Cheney encouraged Israel to attack Gaza
Obama convinced Israel to withdraw from Gaza in January
Cheney says Obama has made America less secure
Cheney and his supporters still defend invasion of Iraq
Neocons Cliff May & John Hannah defends Cheney and the Bush administration
Note in the clip below with Chris Mathews & Cliff May of the Conservative think-tank- Foundation for Defense of Democracies (see more below)- as a defender of Cheney avoids the issue of the reasonableness or legality of invading Iraq or of abuse and torture of detainees. He claims only Waterboarding is torture (which is Cheney's line) and that it was used correctly on the right people.(as we have seen this is blatantly false-torture does not give one actionable or worthwhile intel) Which shows he and the Bush supporters have learned nothing from the Bush era. He even goes back to the Talking Point that there were no major attacks on the US after 9/11 which was due to the use of torture and other harsh methods on detainees combined with the use of renditions and the invasion of Iraq & the use of warrantless wiretaps.
Cliff May next claims that Al-Qaeda was defeated in Iraq. First off there was no Al-Qaeda in Iraq before the US invasion. Secondly the group in Iraq was not part of Al Qaeda but was called for PR reasons Al-Qaeda in Iraq. He also does not bother to mention that the insurgent problem in Iraq was mainly the product of the US invasion and occupation which were mismanaged and was a Public Relations disaster in Iraq and the Muslim and Arab world. Thirdly he doesn't bother to address the issue that over a million Iraqis have been killed and that the US destroyed Iraq's infrastructure which is still unrepaired which the Americans were responsible for under International Law.
He further attacks Sy Hersh as being a conspiracy theory nut-job and so shouldn't be taken seriously.Yet Sy Hersh is a well respected investigative journalists ie a real journalists which of course Neocons and conservatives hate they prefer the sort of Faux Journalists on CNN and FOX NEWS who spout the days conservative Talking Points which used to be issued by Cheney Bush and Karl Rove. Now at times these journalists are not sure what to think since they were not given the game plan for the day.
Cheney back in spotlight again -March 30, 2009- Hardball MSNBC
"Cheney disparaged Obama as someone who would not make it into the major leagues" & he claimed Obama is Pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel
Well it seems by becoming president of the United States he is in the major leagues. Otherwise what would be the major Leagues - Emperor of the Universe who knows.
Cheney encouraged Israel to attack Gaza and to continue it beyond the inauguration of President Obama. Obama on the other hand it is believed put pressure on Israel to end its invasion of Iraq. Kudos to Obama if this is true .
Cheney was trying to undermine the Obama administration from the very beginning.
Maddow on Cheney
Cheney attacks Obama to the Israelis over Gaza
OLbermann -Cheney sought to undermine Obama regarding Israel-March 30, 2009
CNN STILL DEFENDING BUSH & CHENEY- More Cheney style obfuscation , legalese , parsing etc.
Neocon Cheney supporter John Hannah surprise! Surprise! defends Dick Cheney- CNN April 1, 2009 ( for more on John Hannah see below)
03-30-09 John Hannah comes to the defense of Dick Cheney who is accused of undermining the current president by talking to Israel and casting doubt on Obama ability to defend
also see on Seymour Hersh revelations: " Seymour Hersh: Secret U.S. Forces Carried Out Assassinations in 'a Lot of' Countries, Including in Latin America ">
By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!. (AlterNet) March 31, 2009.
The investigative journalist for The New Yorker explains his recent bombshell revelation about Dick Cheney's "executive assassination" squads.
For more on Cliff May and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies here's an excerpt from Right Web online which characterizes him as a Neocon & connected with Far Right individuals and organizations.
Clifford May, a former correspondent for the New York Times and a vociferous advocate of neoconservative-driven foreign policies, is the president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), one of a collection of advocacy outfits that emerged in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to push for an expansive "war on terror" targeting various Islamic countries. Others of the same ilk included Americans for Victory over Terrorism, Family Security Matters, the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, the Coalition for Democracy in Iran, and the Committee on the Present Danger.
May frequently writes on threats from so-called Islamic fascists (a term also promoted by Norman Podhoretz, Frank Gaffney, and Daniel Pipes), pushing militaristic strategies to topple them, especially in countries like Iran and Syria. After the New York Times reported in early December 2007 on the release of a new U.S. National Intelligence Estimate that contradicted earlier intelligence claims (as well as the claims of many hardliners associated with Vice President Dick Cheney) by concluding that Iran had abandoned efforts to develop a nuclear weapons program, May was one of the first to lambaste the report. In the National Review blog "The Corner," May opined succinctly: "The purpose of this NIE is to prevent Bush from using military force during the remainder of his term to destroy Iran's nuclear weapons program" ("Re: Iranian Nukes," December 3, 2007).
