Oh, the VEEP – Keep an eye on the Washington Post Cheney 4-part series by Barton Gellman and Jo Becker, which will draw on interviews with 200+ people who worked for, with or in opposition to Cheney’s office.

I hope this will open some eyes.

Part I was published today.

Cheney brought a four-page text, written in strict secrecy by his lawyer. He carried it back out with him after lunch.

In less than an hour, the document traversed a West Wing circuit that gave its words the power of command. It changed hands four times, according to witnesses, with emphatic instructions to bypass staff review. When it returned to the Oval Office, in a blue portfolio embossed with the presidential seal, Bush pulled a felt-tip pen from his pocket and signed without sitting down. Almost no one else had seen the text.

Cheney’s proposal had become a military order from the commander in chief. Foreign terrorism suspects held by the United States were stripped of access to any court — civilian or military, domestic or foreign. They could be confined indefinitely without charges and would be tried, if at all, in closed “military commissions.”

“What the hell just happened?” Secretary of State Colin L. Powell demanded.

Read more…

Oh, and Dick Cheney is still refusing to comply with an executive order governing the handling of classified information. He has treated “as classified” information like the names of industry executives who advised his energy task force, costs and other details about his travel, and Secret Service logs showing who visits his office or official residence. He recently tried to abolish the office that sought to enforce those rules.

Cheney’s office claims it doesn’t have to comply with the order because it is not an “agency” or “entity” within the executive branch, according to Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which is investigating the matter.

Waxman scoffed at the assertion, calling it “an absurdity for the ages.”

“The vice president is pretending he isn’t part of the executive branch and the White House is pretending that the rules for protecting classified information are being followed,” he said in a statement.

“The vice president can’t unilaterally decide he is his own branch of government and exempt himself from important, commonsense safeguards for protecting classified information. And he can’t insist he has the powers of both the executive and the legislature branches but the responsibilities of neither. Our Constitution doesn’t work that way,” he said.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was asked in January to resolve the legal dispute, but he has not yet ruled on the issue.

Other Cheney news bits:

• White House Backs Cheney: Defends Veep On Secrets Exemption
• Bush claims oversight exemption too
• Cheney challenges classified oversight
• White House Defends Cheney’s Refusal of Oversight
• Cheney quietly watched tower fall
• Rahm wants to defund Cheney
• Cheneying Cheney

And here’s a very interesting story…

Will BAE Scandal of Century Bring Down Cheney?

Addendum 6/25: Very interesting that it appears through a Lyndon LaRouche publication. Man. I wouldn’t normally be given to linking anywhere near there, but if this story holds any truth to it… comment if you’ve seen anything about this anywhere else.

Here are some other links, just in case. One person wasn’t able to click through on the above link.

Here is original article by Jeffrey Steinberg (see also Cheney Plots New Wars To Save His Hide):

http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2007/3426bae_cheney.html

http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/1761/2/

On the same topic, by Lyndon LaRouche:

http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=3545

http://www.just-international.org/article.cfm?newsid=20002298