Dick Cheney
"Greeted as Liberators"
Five years ago today, Dick Cheney appeared on Meet the Press. He made a quote that will go down as one of the great whoppers of the Bush era.
Now, I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators. And the president’s made it very clear that our purpose there is, if we are forced to do this, will in fact be to stand up a government that’s representative of the Iraqi people, hopefully democratic due respect for human rights, and it, obviously, involves a major commitment by the United States, but we think it’s a commitment worth making. And we don’t have the option anymore of simply laying back and hoping that events in Iraq will not constitute a threat to the U.S. Clearly, 12 years after the Gulf War, we’re back in a situation where he does constitute a threat.
As we all know, the threat he was referring to has since been proven false and nearly 4,000 American troops are dead. Tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians are dead. The Iraqi people have created segregation, but not functional government. By the most conservative estimates, the American people have spent at least 500 billion dollars, and may spend as much as three trillion. There's still no end in sight and one of the two '08 presidential nominees has said he's committed to staying for "100 years".
Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) Formally Calls for Impeachment Hearings
It's a great speech. After the jump, excerpts from an op-ed he co-published last month with two other members of the House Judiciary Committee, Reps Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).
Impeach Cheney
Tell Congress to Impeach Cheney. Also, urge Nancy Pelosi and the Judiciary Committeeto hold hearings about impeachment.
holy CRAP people don't like dick cheney...
Yikes....
Two polls taken in May and June reveal an erosion of Mr. Cheney’s base of support — seen in both his job approval rating and his favorability. Just 28 percent of those polled in June approve of the job Mr. Cheney is doing, while 59 percent disapprove — a reading similar to that of President Bush. (In July, 1992, Dan Quayle’s job approval rating reached an all-time low with 63 percent of the public disapproving of the job he was doing as vice president.)
YESSS. Senate subpoenas documents relating to NSA warrantless wiretapping
The Senate Judiciary Committee asked the Bush administration to give up the papers as part of its inquiry into the controversial spying programme.
The administration has refused a series of requests to release the documents.
The president rejects claims that he broke the law by ordering surveillance without first securing warrants.
Nature v. Bush
Here's a thick, rich Rolling Stone article about Bush administration attempts to cover up and ignore climate change. I haven't had time to plow through all of it, but damn there's some f'ed up stuff in there. This part helps explain why the admin's policy has so little science:
Thursday Open Thread
Progress on global warming at the G8 talks. {Bush behaves himself.}
In other G8 Summit news, the U.S. and Russia talked about the missile shield program, with Putin making a crafty counterproposal. {And read the Bush quotes in the article for a chuckle...}
Uncle Sam says thank you: injured soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan are 'getting only a fraction of the government benefits they are entitled to under federal law.'