington, DC.
What the film does not show is that, during the attacks, our air defense personnel did not contact the President. Messages went up the chain of command from Air Force and Air National Guard pilots and military and civilian air traffic controllers, all the way up to the top of the chain of command: Dick Cheney. Cheney then authorized the use of force against civilian or military aircraft, and ordered all air traffic grounded.
One problem: The Vice President of the United States is not in the military chain of command, ever, as long as the President is conscious or wake-up-able, and in contact with the military. Constitutionally, the VPOTUS has no job at all, except to wait for the POTUS to die or become incapacitated. Which Dubya had not, on 9/11.
Ask any green recruit, after he or she has been indoctrinated and drilled on his or her chain of command in boot camp or basic training: The chain of command is very important in the military. You do not break or bypass your chain of command, ever. Lots of people could die. Generals or Admirals could get pissed off at you. You could be shot. You most certainly do not bypass or short-circuit your military chain of commend in a national defense emergency, when decisions are required at the highest level.
The chain of command goes from the lowliest Private, Seaman, Airman, Coastguardsman or -woman up through his or her Non-Commissioned Officers to the Second Lieutenants and Ensigns, Lieutenants and Captains, squad, platoon, company, battalion, regiment, brigade, division, corp and army commanders, all the way up to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force, and the Secretary of Defense. The exact route depends on the armed service involved, the force configuration and the mission at hand.
But this much is absolutely clear and unchangeable: The chain of command of the United States military goes directly upwards from the SecDef to the President. There is nobody in between Gates and Obama, or Rumsfeld and Bush. The Vice-President of the United States of America is NEVER in the chain of command, unless and until he becomes the President. That has only happened a few times in our history, fortunately. The last time was when LBJ had to be sworn in on Air Force One on the way back to DC from Dallas, Texas, with the body of JFK hardly cold yet, on the same plane. When Reagan was shot and underwent surgery under general anaesthesia, Bush's Daddy, the VP, did not take over as President. Secretary of State Alexander Haig claimed to have assumed command, but there was no official transfer of power. At no other time in the last forty-five years has the Vice President ever stepped into the President's shoes and assumed command of the armed forces, not even for a moment.
You'd think that would have been an historic moment. You'd think there would be a record of it: A photo of Cheney being sworn in, like that famous one of LBJ. Or some embarrassing squabble among those in the order of succession, as with Reagan's Secretary of State, who tried to leapfrog the VP, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, and the President Pro Tempore of the US Senate. Nope. No fotos. No big news stories. Never a word about Cheney assuming command without statutory authority or command authorization from the President. If Dubya did authorize Cheney to take command, where is the written order? And why was it issued, if Dubya was intact & in contact?
And never a word about the Air Force bypassing the President and seeking orders from someone not in the chain of command. There was no attack on the White House. The command center was intact and functioning in the War Room in the basement at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Still is. The plane that was supposed to hit the capitol, somewhere, was brought down heroically by its' passengers, we are told. Or maybe it was shot down by an Air Force or Air National Guard pilot who didn't get the word, loved his country, and upheld his oath to the Constitution. No word on whether that pilot got direct orders from Cheney, or whether the orders said "shoot it down," or "let it go." That might have depended upon whether Cheney was in the White House or not at the time.
Anyway, the point is, with no fanfare whatsoever, the military broke chain of command, and Dick Cheney unlawfully usurped the powers of the Commander in Chief. I have never heard anyone say a word about this one most glaring fact in all the hearings and "investigations" that government has carried out upon itself. I have never seen or heard of a full investigation carried out independently of the government, or based on facts not obtained from the government, by any individual or agency, journalists or media outlets.
No one in the media and no one in power has ever publicly asked the most obvious question in any investigation of a crime or a military attack: Where was Dubya, the man responsible for our national security, the man in charge, the chief suspect? Why was he not in the loop before, during or after the 9/11 attacks? He disappeared for a day or two after 9/11, perhaps on an alcoholic bender, wracked with guilt or fear. He certainly did not come forward like Lincoln or Wilson or Roosevelt and reassure the nation immediately, much though we needed reassuring at the time. So, how long was Cheney POTUS, anyway? Did he ever relinquish command? (EPA chief Christie Whitman says Cheney was still personally giving her orders in his own name to soft-pedal anti-pollution regulation, years after 9/11.)
