THE VICE PRESIDENT STRIKES AGAIN...

THE RUMOR MILL
Earlier, I had attributed what had happened at the Armstrong ranch as the subject of a trashy novel. Now, the plot seems to be getting even more convoluted, ever more bizarre.

It turns out that Cheney was at the ranch but not without female company, so the rumor goes, and that he had claimed to have one drink before going out on the hunt.

Whether that’s an understatement or not is unclear but what is clear is that the Vice President, the second most important person in this country, chose to put off announcing the accident for nearly twenty four hours.

An intelligent man, wouldn’t he have realized that by so doing, he was giving rise to more questions than he was answering? Wouldn’t such behavior seem very suspicious in the light of what could be lost as compared to what could be gained by going public immediately?

Why put off calling the media immediately?

That’s the big question, unless, of course, the Vice President had something to hide? And, of course, we all know, that getting a 24 hr. reprieve allows anyone who was drinking to reduce blood alcohol levels significantly.

This also raises other questions: Cheney has never been one to seek media coverage or the spotlight. Yet, he is probably the most influential vice president, ever, a vice president who we the people know virtually nothing about.

He is also the close friend of Donald Rumsfeld, who had brought him into government during the Ford Administration.

What we do know is that Cheney has spent much of his career as the chief executive of one of the biggest beneficiaries of the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and a leading player in rebuilding the Middle East after the destruction of oil wells and pumping capacity in the Middle East.
Clearly, Cheney is a man of unlimited ambition--a man who has virtually traded his soul to the Devil for the sake of personal greed and ambition against anyone who might stand in his way.... Moreover, he is the kind of protagonist who much prefers doing whatever it is he does in the shadows where his actions can go unobserved. That much is evident. Let's look at the facts of this bizarre hunting accident:

Cheney and the man who was the target of this unusual accident should have known better. They were professional hunters. They were surrounded by Secret Service agents. They knew how to hunt quail. Yet, the professional hunter walked out of the sun and in the direction of the shooters. The shooter, the Vice President, an experienced hunter however didn't exercise the necessary caution and instead shot his "buddy." Remember, the Vice President has been under increasing pressure in recent months; and he sees the possibility of power slipping through his hands.

Remember, too, we know very little about Cheney except that he is usually successful in getting his way.

Did Harry Whittington, an established and respected senior lawyer in the corridors of power know something he shouldn't have? Was he a potential thorn in his side?
Or was this something other than an accident—a means of showing others what could happen if they crossed the Vice President?

Ask yourself what are the odds of such an accident occurring--especially when surrounded by the best and most professional protective agency on earth. Add to those legitimate questions the reason why the ranch's owner, Armstrong, didn't report the accident until nearly twenty fours later and not through the conventional channels but through a friend at a local Texas newspaper. As of now, we simply don't know where the truth lies. On the other hand, it could have simply been an accident as alleged; yet, if that were the case, why the delay in reporting the incident? Would it have shown Cheney drunk? Would it have shown Cheney with another woman, other than his wife.

Here’s what we do know: Cheney is a man of mystery and that he is linked with the kind of people who take power in their own hands. He was associated with Bush Sr., the former head of the CIA, an organization with the ability to make people disappear for a variety of real and imagined reasons.And if that weren't enough, Cheney was the room-mate of Donald Rumsfeld who brought him into government during the Ford Administration and of whom it has been said that he is a nutty as a fruitcake. Just ask Henry Kissinger, no stranger to arcane and secretive politics himself.Today, Rumsfeld is the key man at the Pentagon; he has the power to make or break lives....and he is rumored to be hand and glove with those dark forces of the business industrial complex that are said to operate behind the scenes in the setting of policy.
With these kinds of friends, one might suspect that there is more to what the White House is trying to portray as a simple accident than meets the eye.
In any event, what went on at the Armstrong farm is just another straw being added to the camel’s back.

If nothing else, It reinforces the idea that Cheney is a loose cannon, that as the second most important man in America, he still operates in the dark; that nobody knows what he does or the power that he exercises at the highest level; that he commands control over billions and billions of dollars of contracts with no bid suppliers with whom he has been affiliated; that he has friends in high places who think the way he does; that he is an architect of much of the Bush policy and was influential in the program of preemption which gives this country the ability to make war first without notice; and that he is the person who orchestrated in complete secrecy energy policy with some of the biggest manufacturers and producers in the country that would determine America’s energy policy for years to come…

In the light of all of his nefarious deeds that have been ruled privileged, the Vice President continues to conduct his affairs in secrecy and privacy—even though his judgments can affect the welfare of every citizen in this country.

It is remarkable that such a powerful man has managed to avoid the spotlight for so long while leaving the American public so badly informed about who he really is and what he stands for…
This, by itself, not only says more about how government is conducted in the age of Bush, it speaks chapter and verse about the American people.Les Aaron