May was one of several right-wing voices to sign on to a September 2007 declaration sponsored by the Forgotten American Coalition condemning the idea of withdrawal from Iraq. The coalition, spearheaded by Gary Bauer, is a letterhead organization that also hypes the threat from Iran and Syria. In July 2007, May was a panelist at the Washington, DC, summit of Christians United for Israel, which he described as focusing on Israeli security and "Islamic imperialists and supremacists" (Moyers, October 5, 2007).
In November 2006, May was one of the inaugural members of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's Advisory Committee on Democracy Promotion (ACPD). His initial appointment was for two years. Paula Dobriansky, undersecretary of state, is executive director of the committee; other committee members include Carl Gershman and Vin Weber of the National Endowment for Democracy, Michael Novak of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and Jennifer Windsor of Freedom House (see "Inaugural Meeting," November 3, 2006). In September 2007, Media Matters criticized May for failing to disclose his government ties, and those of the FDD: "[May] has appeared in the media several times to defend the administration's conduct of the Iraq war. ... However, in none of his columns or on-air appearances has May disclosed that FDD has received at least $1.2 million in State Department grants since 2004, or that May himself is a member of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's Advisory Committee on Democracy Promotion" (Media Matters, September 10, 2007).
also see: " Cliff May: McCain was right about Iran and al Qaeda!!! " at Crooks and Liars March 22, 2008
also see:
" Cliff May's Defense of Cheney: Maybe Sy Hersh's Reporting is Wrong" By Heather at Video Cafe/ Crooks and Liars Mar 31, 2009
and:
" Neocon War Dance : response to "An Old Fashioned War" By Clifford May" at The Tom DeSabla Show, Jan. 7, 2006
Clifford May's "An old-fashioned war" (Jan. 1) is interesting, however, I believe his war-centric, apocalyptic analysis is fatally flawed. Similar views have become more popular in media and government after Samuel Huntington's "Clash of the Civilizations" was published. The events of September 11, 2001 have led to an American response largely based on this world view. The results are visible. Security and searches have increased, on planes and in many other areas of domestic life. Internationally, we have entered what we are frankly told is an endless state of war.
Now comes Mr. May to soothe us by saying that war is inevitable and is a perfectly normal state of humanity. "We are the historical oddballs," he says, presumably because some of us naive Westerners are squeamish about going to war. Apparently, Mr. May thinks we suffer from an appalling lack of desire to dominate the world. Is he saying that we should emulate Genghis Khan and pursue our enemies, take their property, and then their wives and daughters? Take a little joy in our conquests? Get jiggy with it? I'm hoping I misunderstood him.
Mr. May seems to forget who starts wars. It isn't the people. It's the governments who have an historic propensity to war. People tend to co-exist peacefully if no government incites them, oppresses them or plays favorites. Just because governments have never refrained from doing this does not equate to a genetic human desire to kill and subjugate our fellow man. He talks about Napoleon and the Nazis, conveniently forgetting that the people of France and Germany didn't plot to take over the world; their state leaders came up with the idea.
On John Hannah see Right Web Profile: John Hannah
Since October 2005, John P. Hannah has held the position of assistant for national security affairs to Vice President Dick Cheney. Prior to this appointment, Hannah was part of the vice president's national security staff for more than four years and played a major role in corralling intelligence that the Bush administration used to justify its 2003 invasion of Iraq. He previously served in the State Department's Office of Arms Control and International Security, alongside Undersecretary John Bolton, and in the State Department during the presidency of Bill Clinton.
Cheney promoted Hannah to his current role following the indictment and resignation of I. Lewis Libby, the vice president's former chief of staff, with whom Hannah worked closely. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald interviewed Hannah as part of the investigation that led to Libby's resignation, but despite speculation that he was involved in the outing of former CIA agent Valerie Plame, Hannah was not charged with any crime. Hannah's promotion in the aftermath of the Plame scandal disappointed reform-minded Democrats who complained that Hannah was too closely linked to Libby. "Instead of cleaning house, you simply rearranged some of the furniture," Senate Democrats wrote Cheney, regarding Hannah's appointment (New York Times, November 4, 2005).
Soon after his promotion, Hannah, along with Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, and National Security Council Deputy Adviser Elliott Abrams, conducted high-level, strategic meetings with Israeli officials regarding "the Iranian government's growing radicalization and its irresponsible policy on nuclear issues" (State Department, November 29, 2005). Hannah is among the hardliners on Iran within the vice president's office. When Tehran refused to suspend its uranium enrichment operations in August 2006, Hannah insisted on a firm U.S. response, arguing that anything less risked "allowing Iran's response to appear reasonable" (New York Times, August 25, 2006).
and so it goes,
GORD.
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