A newly released transcript of a 2004 FBI interview of former Vice President Dick Cheney shows that he — according to his own words, anyway — had only fuzzy memories of a major incident that was then less than a year old.
The transcript is replete with Cheney saying he “could not recall,” “could not specifically remember” or “has no recollection.”
Cheney was interviewed by FBI agents attempting to discover the source of the leak that outed Valerie Plame as a CIA agent. She is the wife of Joseph Wilson, a former ambassador who was assigned in 2002 by the CIA to investigate foreign intelligence reports that Saddam Hussein had tried to buy nuclear weapons materials from the African country of Niger.
During his 2003 State of the Union speech, two months before he ordered the invasion of Iraq, then-President George W. Bush reiterated the gist of the foreign reports.
Wilson wrote a column for The New York Times stating that after he returned from the Niger mission, he had reported there was no evidence substantiating the reports. Subsequently, Valerie Plame’s position as a covert CIA agent surfaced in a newspaper. Was this a leak from a high-level government office to get back at Wilson?
An investigation by federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald zeroed in on Cheney’s office. Chief of Staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby went to trial and, while not shedding light on the leak, did testify that he told Cheney he had made a note saying he had first heard about Plame’s CIA identity from him.
That led Fitzgerald to declare: “There is a cloud over the vice president.”
True to form, however, Cheney, the transcript shows, said he had “no specific recollection of such a conversation” with Libby, who in 2007 was convicted of obstructing justice but later had his prison sentence commuted by President Bush.
Cheney’s multiple references to his faulty memory make Fitzgerald’s “cloud” comment even more memorable — and damning.
Give the old guy a break, will you? He's had a couple of heart surgeries. Those arteries of his are pretty clogged and well, he probably caught something from Reagan. Passed it on to Gonzalez. Alzheimer's may very well be contagious.
Since we are going back in time.
How about this.....Hillary Clinton repeated the words of "I do not know" or "I do not recollect" or "I have no memory" over 56 times while under oath.
Of course, this paper has no problem with that or with her husband's struggle what "is" is while under oath.
They should just title the opinion piece with big bold red letters: "WE ARE HYPOCRITES"
cheney the evil doer needs to be in jail...
stat!!!
Both Cheney and his little hand puppet George W should be in prison. We need to "look forward" in America as our current President says,...but looking back and throwing the Bush Crime Family in jail would be well worth looking back if only to expose and prevent their past actions from ever happening again.
Poor guy, I always say, that when they get to old and grumpy etc etc etc, its best just to take them out into the woods and shoot them, they serve no purpose in life.
I guess it's easier to fixate on this guy out of power then to ask the hard questions of the current occupants of the White House.
Hey uddeboda: Is that what they do with the old people in Sweden.
I believe that President Bill Clinton also could not recall the name of that woman that had her face buried in his boxers or briefs. LOL
The editorial writer must be a young whippersnapper who never forgot anything in his life.
I am 63 and I sometimes I have trouble remembering what I had for dinner the day before.
The other morning, I asked my wife if we had wild kinky sex last night. She said no, so I told her that it must have been a dream then...
If you can't tell the difference between what Cheney spewed versus what Clinton spewed, you may have a perception problem.
Did anyone have any doubt that Clinton was a womanizer before he was elected?
How could anyone know that Cheney would be a treasonous liar?
Dick.
Powerplay,
Sure, thats the best way, then they dont use the free healthcare system, must keep a balance.
This is so ironic, given the very selective memory of the Sun editorial staff.
What about the 56 times Hillary said something under oath like "I do not refcall"?
Punt, punt, punt.....
Let's put the Hillary comparison in perspective.
Cheney's "punting" involved OUTING A CIA AGENT while he was #2 in charge of the country.
I'm assuming the "punting" by Hillary involved the Clinton real estate dealings in Arkansas at a time when Hillary was not seated in a political office.
If so, there is a difference the size of the Grand Canyon between the criminal accusations.
As an independent voter (third party, anyone?) the thought of a CIA agent being outed over politics (right after 9-11, no less) makes my blood boil much more than shady real estate dealings in Arkansas.
Let's put the Valerie Plame comparison in perspective.
Valerie Plame was not a covert agent at the time of her supposed outing. Her husband was an instrumental person in performing political posturing causing his wife's name to be mentioned. If her husband, Joseph Wilson was concerned about his wife, he would not have became a political tool against the Bush Administration.
Too bad, so sad...
treason (trzn) KEY
NOUN:
Violation of allegiance toward one's country or sovereign, especially the betrayal of one's country by waging war against it or by consciously and purposely acting to aid its enemies.
A betrayal of trust or confidence.
It's called treason and it is the only way other than tax evasion that one can lose their U.S. Citizenship!
No one outed a CIA agent. They "outed" a CIA clerk. Big difference.
Destructmutt-you mean if I don't pay my taxes I will lose my citizenship and don't have to pay taxes to this corrupt government we have? Where do I sign up?
Larry & jlb101,
Nice try.
http://answers.google.com/answers/thread...
Follow the "Illegals". They'll show you the ropes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_citizens...
Contents: 6. Loss of Citezenship
So you can look back 7 years and find a statement where he honestly doesn't recall but when your leader Clinton lied and said, "I did not have sex with that woman" he was being truthful?
