By Kenneth J. Theisen, 6/22/07
On Thursday, June 21st the House Oversight and Government
Reform Committee made public correspondence which reveals that Vice President
Dick Cheney believes he is above the law.
Over the last four years Cheney’s office has refused to comply with an
executive order governing the handling of classified information. When the National
Archives and Records Administration (NARA) charged with making sure the
executive branch protects classified information tried to enforce the law
against the VP’s office, he tried to have the enforcement office abolished.
According to Representative Henry Waxman, chairman of the
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, “He’s saying he’s above
the law. It just seems to me this is
arrogant and shows bad judgment.”
What else is new? High-ranking
members of the regime have consistently acted as if they are above the law.
This is just the latest revelation of that attitude and their actions.
According to the House Oversight Committee, “”over the
objections of the National Archives, Vice President Cheney exempted his office
from the presidential order that establishes government-wide procedures for
safeguarding classified national security information. The Vice President
asserts that his office is not an “entity within the executive branch.”
As described in a letter from Chairman Waxman to the Vice
President, the National Archives protested the Vice President’s position in
letters written in June 2006 and August 2006. When these letters were ignored,
the National Archives wrote to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in January
2007 to seek a resolution of the impasse. The Vice President’s staff responded
by seeking to abolish the agency within the Archives that is responsible for
implementing the President’s executive order.”
How convenient? The
VP does not like a law holding him accountable so he exempts his office from
the law. When that seems to fail he tries to get rid of the enforcers. What a
classic example of the arrogance of power.
Waxman wrote a letter to the Vice President stating, “I
question both the legality and wisdom of your actions. … [I]t would appear
particularly irresponsible to give an office with your history of security
breaches an exemption from the safeguards that apply to all other executive
branch officials.” This is of
course a referral to the Libby CIA leak case where the VP and his chief aide
Scooter Libby leaked information to discredit an op-ed in the New York Times
which revealed that the Bush regime lied about the alleged Iraq nuclear weapons program in order to justify
the invasion of Iraq.
This is part of a larger political battle which has been
waged since the start of the Bush regime over secrecy of the regime’s
actions. The VPs office has been at the
forefront of keeping the public in the dark.
From the energy task force meetings where the VP has refused to disclose
the minutes or even those who were in attendance, to issues around so-called
national security, Cheney has been tight-lipped except when it was to his
advantage to promote leaks. The VP’s office does not even want to disclose who
visits the official residence of the Vice President or disclose who pays for
his private travels.
While these past efforts have been aimed at keeping the
public, the media, or Congress in the dark, this latest move is aimed at
keeping other parts of the executive branch in the dark. The executive order he
is evading was actually signed by Bush. Although the order originated in 1995
when Clinton
signed it, the order was updated and reissued by President Bush in 2003. The order requires, an “entity within the
executive branch that comes into the possession of classified information”
to report annually how much it is keeping secret.
In the first two years of the Bush regime Cheney’s office complied
with the law, but it stopped filing reports in 2003 according to the
correspondence released by the Oversight committee. According to the documents, in 2004 the NARA Information
Security Oversight Office tried to conduct an on-site inspection of Cheney’s
office to see how sensitive material was handled. The VP’s staff blocked the
inspection at that point. (Could it be
that the Vice President does not want to reveal the extent of classified
information it has leaked to the media and others when it is in the interests
of the regime to destroy “enemies” such as Joseph Wilson? Could the VP fear going to prison like his
aide, Mr. Libby?)
Later the director of the archives’ oversight office J.
William Leonard sent two letters to David Addington, Cheney’s chief of staff,
requesting that the VP comply with the law.
No replies were received, so Leonard wrote Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales in January asking him for a legal opinion as to whether the vice
president is violating the executive order. Gonzales has also failed to reply. All of this information is detailed in the
documents released by the Government Oversight Committee and can be viewed at http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1371.
A fact sheet prepared by Waxman describes other instances in which the Vice
President’s office has sought to avoid oversight and accountability and it is
also there.
Regular readers of the World Can’t Wait site will not be
surprised by any of these recent revelations of secrecy and violations of the
law by members of the Bush regime. But
it is important to understand why the regime is secretive. The secrecy covers-up
crimes against humanity, illegal wars, and preparations for other wars such as
those under way against Iran. The Bush regime can not afford to have people
know what they are really up to behind those closed doors. But we must continue
to shed light in the dark corners of the regime until the regime no longer
exists.