And the Walls, Come Tumbling Down... on Dick Cheney (VIDEO)

(SALEM, Ore.) - It feels pretty good in life to discover growing evidence that indicates you have been on the right team.

I believe we at Salem-News.com have been on target for years with our criticism of the Iraq War and the last Presidential administration, our advocacy for state laws that protect medical marijuana users, and in our steadfast and unwavering position that there is never a time that Americans should use torture on its enemies.

The world is certainly reflecting the trends that we have devoted time to, up to and including the use of cannabis now with both Israeli and Canadian combat veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the months long investigation of torture authorized by the Bush Administration.

We have to remember why our fighting men and women are suffering PTSD by the hundreds of thousands. Afghanistan is a tough war but most people fighting in it believe that it is a just cause and a worthy investment of their time.

This isn't what soldiers and Marines tell you in Iraq; many are very unhappy to be there and the dismantling of successful programs designed to give a momentary surge now leaves Iraq as an impending disaster worse than it has already been.

They have it because we had a President who "wanted to" have a war in Iraq that he didn't have to fight, but could send everyone else to.

There are so many holes in nearly every aspect of the Bush policies and stories and excuses that we will never really get to the bottom of it or know the full extent.

But as Rachel Maddow explains in this MSNBC report, the heat dial is continually being raised on Cheney and fewer and fewer Americans are standing up for he and President Bush's determination to see U.S. forces using torture techniques on enemy combatants:

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No Air Raiding? May 16, 2009 10:56 am (Pacific time)

Does the below article now assume that someone other than Bush is a war criminal? "Bombing, US strike kill dozens in Pakistan AP on Yahoo ^ | 5/16/09 | Riaz Khan - ap PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Bombs destroyed an Internet cafe, wrecked a bus carrying handicapped children and spread panic through Pakistan's main northwestern city on Saturday, killing at least 11 people in a day of carnage across the militancy-plagued region. An apparent U.S. missile strike annihilated a Taliban raiding party mustering to cross into Afghanistan, officials said, while Pakistani troops claimed another 47 kills in their bid to retake the Swat Valley. Violence is engulfing Pakistani territory along the Afghan border as American and allied forces crank up the pressure on al-Qaida and Taliban militants entrenched in the forbidding and barely governed mountains and valleys. (Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...

Darnello May 16, 2009 10:31 am (Pacific time)

Daniel Johnson Bush and Cheney are no longer in office. The voter's have a short memory span and there is always something coming up in the next local/state/national/world news cycle that will distract people. In the not too distant future everything that happens will be owned by the current administration, whether they inherited the situation or not, that's just how things work. Currently we have the third person in line to be president, Nancy Pelosi, who has really stepped in it. If anyone saw her last news conference you know it's just a matter of time before Rep. Hoyer takes over as speaker. I expect Cheney to continue to push for a document release, and Bush will stay out of political commentary for now. If the economy continues to slide, Bush'e unpopularity may ameliorate.

Anonymous May 16, 2009 7:40 am (Pacific time)

Cheney And Bush should be indicted for Terrorism.

Daniel Johnson May 15, 2009 5:52 pm (Pacific time)

The commentator from MSNBC said that the dots are starting to connect. I liken it to knitted sweater. There are going to be one or two or a few threads to pull and the whole Bush regime is going to start unravelling. Is this the beginning? Have some key threads just been pulled? I have no evidence for that but just the optimistic belief that it is going to happen. If this isn't it now, it can't be too far in the future. Bush, Cheney, et all will probably never be prosecuted, but it will be enough if they are publicly humiliated and disgraced.

Truth Commission NOW! May 15, 2009 12:09 pm (Pacific time)

Obama's CIA director says Pelosi received the truth The Hill ^ | May 15, 2009 | Sam Youngman CIA Director Leon Panetta challenged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s accusations that the agency lied to her, writing a memo to his agents saying she received nothing but the truth. Panetta said that "ultimately, it is up to Congress to evaluate all the evidence and reach its own conclusions about what happened." Pelosi infuriated Republicans this week when she said in a press conference that she was "misled" by CIA officials during a briefing in 2002 about whether the U.S. was waterboarding alleged terrorist detainees. Panetta, President Obama's pick to run the clandestine agency and President Clinton's former chief of staff, wrote in a memo to CIA employees Friday that "CIA officers briefed truthfully on the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, describing 'the enhanced techniques that had been employed,'" according to CIA records. "We are an agency of high integrity, professionalism and dedication," Panetta said in the memo. "Our task is to tell it like it is — even if that’s not what people always want to hear. Keep it up. Our national security depends on it." In the pep talk-style memo titled "Turning Down the Volume," Panetta encourages CIA employees to return to their normal business and not to be distracted by the shout-fest Pelosi's remarks created. "My advice — indeed, my direction — to you is straightforward: Ignore the noise and stay focused on your mission," Panetta wrote. "We have too much work to do to be distracted from our job of protecting this country."

