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The Biggest Cheney Mystery
'Cheney's Law'
The Frontline episode "Cheney's Law" will be on PBS tonight and then online.*****
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"Over and over, the report documents, Cheney and his lawyer, David Addington, acted to secure complete power for the president, leading to the alleged abuses at Guantanamo Bay, the controversy over surveillance of Americans and the recent Justice Department scandal involving the firing of U.S. attorneys that led to the resignation of Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales. The formation of military tribunals was signed by the president after being seen by no one but Cheney and Addington. The definition of torture was rewritten until, as Jane Mayer of the New Yorker says, it became almost impossible to commit the crime. . . .
"'Gonzales is out, Rove is out and Cheney is ready to fight the next battle tomorrow,' says author Ron Suskind toward the end of the program. 'Victory goes not to the swift nor to the strong but to he who endureth until the end. That is a principle that guides this ship of state.'"
From the show's Web site: "In his most extensive television interview since leaving the Justice Department, former Assistant Attorney General Jack L. Goldsmith describes his initial days at the Department of Justice in the fall of 2003 as he learned about the government's most secret and controversial covert operations. Goldsmith was shocked by the administration's secret assertion of unlimited power.
"'There were extravagant and unnecessary claims of presidential power that were wildly overbroad to the tasks at hand,' Goldsmith says. . . .
"As Goldsmith began to question his colleagues' claims that the administration could ignore domestic laws and international treaties, he began to clash with Cheney's office. According to Goldsmith, Addington warned him, 'If you rule that way, the blood of the 100,000 people who die in the next attack will be on your hands.'"
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