Cheney and his lawyer Addington were off the reservation...
...when it came to warrantless wiretapping. If you didn't see them, you might want to take a look at two WashPost articles by Barton Gellman HERE (part 1) and HERE (part2)for the full account of how Bush 2.0 almost had a mass exodus at his Department of Justice and FBI over the warrantless wiretapping program. The picture these first hand accounts paint from the people there is a President out of touch with what his VP was doing and how he (and his lawyer Addington) were doing it. Even going so far as to have Addington write the Presidential directive and then sign it on behalf of Alberto Gonzales (you remember him, don't you?) as authorization when he couldn't get DOJ to sign on to the program. These articles also shed more light on the famous meeting at AG John Ashcroft's bedside where Gonzo and Card tried to get him to override Comey and re-authorize the program. If this came to light, like any of the other facts we've come to learn, in the run up to the '04 election when this all was taking place, Bush 2.0 probably would have followed in the footsteps of his father and lost his chance at a second term... but such was not the case. It's only now that we learn the extent of Cheney and Addington's desire to increase a President's power to be above the LAW... but luckily, people like Comey, had the backbone and fortitude to stand up FOR THE LAW.
UPDATE: Below is Keith Olbermann's interview with Barton Gellman from last night... in the interview, Gellman, among other things, says that Cheney told Republican Dick Armey that Saddam HAD DIRECT connections to Osama Bin Laden AND that Saddam was close to acquiring a nuclear suitcase bomb... both claims have been fully discredited. Armey says if he knew the truth, he would have stopped the rush to war.
UPDATE: Below is Keith Olbermann's interview with Barton Gellman from last night... in the interview, Gellman, among other things, says that Cheney told Republican Dick Armey that Saddam HAD DIRECT connections to Osama Bin Laden AND that Saddam was close to acquiring a nuclear suitcase bomb... both claims have been fully discredited. Armey says if he knew the truth, he would have stopped the rush to war.
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