CIA denies Cheney made demand [for memos]

Politico ^ | 4/21/09 | JOSH GERSTEIN & MIKE ALLEN

[VictoryGal]

The Obama administration denied Tuesday that former Vice President Dick Cheney had directly asked the CIA to declassify memos that he claims would vindicate Bush-era techniques for harsh interrogation of suspected terrorists.

A senior U.S. intelligence offical e-mailed: "The Agency has received no such request from the former Vice President.”

[VictoryGal]

WTF? Okay, there is a way to get this done. The Cheney office should release TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC, the request, when it was issued and where, what the normal process is, and ask WHERE is it in the process!

I've been very moved by the Veep's appearances on Hannity. If the CIA is stonewalling information vital to understanding techniques of getting crucial intelligence actually *work*, then this is a big deal.

Every day this information is under wraps is more time that the lies are left to stand.

[OCCASparky]

And the cameras cut off before he could add, “And when we do, we’ll promptly ignore it because, dammit, we just can’t have Bush looking like, competent or anything...”

[Big_Monkey]

Cheney probably, and correctly made the request to the National Archives. That's where Presidential work-product is kept.

Remember, Sandy Berger lifted classified reports (namely the PDB) not from the CIA, but from the National Archives.

[Big_Monkey]

Also, I read Cheney’s statement. He didn’t name the agency at which he directed his request. The Politico story leaves that little fact out.

[JohnG45]

Sandy Berger lifted classified reports (namely the PDB) not from the CIA, but from the National Archives.

There you go. Sandy Berger can have the requested information (top-secret or not) in your hands within 24 hours!

[ChicagahAl]

Well, there you have it, folks.

Obamanites = truthful. Bushies = untruthful.

Boy, I'm glad they settled that!

Now, let's see the documents.

[yldstrk]

Bambi’s folks are shading the truth if they recognize truth when it bites them in the axe

[Gator113]

Obama administration lies, Cheney doesn’t. That settled law.

[telebob]

Cheney made the request to the National Archive, the proper agency. If Politico and the rats (same thing)are trying to make Cheney out a liar, they aren’t gonna get far.

[ElayneJ]

And their point would be.....?
Are they saying they won’t release the records and therfore won’t disclose the truth without prompting from the former VP?
Once again the administration shows that they think we’re all stupid.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Another Bambi straw man argument. Cheney didn’t ask the CIA directly in the first place.

[McGruff]

A senior U.S. intelligence offical e-mailed: “The Agency has received no such request from the former Vice President.”

A source familiar with the request said the former vice president made the request to the National Archives, and said that is the appropriate process for requesting declassification.

[nathanbedford]

Cheney Unleashed

I have long pondered the seeming incomprehensibility of the failure of the Bush administration to defend itself even as it was dying of a thousand cuts. It is not necessary here to rehearse the rope a dope strategy which brought Bush down into the depths of approval ratings and left his administration toothless.

One primary example of this inexplicable taciturnity was brought to light in a remarkable press interview of Carl Rove which I saw on CNN international . Rove commented that perhaps the biggest mistake of the Bush administration was its failure to defend itself against the mantra, "Bush lied and people died" in the wake of the failure to find WMDs in Iraq. Rove said he went to President Bush and explained to him that the slander that Bush lied was gaining coinage in the absence of the administration telling its side of the story. Who could blame the electorate? President Bush forbade Rove from campaigning in public or otherwise to defend the administration, saying that there were other more important issues and political capital should not be wasted on this issue. I believe Bush said that he would be content to have history judge of the matter. Unfortunately, the rest is history.

I believe that this mindless policy is responsible in some unmeasurable way for putting the Manchurian Marxist in the White House. We know what happens to history when Marxists make it and when Marxists write it. In any event, Barak Obama is even today running against George Bush. Republicans cannot defend the record because of Bush's massive unpopularity. George Bush has left the party in a lose -lose situation.

While I was railing against this in post after post I could not understand where Dick Cheney stood in this affair. I think his role is now becoming clearer. Although always a relatively taciturn man, Dick Cheney is no pushover and he is certainly not bashful about speaking out on behalf of policies he believes in especially a policy that he so dearly believes in like national security. Cheney was clearly a dutiful vice president and felt obliged to follow the wishes of his chief executive. There is reason now to believe that Cheney considers the circumstances to have changed.

First, there was Cheney's offhand remark that he speaks to the president "occasionally" indicating that their once very intimate relationship might have cooled. Second, Cheney is no longer serving as commander in chief and therefore he is more free to speak out. Thirdly, obviously Cheney is greatly exercised about what he regards to be the security lapses being committed by this administration and what Cheney yesterday acknowledged to be Obama's attempts to "socialize the American economy."

I believe Dick Cheney is a passionate patriot but one who never loses his cool. I believe he is profoundly motivated to speak out now, not in defense of the administration, but in defense of his country.

[a fool in paradise]

They are no longer the CIA, they are now the CYA.

[a fool in paradise]

Obamanites = truthful. Bushies = untruthful. Boy, I'm glad they settled that! Now, let's see the documents.

What, Obama's birth cerificate? Kerry's military record? < /sarc >

[Loyal Buckeye]

Isn’t it clear that Cheney’s request was buried until after Obama released the memos?