Cheney Playing Games with Pakistan's Elections?

From Marcy Wheeler's "Emptywheel" blog at the FDL mothersite.

McClatchy is off to a running start in the new year--reporting that Benazir Bhutto was about to hand over to Arlen Specter and Patrick Kennedy evidence of an ISI plan to steal this next month's election in Pakistan.

The day she was assassinated last Thursday, Benazir Bhutto had planned to reveal new evidence alleging the involvement of Pakistan's intelligence agencies in rigging the country's upcoming elections, an aide said Monday.

Bhutto had been due to meet U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., to hand over a report charging that the military Inter-Services Intelligence agency was planning to fix the polls in the favor of President Pervez Musharraf.

Safraz Khan Lashari, a member of the Pakistan People's Party election monitoring unit, said the report was "very sensitive" and that the party wanted to initially share it with trusted American politicians rather than the Bush administration, which is seen here as strongly backing Musharraf. ,,,

Given Bhutto's apparent worries about handing over evidence to the Bush Administration, I couldn't help but think of this story.

Current and past U.S. officials tell me that Pakistan policy is essentially being run from Cheney's office. The vice president, they say, is close to Musharraf and refuses to brook any U.S. criticism of him. This all fits; in recent months, I'm told, Pakistani opposition politicians visiting Washington have been ushered in to meet Cheney's aides, rather than taken to the State Department.
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/

Looks like more classic Cheney diplomacy to me! One more reason to get behind Drexler and Kucinich and IMPEACH DICK CHENEY, here's another in the long list of high crimes (not misdemeanors) that Cheney started with his Energy Industry Task Force, and continues from his CEO bubba's club. Now the no-bid book-cookers will pull out all the stops to maintain their stranglehold on our political and economic processes.

And if we get suspicious, and the public starts demanding accountability, expect another fire to break out in another Cheney storage closet.

But some skeletons are hard to bury or burn... especially when they relate to political assassinations and mass murders.

Gone-zales IS GONE, Cheney remains...

Now, lets focus on Cheney's Impeachment!
REPOST:
Cheney remains as Rove departs....
Thanks, once again, to Scott Ritter at Truthdig for another clarifying article;
"The vice president is the single greatest threat to American and international security in the world today. Not Osama Bin Laden. Not the ghost of Saddam Hussein. Not Ahmadinejad or Kim Jung Il. Not al-Qaida, the Taliban, or Jose Padilla himself. Not even George W. Bush can lay claim to this title. It is Dick Cheney’s alone....
The absolute worst of the rot that has infected America because of the policies and actions of the Bush administration has originated from the office of the vice president. The nonsensical response to the terror attacks of 9/11, seeking a “global war” versus defending the rule of law at home and abroad, taking the lead in spreading the lies that got us involved in Iraq, legitimizing torture as a tool of American jurisprudence, advocating for warrantless wiretappings of U.S.-based communications (regardless of what the Fourth Amendment says against illegal search and seizure), and pushing for an expansion of America’s global conflict into Iran—...all can be traced back to the person of Cheney as the point of origin."
http://jep-betweenthelines.blogspot.com/2007/08/cheney-remains-as-rove-departs.html

CHENEY STONEWALLS CONGRESS

Vice President Cheney's office acknowledged for the first time yesterday that it has dozens of documents related to the administration's warrantless surveillance program, but it signaled that it will resist efforts by congressional Democrats to obtain them. The disclosure by Cheney's counsel, Shannen W. Coffin, came on the day that the Senate Judiciary Committee had set as a deadline for the Bush administration to turn over documents related to the wiretapping program, which allowed the National Security Agency to monitor communications between the United States and overseas without warrants. White House counsel Fred F. Fielding has also declined to turn over any documents about the program, telling lawmakers last week that more time was needed to locate records that might be responsive to the panel's subpoenas. The committee's chairman, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), said yesterday that he will pursue contempt proceedings against administration officials if the documents are not produced. "When the Senate comes back in the session, I'll bring it up before the committee," Leahy told reporters yesterday. "I prefer cooperation to contempt. Right now, there's no question that they are in contempt of the valid order of the Congress." (When "The Law" refuses to obey "The Law" we got lawlessness, right here in River City!)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/20/AR2007082001622.html?wpisrc=newsletter

Repost-Repost-Repost!!!
No More Excuses! BRING THEM HOME!
TROOPS COULD LEAVE ANY TIME, AND IT WOULD ONLY TAKE A FEW WEEKS!
"US General Says Pullout Plan "Ready To Go" NBC Nightly News says that while military planners "say it could take two years for a complete withdrawal from Iraq," a "top US commander here in Kuwait says, from a logistics standpoint, he's already got the plan and he's ready to go. All he needs is the President's order." The Washington Post reports Lt. Gen. R. Steven Whitcomb said facilities in Kuwait "have handled as many as 240,000 troops moving into and out of Iraq in as little as a three-month period during the war's major rotations. " http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/bulletin/bulletin_070802.htm

CLEARLY, LOGISTICS AREN'T THE PROBLEM, IT IS SIMPLY GREED. THOSE NO-BID BOOK-COOKING CORPORATIONS WITH TIES TO THE BUSH AND CHENEY CABAL ARE THE ONLY REASON WE ARE STILL THERE! BRING THEM HOME NOW!!!

