Cheney's Cabal; Frighteningly, they still control US policy.

The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051205/cheney_cabal

article | posted November 18, 2005 (web only)
Break Up Cheney's Cabal
Jeremy Brecher & Brendan Smith

Americans disapprove of the way President Bush is handling the situation in Iraq by nearly two to one, according to a new Gallop poll. A majority want US troops withdrawn from Iraq within twelve months--a higher proportion than wanted to withdraw from Vietnam in the summer of 1970. Catering to public sentiment, on November 15 the Senate voted 79 to 19 for a Republican resolution saying 2006 should be a year of "significant transition" for US withdrawal from Iraq.

But no transition, phased redeployment or any other change in Iraq policy is likely until the cabal that got us into this war is excised.

The word "cabal" was recently introduced to the ongoing debate on the war when Col. Lawrence Wilkinson, former Secretary of State Colin Powell's top assistant, disclosed what many had suspected: In the early days of the Bush Administration the US government was essentially hijacked by "a cabal between the Vice President of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld," supported by a handful of top staffers like I. Lewis Libby, John Bolton and David Addington. These men not only lied us into war in Iraq; they set the stage for torture at Abu Ghraib and encouraged the outing of Valerie Plame. Frighteningly, they still control US policy.

We don't yet know President Bush's relation to this shadowy group of decision-makers, who bypassed normal routes and made their own policy decisions in secret. Did he lead the cabal? Willingly participate? Encourage it with a wink and a nod? Regard it with indifference? Whatever Bush's involvement, one thing is clear: These men must now be repudiated by President Bush, Congress and the American people if we are to find our way out of the mess they've made in Iraq.

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the US government was essentially hijacked by "a cabal between the Vice President of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld," supported by a handful of top staffers like I. Lewis Libby, John Bolton and David Addington. These men not only lied us into war in Iraq; they set the stage for torture at Abu Ghraib and encouraged the outing of Valerie Plame. Frighteningly, they still control US policy.
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And people wonder why some folks despise the president. Could it be because he has held no one accountable for failed policies? Has he held no one accountable because he was part of the cabal or so completely clueless he should be fired for incompetence? I'm betting on his being part of the cabal.

discard the latter.