Countdown: Seymour Hersh on the Dick Cheney "Stay Behinds"
By Heather Wednesday Apr 01, 2009 8:00am
Keith talks to investigative journalist Seymour Hersh about the Dick Cheney "stay behinds" he discussed in his recent interview with NPR. Some of that transcript from Think Progress:
GROSS: Are you saying that you think Vice President Cheney is still having a chilling effect on people who might otherwise be coming forward and revealing things to you about what happened in the Bush administration?
HERSH: I’ll make it worse. I think he’s put people left. He’s put people back. They call it a stay behind. It’s sort of an intelligence term of art. When you leave a country and, you know, you’ve driven out the, you know, you’ve lost the war. You leave people behind. It’s a stay behind that you can continue to contacts with, to do sabotage, whatever you want to do. Cheney’s left a stay behind. He’s got people in a lot of agencies that still tell him what’s going on. Particularly in defense, obviously. Also in the NSA, there’s still people that talk to him. He still knows what’s going on. Can he still control policy up to a point? Probably up to a point, a minor point. But he’s still there. He’s still a presence. And again, because of the problems this administration’s having filling jobs, a lot of people who served in the Bush Cheney government, particularly even in the White House people on most sophisticated staffs are still there. You simply can’t get rid of everybody, you may not even want to. Some are professional people. But Cheney is, I would never call it admiration, but, you know, formidable, yeah, this guy. This guy is the real McCoy.
They also discuss Hersh's recent article in the New Yorker, Syria Calling: The Obama Administration’s chance to engage in a Middle East peace.
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It's not like you can investigate anyone, unless there's a clear violation of security clearances (I would think that Cheney's got downgraded after leaving office).
The stain that the Bush Administration has left on America won't be blotted up, rinsed out, erased, or expunged easily.
Probably because it's comprised of blood and bile.
and undermines Obama to Israel. Until they get rid of the booshchainey moles in the federal government, there will be more mess and more lies promoted, unchallenged in the media. fir example, the HardBall piece in which chrissie lets a chainey shill talk over his program.
how Cheney's actions are not TREASON?
Could you imagine the unholy shit storm if Cheney were a Democrat?
There would be armed rednecks in the streets!
The real Borgia. Or Nero. Or Genghis Khan.
a substantial number of posters here think Obama is a Cheney left behind.
Both about Obama and about "substantial numbers".
he means two regulars, and the trolls. ;)
I don't remember anyone named MinuteMan. Is he Canadian?
I ain't namin names!
But MinuteMan's been on here for awhile...
been sometime since I remember seeing him post anything, but he's been on here at least as long as I have.
is to just click on their handle. You can see how long they've been a member, what posts they may have provided, and the comments they shared.
"Is he Canadian?"
Check for Capri pants.
what! you mean thier are two regulars who still arent like us? jesus someone with the ability to have an oppinion other then ours ! the scoundrels! the horror!
I say!
LMAO.
good day freya, im reminded of that great movie ,[the invasion of the body snatchers] soon the pods get everyone! arghhh my legs turning into a ...... turnip root!
better nip it in the bud tyree..
that might fester if ya don't do somethin soon!
its okay lib, im wearing clean underwear!
ya mean, for a change? };)>
certainly, unfortunatly its my last pair , my dog ate holes in the other pair i own,
Well...at least for now ya still have the one pair.
We may all be goin commando one day soon.
I've got a kilt.
... my aunt was in the 1980's remake (the one w/ Donald Sutherland). She was the laundry lady.
on TCM (the one w/Joe McCarthy's cousin)
I'm glad she's much better now.
Wicked, mass murderous, blood drinking, paranoid, black hearted fucker.
... founder of the Cheka.
the steps to the first landing in Odessa.
since Cheney so successfully subverted the FISA rules, as well as implementing widespread warrantless wiretapping domestically, the Obama administration should have no problem intercepting all calls made to and from Cheney's phone, all emails incoming and outgoing from all his email accounts, whether on his home computer, laptop, Blackberry, Liz Cheney's Jitterbug...
...and then post the emails/audio of these on WikiLeaks for everyone to enjoy! PWNED!
Lynne.
Liz and what is a jitterbug? Some sort of tweet?
but I'll own up to the error, rather than editing my original post!
A Jitterbug...we'll, let's just say it's a cell phone for an octogenarian!
... is a phone with oversized buttons and large-number displays for customers who have vision issues or factors that limit their manual dexterity.
It also comes with an operator/concierge service. You can maintain a list of contacts which the operator can access, so you don't have to remember speed dial codes or step through a long phone book.
but I cant remember where I put it.
a clapper on it ricky!
but was too embarassed to admit it.
and I'm quite sure he knows what to say on any telephone he may use. I'd say that we need to watch the people immediately surronding him.