IMPEACH CHENEY FIRST!!!!!

Special thanx to Bob Greenwald and his Brave New Films

Tuesday News

Cheney impeachment gains steam and sponsors..
DOING THE JOB WE ELECTED THEM TO DO!
The NEWEST Heroes of Democracy...
Here's a look at the Kucinich Cheney Impeachment co-sponsors, along with the date they signed on with Kucinich:
Lacy Clay (Mo.) - May 1:
Son of former Rep. Bill Clay (D-Mo.), this St. Louis lawmaker is a member of the Out of Iraq Caucus.
Janice D. Schakowsky (Ill.) - May 1:
Joined Clay in being the first co-sponsors with Kucinich to the articles of impeachment.
Albert R. Wynn (Md.) - May 10:
Wynn, who narrowly survived a primary challenger from his left in 2006, is facing a rematch early next year with Donna Edwards, who criticized his vote in 2002 in support of the Iraq war.
Yvette D. Clarke (N.Y.) - June 6:
One of three freshmen to co-sponsor Cheney's impeachment.
Barbara Lee (Calif.) - June 7:
One of the House's most anti-war members, Lee's most famous vote was the lone 'nay' vote against the 2001 resolution giving President Bush authority to wage war in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
Lynn C. Woolsey (Calif.) - June 7:
In her 8th term, Woolsey is the second-longest-serving member to back impeachment. (Waters, in her 9th term, is the veteran of the group.)
Maxine Waters (Calif.) - June 12:
One of 7 members of the Congressional Black Caucus supporting impeachment, Waters is the co-founder of the Out of Iraq Caucus.
Keith Ellison (Minn.) - June 28:
A stir developed when freshman Ellison, the first Muslim in Congress, announced he would be sworn in with a copy of the Koran. He eventually used a copy once owned by Thomas Jefferson.
Hank Johnson (Ga.) - June 28:
One of three members of the House Judiciary Committee to officially back impeachment, Johnson is a former judge. (Waters and Ellison are the other members of Judiciary, the committee that has jurisdiction over Kucinich's bill.)
Jim McDermott (Wash.) - June 28:
Here's link to McDermott's floor speech and video from his floor speech announcing his support of Cheney's impeachment. McDermott's co-sponsorship is so new that it does not yet register on Thomas, the official web site of the Library of Congress.
These are some of MY heroes of Democracy...who are yours?
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2007/07/post_4.html

Rainy Saturday Morning

From Michael Moore's website newsroom, a link to "The Hill"
Cheney Impeachment gains new supporters

McDermott to Cheney:
‘Resign or face impeachment’

By Chris Good / The Hill
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) told Vice President Dick Cheney to “resign or face impeachment” Thursday night as three more House Democrats lent their support to a plan to impeach the vice president.
“The vice president holds himself above the law, and it is time for the Congress to enforce the law,” McDermott said in a floor speech. “For the good of the nation, the vice president could leave office immediately.”
McDermott was one of three House Democrats to come out in favor of impeachment Thursday, along with Reps. Keith Ellison (Minn.) and Hank Johnson (Ga.). Including the three lawmakers, seven members in June have shown new support for impeaching Cheney.
McDermott cited Cheney’s refusal to cooperate with the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), which, pursuant to an order signed by President Clinton, oversees the handling of classified documents by executive agencies. McDermott denounced a 2004 claim that Cheney’s office is not part of the executive branch.
“When a sitting vice president claims that he is not part of the executive branch of government to which he was elected, it is time to remove him from office,” McDermott said.
Johnson also cited the refusal to submit to ISOO oversight in his decision to support impeachment.
McDermott, who was lambasted by conservatives for opposing the Iraq war, said he anticipates a barrage of attacks in response to his support for impeachment.
“The intent of this administration, and this vice president, has been to silence all dissent,” McDermott said. “Fear is what kept this administration in office in 2004, and fear is the only public discourse this administration understands — and practices.”
The articles of impeachment, introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) in April, have garnered support from 10 House cosponsors.
Unlike the other impeachment backers, McDermott voted against an amendment proposed by House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) to deny funding to the Office of the Vice President Thursday night. Emanuel proposed the amendment earlier this month as Cheney’s document secrecy gained more attention.
The amendment failed 217-209, receiving votes from two Republicans: Reps. Ron Paul (Texas) and Walter Jones (N.C.).
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php