And why did the Air Force ever refer to Cheney in the first place, if the President was available? Or breathing? I'd like to see the written order authorizing that. I'd especially like to see the time & date on that order. Was all this prearranged? Is that why, in the midst of an attack on US soil, our air defense command was able to violate chain of command so readily? And who in the Air Force authorized THAT?
The command-bypass certainly was not effective: The attacks were carried out succesfully, except for the one on the White House. Or was the DC attack to have been on the Capitol Building, effecting a decapitation of the US Government and necessitating a declaration of martial law? Is that what went wrong on 9/11? Or is that what went right? Were the attacks on a brand-new and largely unoccupied portion of the Pentagon and a spectacular but largely irrelevant government-owned commercial building in the Financial District of New York City all just a distraction and a set-up for the last plane's attack on the heads of government?
Imagine, if you will, what would have happened if that last plane had taken out Congress or the White House. In one fell swoop, our democratic government would have been swept away, by person or persons unknown. Martial law would have to have been declared, and extended until the "state of emergency" was over. Weeks, months, years; certainly long enough to effect major changes in domestic and foreign policy, with no niggling Congress to say otherwise. And with Dick Cheney in charge, officially or otherwise.
Did the crash or shoot-down of that United Airlines plane in Pennsylvania save us all from a Cheney dictatorship? Partially, at best. Because the Congress became a virtual rubber-stamp after 9/11, failed though the attack may have been. Cheney got his oil war, and his "Patriot" Acts. He got eight years of unopposed raping, looting and pillaging of the Middle East and the U.S. national treasury, from which we are suffering today. And he got the US military permanently installed as rentacops, guarding his good buddies' oil bidness in the Middle East, and a right-wing Israel. The military-industrial-energy complex now has a new boogeyman to justify the continuation of the national security State, and the ongoing drain on the Treasury for private profit. So, "Mission Accomplished"?
Who bypassed the President, and why? When was that authorized, and by whom? I'll never believe a word the government says about 9/11 until I see that order, and hear the explanation for it.
.
.
IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM YOUR BLOGGERS:
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS: BRING THEM ALL HOME ALIVE, NOW!
DICK CHENEY NOMINATED HIMSELF FOR VP,
THEN TOOK COMMAND ON 9/11
YOUTUBE: MICHAEL MOORE
"'Fahrenheit 9/11' - My Pet Goat"
The Commander-In-Chief at the time of the worst attack on American soil in U.S. history.
DID CHENEY EVER LET GO OF POWER?
YOUTUBE: THE CORBETT REPORT
"Where was Cheney on 9/11?"
His alibi don't check out, chief.
Did Dubya Ever Retake Control?
Geezer Power of the GeezerPower blog has an interesting post about a recent study of the studies of the collapse of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. It seeks to prove, like many studies of the studies, that the collapse of the Twin Towers could not have happened as officially described, in purely engineering terms. I don't know. I'm not a structural or mechanical engineer, architect, steelworker or demolitions expert. I wasn't there on 9/11, though I was there for the first bombing of the WTC. I used to live two blocks away. They caught those guys. Those guys said their buddies were coming back, to finish the job. It was known that planes could be used as bombs, and that the WTC was a target. So, nu?
They can do all the engineering studies in the world, but what it comes down to for me is "My Pet Goat."
Dubya's alibi still places him within the continental United States, and on camera, conveniently. He is, apparently, as conscious as ever, and no more incapacitated than usual. He is in constant contact with the world outside the Florida grammar school, as evidenced by a message he receives while reading the children's book aloud.
The message was about a plane hitting the World Trade Center, just a few minutes earlier, on 9-11-01. Dubya appears dumbstruck, but goes back to reading to the little kiddies as if nothing had happened. Finally, seven minutes later, mission accomplished, alibi in place, Dumbya THEN reluctantly gets up off his little chair and heads for the door, apologizing to the kids.
All that is on film, which we all saw in "Fahrenheit 911." Niggle the details but the facts are indisputable: On 9/11, The President was conscious, able-bodied, in the US, in communication with his staff in Washington DC, and aware of the attacks in NYC & Washington, DC.
What the film does not show is that, during the attacks, our air defense personnel did not contact the President. Messages went up the chain of command from Air Force and Air National Guard pilots and military and civilian air traffic controllers, all the way up to the top of the chain of command: Dick Cheney. Cheney then authorized the use of force against civilian or military aircraft, and ordered all air traffic grounded.
