This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.
For example, Gellman describes how Cheney convinced then-House Majority Leader Dick Armey, a leading Republican opponent of war with Iraq, to vote in favor of the war resolution:
"Cheney ... had ... a borrowed hideaway office in the Capitol building. " He brings Armey in ... [and says] 'Let me explain to you what's really going on. ... Saddam is much more dangerous than we want to tell the public.'"
"He told Armey two things that he's never said in public and that are not true," Gellman continues. "He said that Saddam personally " had direct ties with al Qaeda. And he said that Iraq was making substantial progress towards a miniature nuclear weapon" and would soon have "packages that could be moved even by ground personnel" and "a delivery system in their relationship with organizations such as al Qaeda."
These claims, writes Gellman, "crossed so far beyond the known universe of fact that they were simply without foundation."
Good for Gellman - Then
But Gellman now seems to be angling for still more access to Cheney and his dwindling circle of supporters. In his Post article on Thursday, "Cheney Uncloaks His Frustration With Bush," Gellman is back to fawning for food. Maybe he has another book in mind, confident that no one will take seriously the panegyric likely to come from the pen of Cheney's "authorized biographer," neocon Stephen Hayes.
Gellman's sugary piece gets a little sickening, but bear with me. Apparently, it is easy to focus on Cheney's imaginary redeeming qualities, if you limit your interviews to his inner circle. From Cheney's second-term national security adviser John Hannah, and Aaron Friedberg, a foreign policy adviser, Gellman learns that Cheney "really feels he has an obligation to save the country from danger."
Urgently Focused"But on What?
Another interviewee was impressed by Cheney's "continuing zeal" for the positions he took while in office. Gellman describes Cheney as "urgently focused " on shaping events." Gellman also stirs up some empathy for the lion-in-winter ex-Vice President. According to Gellman, Cheney takes a morning drive to Starbucks for a decaffeinated latte (no caffeine because of his heart condition, you know) and attends the soccer and softball games of his grandchildren.
The trouble for Gellman's sympathetic portrayal is that there is far too much evidence of criminal activity on the record about his subject, though you wouldn't know that from reading the Post article.
What Cheney is "urgently focused" on right now is staying out of prison. As he sits writing his memoir in his own Eagle's Nest over his garage in a fancy Virginia suburb, Cheney is pulling out all the stops to ensure that he does not have to face the music for war crimes.
For Cheney, there apparently will be no trips to Paris? No, that's where Rumsfeld almost got arrested two years ago. After a war-crimes complaint was lodged, he had to go out the back door of the embassy and dart to the airport for the first flight back to the U.S., before the Paris magistrate decided whether or not to detain him.
Angry at Bush, But Why?
I do think that Hayes, the pundits for Time and Gellman have it right when they say that Cheney is angry with George W. Bush. But they are disingenuous about why. By now they must have been able to figure out that when Cheney vents his anger at Bush's failure to pardon Libby, the ex-Vice President is really livid that Bush did not issue a blanket pardon for Cheney and other co-conspirators. Cheney had every reason to expect the pardon (excusing crimes such as torture and launching an aggressive war by deceiving Congress), given that he seems to have engaged in those crimes with his boss' full knowledge and encouragement.
Can these journalists be so dense that they miss this motive for Cheney's anger? They paint a picture of a man intensely loyal to a favored subordinate; and that is no doubt true, since one's power is diminished to the extent you are seen as unable to protect someone in your employ.
But when Cheney accuses Bush of abandoning "an innocent man" who had served the President loyally; when Cheney excoriates anyone who would "sacrifice the guy who was asked to stick his head in the meat grinder" - he appears to be talking about himself as much as Libby. It is such an obvious allegory, a classic example of self-pity masquerading as altruism; and the pundits don't get it - or, more likely, pretend not to.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
3
2
1
