I've seen little reaction to the Bloomberg story about the NSA plan to create a huge phone record data bank seven months before 9-11, which, if true, makes liars of those who claim that the Bush administration's spying on Americans is justified by the "War on Terror".
I'm talking mainly about the power behind the throne, Vice President Dick Cheney, the most ardent advocate of what Paul Krugman calls the " ...authoritarian project, an effort to remove all the checks and balances that have heretofore constrained the executive branch."
Here's how writer Ron Suskind characterizes Cheney's role in the Bush White House:
"For Cheney, ... the president will always remain the child of his contemporary, George H.W. Bush. 'The son of a friend or colleague is always, in large part, a son, seen, for better or for worse, in reference to the parent,' Suskind writes.
"Cheney, who has long advocated returning more power to the executive branch, often protects the president from too much information, in part to give him 'deniability.' As it happens, that suits George Bush, whose leadership style reflects gut instinct rather than broad knowledge or in-depth analysis."
That's from a review of Suskind's new book, The One Percent Doctrine, the title of which is taken from Cheney's remark that "...if there is a one percent chance that a threat exists, the U.S. government must treat it as a certainty." In his previous book, The Price of Loyalty, Suskind revealed to a then incredulous public that
"... the idea of overthrowing Hussein was initially discussed in January 2001, just after Bush's first inauguration and long before 9/11."
Although we may never fully know the inner workings of the ultra-secretive Bush White House, Suskind's characterization of the Cheney -Bush relationship as akin to father and son may be fairly accurate, although I suspect that Cheney may deep down view George W. Bush as less son than as a useful tool to push through his vision of the "unitary executive." Or to put it less kindly, his "useful idiot."
The use of that phrase is in no way exculpatory. Bush, whatever the state of his mind, brings an almost unprecedented arrogance to the Presidency. That alone is enough to hold him accountable for the crimes committed in the so-called "War on Terror."
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