One problem: The Vice President of the United States is not in the military chain of command, ever, as long as the President is conscious or wake-up-able, and in contact with the military. Constitutionally, the VPOTUS has no job at all, except to wait for the POTUS to die or become incapacitated. Which Dubya had not, on 9/11.
Ask any green recruit, after he or she has been indoctrinated and drilled on his or her chain of command in boot camp or basic training: The chain of command is very important in the military. You do not break or bypass your chain of command, ever. Lots of people could die. Generals or Admirals could get pissed off at you. You could be shot. You most certainly do not bypass or short-circuit your military chain of commend in a national defense emergency, when decisions are required at the highest level.
The chain of command goes from the lowliest Private, Seaman, Airman, Coastguardsman or -woman up through his or her Non-Commissioned Officers to the Second Lieutenants and Ensigns, Lieutenants and Captains, squad, platoon, company, battalion, regiment, brigade, division, corp and army commanders, all the way up to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force, and the Secretary of Defense. The exact route depends on the armed service involved, the force configuration and the mission at hand.
But this much is absolutely clear and unchangeable: The chain of command of the United States military goes directly upwards from the SecDef to the President. There is nobody in between Gates and Obama, or Rumsfeld and Bush. The Vice-President of the United States of America is NEVER in the chain of command, unless and until he becomes the President. That has only happened a few times in our history, fortunately. The last time was when LBJ had to be sworn in on Air Force One on the way back to DC from Dallas, Texas, with the body of JFK hardly cold yet, on the same plane. When Reagan was shot and underwent surgery under general anaesthesia, Bush's Daddy, the VP, did not take over as President. Secretary of State Alexander Haig claimed to have assumed command, but there was no official transfer of power. At no other time in the last forty-five years has the Vice President ever stepped into the President's shoes and assumed command of the armed forces, not even for a moment.
You'd think that would have been an historic moment. You'd think there would be a record of it: A photo of Cheney being sworn in, like that famous one of LBJ. Or some embarrassing squabble among those in the order of succession, as with Reagan's Secretary of State, who tried to leapfrog the VP, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, and the President Pro Tempore of the US Senate. Nope. No fotos. No big news stories. Never a word about Cheney assuming command without statutory authority or command authorization from the President. If Dubya did authorize Cheney to take command, where is the written order? And why was it issued, if Dubya was intact & in contact?
And never a word about the Air Force bypassing the President and seeking orders from someone not in the chain of command. There was no attack on the White House. The command center was intact and functioning in the War Room in the basement at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Still is. The plane that was supposed to hit the capitol, somewhere, was brought down heroically by its' passengers, we are told. Or maybe it was shot down by an Air Force or Air National Guard pilot who didn't get the word, loved his country, and upheld his oath to the Constitution. No word on whether that pilot got direct orders from Cheney, or whether the orders said "shoot it down," or "let it go." That might have depended upon whether Cheney was in the White House or not at the time.
Anyway, the point is, with no fanfare whatsoever, the military broke chain of command, and Dick Cheney unlawfully usurped the powers of the Commander in Chief. I have never heard anyone say a word about this one most glaring fact in all the hearings and "investigations" that government has carried out upon itself. I have never seen or heard of a full investigation carried out independently of the government, or based on facts not obtained from the government, by any individual or agency, journalists or media outlets.
No one in the media and no one in power has ever publicly asked the most obvious question in any investigation of a crime or a military attack: Where was Dubya, the man responsible for our national security, the man in charge, the chief suspect? Why was he not in the loop before, during or after the 9/11 attacks? He disappeared for a day or two after 9/11, perhaps on an alcoholic bender, wracked with guilt or fear. He certainly did not come forward like Lincoln or Wilson or Roosevelt and reassure the nation immediately, much though we needed reassuring at the time. So, how long was Cheney POTUS, anyway? Did he ever relinquish command? (EPA chief Christie Whitman says Cheney was still personally giving her orders in his own name to soft-pedal anti-pollution regulation, years after 9/11.)
And why did the Air Force ever refer to Cheney in the first place, if the President was available? Or breathing? I'd like to see the written order authorizing that. I'd especially like to see the time & date on that order. Was all this prearranged? Is that why, in the midst of an attack on US soil, our air defense command was able to violate chain of command so readily? And who in the Air Force authorized THAT?
