Top Bush Aides Say Reports Of Cheney As Puppetmaster Were "Hooey" and "Bunk"

White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten and national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley remember conferring with President Bush during the darkest days of the Iraq war, in 2005 and 2006, when violence was out of control. In daily 7 a.m. meetings in the Oval Office, Bush reviewed "blue sheets" detailing incidents involving U.S. soldiers; he would circle the casualty figures and press his top aides for details about the deaths.

"It was pretty grim news," Hadley recalled last week. For him, however, the sessions underscored the president's focus. "This notion that somehow the president didn't know what was going on, information was withheld from him in some way, he didn't have a picture of what was going on: He got that picture" -- Hadley smacked his palms together for emphasis -- "at 7 o'clock every morning."

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[sbvpav]

from the good ol' lying gop, if they say right, you know it's left; if they say night, you better well believe it is day; to now cheney not the puppeteer and the wizard behind the curtain - yeah, right!

[Icantbelieveher]

Well we know where hooey and bunk are!! Where's Lewey and Dewey?

[Woodguy]

Here's a quote from the article:
"When asked why the president took so long to shift course after conditions in Iraq had clearly deteriorated, Hadley replied that Bush had a responsibility to keep hope alive for the soldiers, their families and other coalition partners in Iraq even while considering a new strategy".
I guess Bush had a responsibility to keep HOPE alive, but not our brave men and women? Now that's hooey.

[NoSandwiches]

"they voiced frustration over their inability to improve Bush's popularity and to counter the administration's image of arrogance"
Image of arrogance?
or ACTUAL arrogance?
Or did they not care about the arrogance, as long as his image was that of a humble man? Well W failed you there.

Please.

Mister "I've got a mandate" because the Supreme Court sold their souls to crown me has more than an image problem--he has an actual problem. I have no doubt that he tried to hide his culpability under an aw-shucks demeanor. The man is ornery and wrong-headed, and he takes the blame in my book. He was either in charge or he was supposed to be in charge. Instead he spent a long time pretending to read books? Pants on fire.

Why does W hate America so much that he had to wound her so?

[LeeCalif]

And we have been victorious in Iraq with our illegal invasion.

[jemiltd]

The Bush administration continues to rewrite President Bush's history as though they have a magic eraser that will remove our reality. "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" (Wizard of Oz) has been part of the Bush strategy from the beginning. Who are they trying to save, Bush or Cheney? They are BOTH guilty.

[carrierobertson]

http://pubrecord.org/nationworld/595-fbi-e-mail-says-bush-authorized-abuse-of-iraqi-detainees.html

FBI E-Mail Says Bush Authorized Abuse of Iraqi Detainees

An e-mail written by a senior FBI agent in Iraq in 2004 specifically stated that President George W. Bush had signed an Executive Order approving the use of military dogs, sleep deprivation and other tactics to intimidate Iraqi detainees.

[gorgol]

GOOD ..now we know Bush was up to his NECK in all this TOO..I had no doubts about that...Bus­h is just as "low" as Cheney. .maybe worse.....­ONE MORE JAIL CELL COMING UP...

[Artos]

I'm glad these Bush Flunkies are willing to add to substantiate all of this so that when the time comes there will be no doubt that Bush was Primarily responsible for shaping the Fascist policies of his administration. With enough of their thoughtfully provided statements it will become a lead pipe cinch that Bush will be prosecuted along with the rest of his cohorts. We should thank them.

[lthuedk 1]

http://www.light-to-dark.com/erosion_along_the_tigris.html

http://www.light-to-dark.com/coffee_tea_or_treason.html

http://www.light-to-dark.com/benedick_bush.html

Prosecute fully for war crimes and crimes against the United States.

Obama has no choice in the matter. It's war on the people when Justice becomes selective. Know it now. Live it tomorrow, if Obama fails to prosecute criminals of this magnitude. This is not a matter to flake out on and we will hold Obama and his AG responsible for ANY compromise.

[blueskybigstar]

For Obama to take this position now when they still have power would be foolish. Please, hold accountable the house and senate just as much because it is more their job to hold this administration accountable than the next president, though I agree that we should pressure Obama greatly and hold him responsible as well.

To change the subject just a bit, but not theme. Why didn't Bill Clinton address the pardoning of Iran Contra? Why did he pardon his best friend and brother for d rugs? Is their truth about George Sr.'s relationship to d rugs being similar to that of Clintons'? Why would Bill pall around with this known dealer?

I would like Obama to examine all of the shenanigans since Nixon. I'm just learning that there was much more to Watergate than a burglary. A flying machine with all the people who were going to prosecute Nixon went down. Very similar to what happened to ronald brow n, Con nell, and well stone. Let us examine all the possibilities of repealing the pardons that have only done our country tremendous harm.

[blueskybigstar]

I've had a lot of time to think about this and this is how I see it. I've had eight years of listening to their lies. I used to be a teacher and have listened to thousands upon thousands of lies. I have studied research on the phenomena and I may have some natural ability of detecting them, just like autistic people are adept at them. Also, they have lied before and there is a pattern since George Sr.'s administration of protesting too much and making statements in their defense that they have yet to be accused of. They will have an authority or expert come out to give statements to try to dispel whatever it is they are trying to hide. I believe they are lying. I believe there is major conflict around the white house. Bush is contemplating not pardoning the bunch and then blaming the people around him. Cheney has been for the most part in charge except at the point when Bush declared "I am the decider." What kind of person in charge needs to declare this unless other people have been in charge? I believe Cheney has had his people try to discredit these reports of his being in charge and to warn Bush that they will not support him in court if he tries this as his defense. Bush is controlled by the people around him because of his addictions and other embarrassing facts about him.

[marleysghost]

The "Tell All" books will start coming out and more objective minds will start sifting the evidence as well as what has been left out. We'll see eventually what has happened here. But we could start with a prosecution from the Hague for crimes against humanity once these guys are private citizens again.

[stillfresh]

Dozens of books have already been written and published. Add them up, and you've got something like the truth. These two fit nicely into the current White House. "I'm the Denier!"

[bitterindependent]

for 8 yrs. the american public suspected that VP Palpatine was pulling the strings and now this sorry administration is trying to rewrite the history of this terrible president in a matter of DAYS!!....­good luck with that one.....

[Artos]

bitterindependent,

It struck me as interesting that you used the Star Wars analogy (Palpatine) to describe Cheney. I have for some time thought about how very eerily this last eight years has resembled the last three chapters that Lucas created. An evil Senator of the Republic becomes President and then Emperor. He does it by using an enemy that he helped create, to put fear into his own citizens (The Republic/ America), which in turn helps him convince those citizens to give him the power to create an army of clones/Blackwater and other private mercs. This "War" helps him in his quest to establish martial law/ curtail freedoms and will eventually lead to a Authoritarian government. Lucas must have been prescient to have written a story line that would so closely resemble the Bush Administration. I think though that Bush and would be Palpatine and Cheney would be Count Dooku. As for the character who helped unwittingly give Palpatine his opportunity to become President, jar Jar Binks. I would say that the equivalent to him would be either Reid or Pelosi. Either would do, since both have been equally as weak and ineffective.

[Rog49Thomas]

As we've all known for some time, Pan likes to give his familiars nicknames.

This article didn't clearly state if Hadley was "Hooey" and Bolten "Bunk" or it was the other way around.

Another sad day for that once august newspaper the WaPo as it fails Journalism 101 once again.

[VikingKing]

Juan Cole has all the answers!
http://allanerickson.wordpress.com/2009/01/02/the-wit-wisdom-of-juan-cole/