Bush Cheney Reprise: Jeb And Liz This Time?

Had Cheney succeeded in killing any of al Qaeda leaders with his extra-constitutional paramilitary squads I might be more willing to defend him. I wonder if they even tried or if his squads had more sinister purposes than tracking down al Qaeda members. Is the CIA really that incompetent and useless? Let's see if the Chinese are as complacent about letting al Qaeda thumb its nose at them the way the worthless Bush Regime did.

Al-Qaeda's Algerian-based offshoot, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), has issued the call for vengeance, according to the South China Morning Post which quoted an intelligence report from London-based risk analysis firm Stirling Assynt.

It would be the first time bin Laden’s organisation has threatened China or its interests-- underlying the risks Beijing faces as it expands its economic investments further overseas... The unrest in China’s westernmost Xinjiang region last week in which 184 people died-- most of them Han Chinese killed by furious Uighurs-- has elicited sympathy in much of the Muslim world for the minority Uighurs who face tight controls on their religious practices and discrimination in the workplace.

The report said: “The general situation of China's Muslims has resonated amongst the global jihadist community. There is an increasing amount of chatter ... among jihadists who claim they want to see action against China. Some of these individuals have been actively seeking information on China's interests in the Muslim world, which they could use for targeting purposes."

What was actually wrong with Cheney's CIA death squads were not only their inability to actually accomplish anything at all but also that they were illegal from day one, using public money without bothering to inform congressional intelligence committee leadership.

The existence of the program, and the fact that it was kept secret from lawmakers for nearly eight years at the direction of former Vice President Dick Cheney, has fanned an already heated atmosphere in Washington over the Bush administration's intelligence programs.

Current and former U.S. intelligence officials have said that in terminating the program, Panetta may have been more concerned about the fact that the initiative had been kept secret from Congress than he was about the merits of the program.

A U.S. intelligence official said Panetta has not ruled out reviving an effort to develop a similar close-range capability in closer collaboration with lawmakers.

"If the United States ever needs something like this in the future, we'll find better ways to build it," the U.S. intelligence official said. "That includes briefing Congress earlier on. Panetta understands all that. He's an aggressive proponent of counter-terrorism, pushing tools and tactics that work and have the support to be sustainable. This one didn't."

Leading Democratic lawmakers have said it was illegal for the CIA not to disclose the program to intelligence committees, and called for an investigation.

"Individuals who ordered that Congress be kept in the dark should be held accountable," Sen. Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Monday. Feingold also said he had expressed "deep concerns about the program itself" in a classified letter to President Obama.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the former vice president may have broken the law by instructing the CIA to keep the program secret.

Stooges for Cheney-- particularly his vicious daughter Liz-- are screaming like stuck pigs at the prospect of Cheney being hauled in front of investigators and questioned about his unconstitutional activities. Hopefully Jeb and Liz will reprise a Bush Cheney ticket in the not too distant future. She says she's more than open to running and the Bush Family is still determined to get its hands back on the levers of political power again. Impossible, you say? Why? This is the United States; anything is possible and no matter how venal or ignorant the Bushes have proven themselves, no one has been hauled before a firing squad and no one is in prison so why should they slink back into the muck they crawled out of?