The command-bypass certainly was not effective: The attacks were carried out succesfully, except for the one on the White House. Or was the DC attack to have been on the Capitol Building, effecting a decapitation of the US Government and necessitating a declaration of martial law? Is that what went wrong on 9/11? Or is that what went right? Were the attacks on a brand-new and largely unoccupied portion of the Pentagon and a spectacular but largely irrelevant government-owned commercial building in the Financial District of New York City all just a distraction and a set-up for the last plane's attack on the heads of government?
Imagine, if you will, what would have happened if that last plane had taken out Congress or the White House. In one fell swoop, our democratic government would have been swept away, by person or persons unknown. Martial law would have to have been declared, and extended until the "state of emergency" was over. Weeks, months, years; certainly long enough to effect major changes in domestic and foreign policy, with no niggling Congress to say otherwise. And with Dick Cheney in charge, officially or otherwise.
Did the crash or shoot-down of that United Airlines plane in Pennsylvania save us all from a Cheney dictatorship? Partially, at best. Because the Congress became a virtual rubber-stamp after 9/11, failed though the attack may have been. Cheney got his oil war, and his "Patriot" Acts. He got eight years of unopposed raping, looting and pillaging of the Middle East and the U.S. national treasury, from which we are suffering today. And he got the US military permanently installed as rentacops, guarding his good buddies' oil bidness in the Middle East, and a right-wing Israel. The military-industrial-energy complex now has a new boogeyman to justify the continuation of the national security State, and the ongoing drain on the Treasury for private profit. So, "Mission Accomplished"?
Who bypassed the President, and why? When was that authorized, and by whom? I'll never believe a word the government says about 9/11 until I see that order, and hear the explanation for it.
.
.
Labels: " 9/11, "My Pet Goat, attack, bombings, chain of command, Commander-In-Chief, Dick Cheney, George Dubya Bush, Pentagon, President, September 11 2001, U.S. soil, vice-president, World Trade Center, WTC
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posted by Cosa Nostradamus @ 5/06/2009 12:01:00 AM
View blog reactions
4 Comments:
Frontline did a great piece in 2007 titled "Cheney's Law." It is a must see if you haven't, given the topic of this post.
And of course, he is going through Limbaughian withdrawls from the power trip he was on during Bush 43's years in the WH. Why else would he keep that penguin beak of his in front of the cameras, now, when he was so "shy" of them not that long ago?
I just said to Tom yesterday: Dick Cheney was our president between 2001-2009. It only appeared that Dubya was the Decider.
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Hi, Skye!
Yeah. And so far, Cheney's gotten away with all his evil deeds.
It's just that, as an ex-Marine, this violation of the chain of command thing really bothers me. It's so basic that no soldier would ever do it, much less an Air Force general. The idea that our nuclear arsenal could be launched by someone without proper authorization requires a full investigation by an independent agency with real teeth.
Either Bush was grossly negligent and derelict in his duties, or Cheney was literally mad with power, and may have been involved in perpetrating the attacks on 9/11. Yet there he sits, smirking at the cameras, threatening the new President, the elected one. It's hideous.
If a coup were ever mounted against Obama, Cheney would be the prime suspect. Guaranteed.
Thanks for the comment. I'll check that video out.
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There's part of me that (kind of) never wants to know how close we came to losing everything.
And I have to say, I agree with you about potential coups and plots against our sitting president. Cheney would definitely have his reptilian phalanges in it somehow.
I hope this doesn't sound goofy, but thanks for your service to our country. I have a nephew in the Navy who has been deployed to Iraq (the Gulf and some secret land missions he can't talk about) three times now. My niece is married to an MP in charge of high profile security escorts in Baghdad. I'm glad you are safe and hope that we can bring all of our soldiers home safe soon.
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Thanks, Skye.
I think we have to find out everything that Bush, Cheney et al. did, so we can prevent it from ever happening again. All of it, from the Florida election debacle to the shredding on the way out the door this year. It can't be allowed to stand, any of it.
......
I think everybody should serve in the military or the Peace Corps, or whatever, if only so they can see how our government operates from the inside. It's also good to see how much of an effect you can have on the world, and what our role is in it, collectively and individually.
That said, our military should never be abused or misused, as it has so often in the past. We should never go looking for a fight: That's what bullies do, not Americans.
We need to bring all those young Americans home as soon as possible. There's a lot that they, and all that money being wasted now, could be doing to REALLY strengthen this country: Education, health care, mass transit. Plenty of work to be done.
I hope you & yours remain safe & secure.
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