Insiders have complained previously of this absence of a policy component at the White House, especially with regard to domestic matters ( http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/12.08D.diIulio.esq.p.htm ), but in Suskind's book, then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage verified that the same problems hampered foreign and military policy as well:
"[Bush] met America's foreign challenges with decisiveness born of a brand of preternatural, faith-based, self-generated certainty. The policy process never changed much. Issues argued, often vociferously, at the level of deputies and principals rarely seemed to go upstream in their fullest form to the President's desk; and, if they did, it was often after Bush seemed to have already made up his mind based on what was so often cited as his 'instinct' or 'gut.' Later, after Armitage and Powell left office, Armitage -- in his blunt manner -- put it succinctly: 'There was never any policy process to break, by Condi or anyone else. There was never one from the start. Bush didn't want one, for whatever reasons. One was never started'."
CHENEY NEEDS TO BE IMPEACHED
Since Cheney has carried out most of his high crimes and misdemeanors in deep secret, way back behind the public curtain, and since most of his decisions have resulted in disaster abroad and a kind of police-state rule at home-- thus endangering the national-security of the U.S. and mangling the Constitution -- it seems clear that he cannot be permitted to continue exercising his vast, destructive policies for the next year and a half.
The House should begin impeachment hearings ASAP to put Cheney's nefarious activities under the microscope of public exposure, and get that guy away from the levers of power. More than half of Americans, according to a new poll, ( http://www.americanresearchgroup.com ) favor impeaching Cheney.
Ideally, of course, it should be both Bush and Cheney at the same time testifying before the House impeachment panel, but if that can't happen, let's at least get the ball rolling by impeaching President Cheney first. Now. #
Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations, has taught at universities in Washington and California, worked as a writer/editor with the San Francisco Chronicle for two decades, and currently co-edits The Crisis Papers (www.crisispapers.org). To comment: crisispapers@comcast.net .
First published by The Crisis Papers and Democratic Underground 7/10/07. htpp://www.crisispapers.org/essays7w/shadow.htm
Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations, has taught at universities in California and Washington, worked for two decades as a writer-editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, and currently serves as co-editor of The Crisis Papers (www.crisispapers.org).
