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Local News & Opinion
Ref. : Local Newsbriefs Travel
Letters
Ref. : Letters to the editor Open Letters:
03.05 Open Letter to Congressman Bart Stupak Health & Environment
Video National Health Care Systems In Other Countries 03.20 The Death of American Populism 03.18 Pressure Drop: Brave Sir Dennis Ran Away 03.12 Slick Barry and the $100-Billion Medicaid/Medicare Fraud Claim 03.09 Kill Bill: Death to Obamacare! 03.09 Obama’s Rhetoric May Be “Fiery,” But His Health Care Reform Is Still Lukewarm Media Watching
03.17 CNN Scrapes Bottom of Right-Wing Barrel With Erickson Hire 03.16 WPost Blames Obama First, on Israel 03.16 Letter to the New York Times' Editor: Stovepiping To Persia 03.12 Cud and Complicity: Burying the Alternatives to Empire's Dominion 03.11 NYT and the ACORN Hoax 03.05 Sorry, Rove, Bush Did Lie About Iraq 03.03 It's Snow News 03.03 The Woeful Washington Post Ref. : The Daily Howler Legal Matters
02.26 America's Supremes: Court Over Constitution US Politics, Policy & Culture
03.11 Power Rangers: Policing the System With the "Fightin' Progressives" 03.09 Thinking About Countings 03.07 Unnatural Acts: Breaking the Fever of Militarism 02.25 Future Shock: A Better World Beyond the Imperium High Crimes?
03.19 Israel's Troubling Tilt Toward Apartheid 03.18 The Lawfare Project's Anti-Democratic Agenda 03.16 America's Secret Prisons 03.13 Palestinian Dispossession in East Jerusalem 03.12 Israeli Settlement Expansions Continue 03.11 Brutalizing Palestinian Children 03.08 The Russell Tribunal on Palestine: Barcelona Session 03.05 Targeting Israeli Apartheid 03.01 America's Permanent War Agenda 02.25 Global Sweatshop Wage Slavery Economics & Business Non/Mis/Malfeasance
03.19 The Growing Movement For Publicly-Owned Banks 03.19 America's "Houdini Recovery" under IMF-Type Austerity 03.14 The Crisis in America's Telecommunications Network 03.09 The Business of Water: Privatizing An Essential Resource 03.05 Is the Recovery Real? 03.04 IMF-Style Austerity Measures come to America: What “Fiscal Responsibility” Means To You 03.04 Barry C. Lynn's "Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism and Economics of Destruction" 03.01 Thinking About Fees International
03.15 Peace Process Hypocrisy: Stillborn from Inception 03.03 Muslim Disunity 03.02 Funding Israeli Militarism, Belligerence and Occupation 02.26 Iran Captures a 'Good' Terrorist We are a non-profit Internet-only newspaper publication founded in 1973. Your donation is essential to our survival.
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COMMENTARY:Cheney’s Refrain: ‘I’m a Believer’
First, there is the USA PATRIOT Act, which twisted and shredded the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth amendments to the Constitution. Those amendments once guaranteed the rights of freedom of speech, press, assembly, and religion, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances; freedom from unreasonable searches; due process and the right against self-incrimination; the right to counsel, a speedy trial, and the right to a fair and public trial by an impartial jury; reasonable bail and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment; and an equal protection guarantee for both citizens and non-citizens. There are the “No Fly” lists, databases that track what meals you ate, and innumerable “spy-upon-your-brother” programs. There are the mass designations of “enemy combatants” that allow the Administration to hold anyone in secret, with no legal recourse, for as long as it wants. Of course, that pesky Supreme Court said otherwise, but what’s a Court’s opinion worth when the President believes he has a “mandate” from the people? There were the officially-sanctioned tortures of prisoners in Guantánamo Bay and Iraq, and of the Administration’s doctrine that the Geneva Conventions were “quaint” and outdated. Even after the Senate, by a 90-9 vote, passed a no-torture amendment to the $440 billion Defense Appropriations bill, President Bush threatened to veto the entire package if the amendment wasn’t removed. It would be the first veto in his five-year presidency. Mixed into all of this were the secret meetings with the oil industry to determine the nation’s environmental policies, and myriad Vice-Presidential and Presidential appearances where only those who affirm their loyalty to the Bush–Cheney agenda are allowed to attend. But, Vice-President Cheney has now seen the light—hallelujah!—and believes in the Constitution and civil rights. Praise the Bush! I. Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, who doubled as the Vice-President’s chief of staff and Assistant to the President, had just been indicted by the federal government and charged with one count of obstruction of justice, two counts of perjury, and two counts of making false statements. A 22-page indictment against Libby, who resigned shortly before the indictment was made public, came after a 25-month investigation by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, a Republican and US Attorney in Chicago. The indictment charged that Libby told reporters that Valerie Plame, wife of former ambassador Joseph Wilson IV, an outspoken critic of the Bush–Cheney plan to invade Iraq, was a CIA covert agent. In the Bush–Cheney era, anyone contradicting the Administration’s political philosophy is unpatriotic, maybe even treasonous. Wilson had to be dealt with. According to the indictment, an unidentified “Official A,” widely believed to be Karl Rove, the President’s deputy chief of staff and chief political strategist, revealed Plame’s identity to syndicated conservative columnist Robert Novak who dutifully published it in a July 14, 2003 column. Rove faced the Grand Jury four times, but wasn’t indicted. About the same time Rove was leaking, Libby also leaked the news to New York Times reporter Judith Miller, whose primary responsibilities the past couple of years were to channel just about anything the Bush–Cheney Administration said. Miller’s story didn’t get published, but she went to jail for 85 days for disregarding a federal subpoena requiring she divulge her source. Libby also “leaked” the information to Matthew Cooper of TIME magazine, which did publish it. It wasn’t long before most of the nation’s media jumped onto the story—not of the leak, but of Plame’s marriage and job. No one in the “We-protect-America-at-all-costs” Administration or the media seemed to care that revealing the name of a CIA covert operative violated federal law and the nation’s security. In an official statement, the Vice-President praised his friend and strongly reminded the American people that “In our system of government an accused person is presumed innocent until a contrary finding is made by a jury after an opportunity to answer the charges and a full airing of the facts. Mr. Libby is entitled to that opportunity.” A remarkable statement from a man who believes “enemy combatants” should rot in cages, and Americans captured by the PATRIOT Act are guilty. Libby wasn’t charged with violating the Espionage Act for releasing confidential information or disclosing the identity of an undercover agent, but with lying to federal prosecutors, the FBI, and the Grand Jury. In all of his appearances before the FBI and the Grand Jury, Libby was flanked by his lawyers, a right not granted to those detained under the PATRIOT Act or who are given the appellation, “enemy combatant.” Should Libby go to trial, there is no question that Cheney, Rove, and several other Administration officials will be called to testify. Assuming they don’t perjure themselves, they will have to acknowledge that they pushed America into a war for reasons that were known to be false, and to cover their lies they tried to discredit Joseph Wilson and others who revealed the truth. They will have to confess they told others about Plame’s CIA role, and that they knew what Libby was doing, and may have even encouraged Libby to expose Plame’s job. Of course, all of this is just conjecture. As the Vice-President said, a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Assisting on this story was Rosemary R. Brasch. Walter Brasch’s latest book is America’s Unpatriotic Acts; The Federal Government’s Violation of Constitutional and Civil Rights, available through most major on-line bookstores. Contact Dr. Brasch through his website, walterbrasch.com or at brasch@bloomu.edu.
Copyright © 2005 The Baltimore Chronicle.
All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Baltimore Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without their prior written consent. This story was published on October 31, 2005. |
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