Let's get the facts out here, Clinton may have comfortably adjusted to the ban on smoking in the White House--it seems he doesn't light up ... anymore. In effect, he hasn't been banned from enjoying a cigar, just smoking it. In this way he can avoid any accusations of inhalation, and he is still able to savor some of a cigar's more relaxing elements, democrat's newest sexual toy, OH Havana!
The issue with you liberals is that you can't look at your own faults and admit your mistakes and fix them. Instead you dream up something without any substance or merit on today and attempt to divert attention away from the issues at hand, Obama and his thirst to blame anyone but him and not be accountable for his choices.
Obama needs to "Man Up" and do his job. He put himself in this position and wanted to be America's leader, now do it. Obama and the rest of you lunatics are making every excuse known to mankind why he won't "Man Up" and do his job. Bush, Cheney or anyone else can't be used as your excuses anymore, Obama has been in office 11 monthsl the blame game is up.
There was more money wasted at that time by the Republican controlled congress on petty and insignificant crap than in any other time excepting Watergate. I am not for or against any party, I just saw it for what it was, a witch hunt and a distraction. Repubs and Clinton had both said they wanted the "Line, Item, Veto" but because of this distraction, the whole thing was kicked to the curb because of the Lewinsky crap just to keep the L. I. V. debate out of Congress. What a load.
They had no business asking him about an affair.
Clinton having sex with a woman was not a surprise nor was it an act of treason.
Clinton was a true moderate. He was the only president in years to submit a balanced budget. All this while the repubs beat him up on some investments and his "PERSONAL" behaviour.
These kinds of shenanigans and BS is exactly why all our choices for President SUCK!!!!
Are you talking about the same "CIA Agent" Plame who before "outed" went to a House Democratic Caucas meeting with her husband to talk about Bush?
She sure was trying real hard to conceal her indentity.
Yep......
So, she deserved to be exposed as a CIA agent for attending a meeting with her husband and talking about Bush?
Wow. That's quite a leap.
A Big part of joining the CIA is to NOT let others know that you are an agent. Cheney "leaked" this information given to him by virtue of his position as Vice President. A CIA agent typically works on sensitive matters having to do with other governments, So by the definition of treason,"purposely acting to aid its enemies.
A betrayal of trust or confidence.", he committed an act of treason.
It's a pretty straightforward definintion of exactly what he did.
I guess I need to get my news from a different source, because I don't recall that it was ever determined that Cheney leaked the information about Plame working for the CIA...
Also, Plame was not in a covert position when her place of employment was made public.
Sgt Rock is also right about Plame attending a political caucus meeting if she was covert. By the way, the CIA have lots of administrative type employees...
Maybe you just need to read the story above.
"Cheney was interviewed by FBI agents attempting to discover the source of the leak that outed Valerie Plame as a CIA agent. She is the wife of Joseph Wilson, a former ambassador who was assigned in 2002 by the CIA to investigate foreign intelligence reports that Saddam Hussein had tried to buy nuclear weapons materials from the African country of Niger."
Hey mutt...
You STATED in you post that "Cheney "leaked" this information given to him by virtue of his position as Vice President."
I read "Cheney was interviewed by FBI agents attempting to discover the source of the leak that outed Valerie Plame as a CIA agent."
Being interviewed and being convicted are two entirely different things.
Well, maybe, unless you are Dick Cheney or George Bush, then you are guilty regardless what the truth is...
I imagined that most people at least read the first paragraph of an article.
Let me correct my mis-statement. Cheney ALLEGEDLY "leaked" this information given to him by virtue of his position as Vice President.
If a man cannot remember the things he did within a year, there is a problem.
Perhaps there should be a "memory" test for our leaders elected to sensitive positions.
I am with you now. But please don't expect me to remember some of the things that I did or said this morning more or less a year ago. Just one of the joys of getting older...
How can any intelligent person even try to compare a president having extra marital sex to a president who ordered preemtive war, destroyed our way of life and trampled all over our constitution?
That's like saying a person who stole a loaf of bread to feed his family is in the same class as a mass murderer.
cheney is a lousy shot and didnt serve in the military because he is a chicken hawk. along w/ his partner week end warrior bush, they put this country in the deep recession we're in now. try to explain how hillary got in this conversation?
geeze louise, if Monica was your daughter you might have a different view of Bill Clinton. Maybe not, since you are so full of hate...
Hey dipstick, it's a new day and Bush and Cheney are not longer in office...
He shouldn't be defended, not even by Republicans since he's one of the main players that gave your party a bad name. He should be jailed.
Come on Mr. meow, a person is still innocent until proven guilty.
Besides, let the Republicans take care of their own.
This is like a alcoholic dysfunctional family. Denying a family members wrong doings by pointing fingers a the wrong action of others. In complete denial of what is right and wrong, making excuses,and at the same time not realizing that they are dysfunctional too.Must be a sad life to be angry most of their short lives.
No one should be above the law.Unfortunately that is not always the case in our country.There will always be people with power and money that will avoid prosecution for these reasons.Our country's history is riddled with such injustices. If we deny these truths we will continue to be a country of angry, dysfunctional people.
nuke washington, kill ALL of them...let the PEOPLE take this country back from the two party mess, and special interest groups.
we NEED a revolution.