This Big Story Broke Yesterday, But I’ll Bet This Will Be The First You’ll Have Heard Of It
Posted by Phoenix Woman on July 25, 2009
I guess the members of the GOP/Media Complex have been so busy haranguing President Obama for speaking honestly about the illegal arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates, and/or threatening him with even nastier treatment unless he started bowing down to them (shades of the “White House Travel Office Scandal”, when the press took their perk-dispensing buddy Billy Dale’s side despite his having over $50,000 in office funds stuffed into his private personal bank account), that most of them can’t be bothered to talk about this story (h/t Teddy Partridge) about how in 2002, Dick Cheney wanted to see if he could illegally use US troops on US soil to go after alleged terrorists, instead of letting law enforcement officials handle the job:
Some of the advisers to President George W. Bush, including Vice President Dick Cheney, argued that a president had the power to use the military on domestic soil to sweep up the terrorism suspects, who came to be known as the Lackawanna Six, and declare them enemy combatants.
Mr. Bush ultimately decided against the proposal to use military force.
A decision to dispatch troops into the streets to make arrests would be nearly unprecedented in American history, as both the Constitution and subsequent laws restrict the military from being used to conduct domestic raids and seize property.
The Fourth Amendment bans “unreasonable” searches and seizures without probable cause. And the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 generally prohibits the military from acting in a law enforcement capacity.
That it does.
Of course, that Dick Cheney thinks the Constitution is his own personal roll of toilet paper is not news. What is news, as Partridge notes, is that this story looks to have been released by Bush entouragers as a way of pushing back against this story and this one, both of which make Bush look bad (and at least one of which was Cheney trying to look good by making Bush look bad over the Scooter Libby mess).
4 Responses to “This Big Story Broke Yesterday, But I’ll Bet This Will Be The First You’ll Have Heard Of It”
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Charles II said
Didn’t we cover this in real time? I know I sent out this piece and another Arkin piece that’s no longer on line, as well as this piece. While those aren’t specifically about Dick Cheney’s role, I know we have been deeply interested in the issue right along.
It’s an important story. Good on you for staying on it.
Doran said
This is a good story, especially these sub-plots:
1) That Bush took the advice of other advisors not to use the military is somewhat remarkable. I wonder who in the Bush Admin advised against it.
2) The public fighting between Cheney and Bush, and between the coteries of the two. I hope it gets real nasty. You know, guns, knives, midnight raids. A sort of post-administration Night of the Long Knives.
Phoenix Woman said
Doran:
1) My guess would be John Ashcroft. As bad as he was, he did have some respect for the rule of law — there were things even he wouldn’t do. Which is why he was replaced by Bush’s personal attorney, Alberto Gonzales.
2) Indeed. But I’m afraid the press will drop a Cone of Silence over it and get back to attacking Obama for saying the truth.
ShortWoman» Blog Archive » Doubleyou Tee Eff said
[…] turns out that Former Vice President Cheney was all for sending troops into American homes and streets to root out terrorists, and he was very upset with President Bush for refusing to pardon Scooter Libby (by golly, Mr. Bush […]