... two 'terrorists' for having conversations in 'code,' I'm sure we can come up an appropriate lexicon.
go fuck yourself = I'm guilty of treason.
we are less safe = I have critical information that you'll only get from me if you waterboard me!
9/11 = I was hiding under my desk all day.
And it's expected to do the same thing a sniper did after the main troop body moved out of a contested area: stay behind and cause trouble. Fortunately, 'by their works, ye shall know them." They'll tip their hats soon enough...
Seymour Hersh is one of the dying breed of genuine investigative journalists not afraid to speak the truth to power for fear they won't be invited to the Washington Correspondents Dinner.
... is overused and becoming trite. (Face it, when Dianne Feinstein uses it as a figure of speech, it's meaningless.)
What Sy Hersh is ... is a journalist in every sense of the word. He understands that to tell anything less than the truth is to compromise one's professional and personal ethics. This rare breed is dying out, not only because we have a younger generation that is more concerned with their hairstyles (like John King and his Force 10 Hairspray, or whatever he uses), but because we, as an audience and a society, don't give a flying fuck.
We want entertainment. We want instant gratification. Easy solutions, victories without investment of self.
in my mind your correct for the most part but i will say this many people are told they should want it easy. if you know what i'm getting at. it's part of the propaganda to rid/reduce journalism. "they"
do NOT want people to know the truth. the facts/issues that i PERceive as true could start a social revolution.
The media message is 'don't think' - we have 'experts' to tell you what to think, how to think, etc.
The failure is in understanding (or, perhaps, understanding far too well) the power of the media to influence, educate (or dumb down), and inspire (or crush dissent).
Maybe the folks at Newstalgia need to find Murrow's RTNDA keynote address ...
That's why Gates and anybody associated with him needs to go - although I suspect he's more of a Poppy Bush man than a Cheney man. Still, end result is the nearly same.
We had our bi-partisan fling. Time for throwing these moles out, now!
Even though he recently scurried away from the White House, he and his evil minions still lurk in the background ready to wreak havoc. I am certain of that.
... single-handedly transformed the government and military; he simply brought his corporate 'fuck you, I've got mine' attitude to the party.
It's the same thing that allows us to swear when in certain company. The ability/desire already exists, but what we need is the acceptance/permission to do so.
That's what's so dangerous about wackaloons like Beck, etc. - their rantings not only constitute validation, they give their followers permission to stockpile guns because the socialists are coming (even if they're not), or because White America is going to drown in a sea of brown people.
LEEEAVE AMERICA ALOOOOOOONE!!!
is a blight upon the planet...an evil presence on the planet.
When he passes into whatever oblivion fate has in store for him, the world will be a better place.
the day that Darth Cheney's pacemaker finally gives out and the black hearted fucker strokes out for good.
Nixon once said, "It's not illegal if the President does it."
Cheney apparently modified the phrase to include Vice-Presidents.
He modified it to state executive priveledge which covers the president, vice-president, and staffers.
i guess you could say they are willnots on the body politic
Was to DEMAND a letter of resignation from every single person hired by the Federal Govt since Jan 20, 2001.
Of course there are cells of Bushevik loyaists around, whose only job it will be to obstruct, interfer with, and otherwise fuck-up any and every piece of work which comes their way in which it looks like the purpose is to clean u p the Bushevik mess..
There was a "Monica Goodling" in EVERY department, bureau, office and board of the Bushevik regime, whose job it was to break hiring laws and install religious/ideological co-travellers into every bureaucracy.
"thePrez" fucked up by not getting onto that shit right from the jump...
Civil Service laws.
ever hear of it?
If the laws were broken to hire 'em, theyn they cannot hide behind the regs to protect 'em...
Criminals get the benefit of law all the time.
No problem. Find them, then liquidate them. Problem solved, message delivered.
dick cheney is the ultimate dirty politician. i don't believe he could care less about this country. he was all about power and greed. he was like that at Searle with Nutra Sweet and haliburton/KBR non-bid contracts. he was part of the oil agenda. he is dirty and smart. he is/has been three steps ahead of any possible opposition. he told addingon and yoo what he wanted and he got it. his own interpretation of the constitution/during "war" time conditions. he hates the middleclass. i'll be glad to see him go.
has a particular vision of the world. With his power he intends to acheive that vision. We (the US) are just a part of it. This man is NOT an advocate for our country. He uses that as a guise with which to dupe as many of us as he can into believing his vision is in our best interests. It's the MO of the plutocracy, and Cheney is the current leader of the military wing.
Wasn't that Rumsfeld? You know, the other black heart.
Rumsfeld and Cheney have a very, very, very long history together. Really makes you wonder what Cheney is thinking putting himself out there so boldly. My guess is he knows he is untouchable. (Gee, ya think?) They are part of the same disgusting boil that is oozing puss and cancer all over the damn place. It's a psychic and eomtional hole so far deep into Dante's lowest level that a new one has been created and the sick karma is heading off into space and star-fucking galaxies to death by now.