Vic May 15, 2009 11:15 am (Pacific time)

Ummmm Tommy,hate to burst your fascist bubble, but Iran DOES NOT HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS ! Im sure you know that, but hey, since when have Cheneyophiles let the truth get in the way of a good war? Maybe in your simple-minded Zionist stupor you meant to say Israel, not Iran. And Liz Cheney??? Is that who speaks for the American fascists now? LOL. "True Americn hero" ...LOL Hey, by the way, what time is it over there in Tel Aviv ? You are no American...

Johnson May 15, 2009 10:54 am (Pacific time)

This is about one Speaker of the House assessing the current one. This is a big deal and is news to all Americans, and is getting out even by yhe New York Times and other Pelosi supporters.: "In an interview with ABC News Radio’s Marcus Wilson, Gingrich, R-Ga., said Pelosi, D-Calif., “has lied to the House” in claiming that she was never briefed by the CIA about the Bush administration’s use of waterboarding and other harsh tactics. "I think she has lied to the House, and I think that the House has an absolute obligation to open an inquiry, and I hope there will be a resolution to investigate her. And I think this is a big deal. I don't think the Speaker of the House can lie to the country on national security matters,” Gingrich said. He continued: "I think this is the most despicable, dishonest and vicious political effort I've seen in my lifetime." "She is a trivial politician, viciously using partisanship for the narrowist of purposes, and she dishonors the Congress by her behavior." "Speaker Pelosi's the big loser, because she either comes across as incompetent, or dishonest. Those are the only two defenses,” Gingrich said. “The fact is she either didn't do her job, or she did do her job and she's now afraid to tell the truth.”

Tom Paine May 15, 2009 8:08 am (Pacific time)

Former Vice President Dick Cheney (history will vindicate this true American hero, and his detractors will be better for that truth) says the only way for President Barack Obama’s diplomacy with Iran to work is if Obama threatens to bomb the country. "We fail to recognize the fact that we're alone out there in terms of trying to achieve the objective of forcing the Iranians to give up their nuclear weapons," Politico quotes Cheney as saying, referring to the efforts of European nations to “restrain the U.S.” from military action. “Everybody’s in a giant conspiracy to achieve a different objective than the one we want to achieve,” Cheney said, adding that negotiations to halt Iran’s nuclear program are “bound to fail unless we are perceived as very credible” in threatening military action. "Most of the other nations out there are willing to live with a nuclear-armed Iran," he said, noting that negotiating with Iran to end its nuclear program is merely an attempt by that country to stall for time. Cheney made his comments after watching daughter Liz debate American policy toward Iran Tuesday at Rockefeller University in New York. He echoed his daughter's contention that the threat of military strikes to halt Iran’s nuclear program must be left on the table. “If they believe the threat of military force is on the table that’s frankly the only thing I’ve seen that convinces them they’d better get serious about sanctions,” Liz Cheney argued at the event, which the Rosenkranz Foundation sponsored. Liz Cheney was joined by former Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman Dan Senor in the debate against Mideast scholar Ken Pollack and former Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, who told Cheney that her position would give the Obama administration just "one option — and that is war," Salon.com reported.

jimmy May 15, 2009 7:36 am (Pacific time)

You kids have ALWAYS been the voice on the outside, critical of so many issues that "mainstream" news organizations have been too afraid to report on and I for one LOVE IT... Keep up the good fight my friends!

Scott May 15, 2009 7:31 am (Pacific time)

As the list grows longer by the hour (of Pres Ob's broken and/or severely compromised campaign promises on war and war-related things, i.e. tough interrogation) do you really think he wouldn't call for doing the exact same thing? He's backtracking so fast on issues all around this one...

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And the Walls, Come Tumbling Down... on Dick Cheney (VIDEO)

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