Time to lance that bitch. The question is how. There is no starting from scratch at this point.
A more obscure personality is that super-slut Chalabi.
Where are these guys?
Chalabi, Scooter and Judy "propaganda queen" Miller had a threesome I'll betcha. They were all so close.
Don't forget.
[Libby] closed the letter [to Judy Miller] on this personal note (although he wasn't quite right on when autumn begins):
"You went into jail in the summer. It is fall now. You will have stories to cover--Iraqi elections and suicide bombers, biological threats and the Iranian nuclear program. Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them. Come back to work---and life. Until then, you will remain in my thoughts and prayers."
Back in the day, when we were all just about to be fooled again by our chosen hero, Fitz;
Scooter writes in code.
If this isn't in code, then he is such a freakin' moron that there is no way he could have risen to the level of power and supposed intellectual prowess that got him where he was in the first place.
Invoke Ockham's Razor here.
I thought that jerk, Libby wrote some really crappy dime-store spy books, so maybe that's where his blathery prose comes from. Or, you're right, it could be code.
As for Chalabi: I haven't heard too much about him lately since he was accused of being an Iranian spy. Can anyone update me?
does this help explain the justice dept's request "set aside the verdict and dismiss the indictment" for ted stevens?
A new incarnation, a new name – and the same old warmongering
It was a neocon moment: there they were, the organizers of the Foreign Policy Initiative, the new neoconservative think-tank – Bill Kristol, Dan Senor, and Robert Kagan, with Clifford May, Randy Scheunemann, and junior neocon James Kirchick in tow. It was the occasion of FPI’s first public event – their Washington coming out party, so to speak – and who should show up but I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. A more fitting symbol of the neoconservative tendency in American politics – its history, its methods, and its essential criminality – could hardly be conceived.
While John McCain was ostensibly the main attraction, the real focus of the conference was a celebration of the man who defeated him. As David Weigel put it, the FPI conference turned into a "Neocons for Obama" festival, as super-hawkish foreign policy maven Fred Kagan hailed President Obama’s Af-Pak offensive as the best thing since the Iraqi "surge": "He’s definitely saying no to pulling back. It was a gutsy and correct decision." Yet all is not rosy: "Kagan worried/predicted that Obama’s base would bristle at the plan, so ‘he will be counting on some significant amount of support from his political opponents.’"
READ ON
I still hold by my post on Obama's victory thread when I said, oh great, a neocon defeated a neocon, yawn.
for lNm.
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
Maybe, just maybe, these aren't Dickhead Cheney's hangons. Maybe, just maybe, Obama and the Dem party have the same friends. Maybe, just maybe, Obama actually has alot more in common with Cheney than any Dem would ever admit. Heck, he's handpicked as many corporate assclowns as Bush ever had.
I think Cheney's more than willing and evil enough to orchestrate this shit.
hind leg.
If Cheney is running a spy operation out side of the government, to spy on government activity, that is illegal activity.
and that means we can render him to a black-ops interrogation site, declare him an enemy combatant and throw him in Guantanamo without a trial, indefinitely.
That would stop the leaks, wouldn't it?
...has been doing nefarious things in the background of our government since about 1976, or whenever it was he became Ford's Chief of Staff. Whatever name anyone can think of to call him - he is a hundred times worse! A sociopathic cancer on humanity.
I just pray every day that his damn batteries discharge and his atria fibrillate like mad.....
and probably a lot of other new organs.Remember you can't believe a damn word he says
Pshaw!
He's full cyborg by now!
It would be naive for anyone to think the NeoCons were just going to fade into obscurity. Cheney, his minions and their masters did not do what they did for eight years to just watch it be undone by this kid named Obama. These are very, very wealthy and powerful people who infest not only our Government, but other governments all over the world. I think they are more dangerous than any terrorist even with a nuke under his arm. The term 'stay-behinds' make them sound somewhat harmless, even benign. These people are anything but that. Let's call them for they really are...spies. I to would go as far as to call them enemy combatants. Maybe President Obama would do well to make sure these 'people' are thoroughly cleaned out from both the White House and the Pentagon.
Can some one please bury this fucking asshole. Honestly I don't think Obama is a person to mess with and Chenguin, in his usual bullying manner, is poking a bees nest. These are acts of a desperate criminal.
I was rather surprised that Rachel Maddow even mentioned OUTLOUD PNAC. I have sent email after email after email to people who act like it never existed...and here she talks about it on air....
...too bad she hasn't given the list out of those who are signatories to is...Jeb Bush is one.
Interesting, ...um.....and how convenient that his brother actually 'won' Florida in 2000....yeah.
Anyway, it has been interesting to see her actually talk about it on air!
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