Think Progress

Cheney invited to testify about politicizing Interior Dept.

The House Natural Resources Committee has invited Vice President Dick Cheney to a hearing examining his “role in influencing scientific and policy decisions at the Department of the Interior.” The hearing will focus on “Cheney’s intervention in the development of a 10-year water plan for the Klamath River,” revealed in a recent Washington Post series, which resulted in the “collapse of the West Coast salmon-fishing industry.”



34 Responses to “Cheney invited to testify about politicizing Interior Dept.”

  1. RUCerious says:

    Invite him to sit in the dock.


  2. spit take says:

    The House Natural Resources Committee has invited Vice President Dick Cheney to a hearing examining his “role in influencing scientific and policy decisions at the Department of the Interior.”

    I imagine Cheney will invite the House Natural Resources Committee to “go f*ck themselves”.


  3. profmarcus says:

    oh, yeah, like he’s going to even deign to respond… you might just as well toss the “invitation” into a black hole…

    And, yes, I DO take it personally


  4. missmolly says:

    Is this an “invitation” or a “subpoena”? Not that it would make any difference to our fourth-branch veep…


  5. leftcoast says:

    You cannot subpoena Cheney. What branch of government would you send a subpoena to?


  6. WaltinTexas says:

    He’d only lie if he did show up. In between the ‘I don’t recall’ answers.


  7. Chris from Maine says:

    heres cheney’s response :

    “go f*** yourselves.”


  8. Mr. President says:

    BwahHaAhHAAHAHHAHHAHHAHAHAHAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


  9. ace says:

    Mr. President is actually able to block and delete postings. Very interesting. You are very powerful with that software.


  10. ace says:

    Let’s hear all about Cheney’s role in influencing then EPA Director, Christine Todd Whitman, to LIE about the asbestos levels in the air of lower Manhattan in the aftermath of 9/11.

    Cheney knew ALL ABOUT the asbestos in the towers, after all, it was he who, as CEO of Halliburton, acquired Dresser and ALL of its asbestos-related liability claims so as to protect the Bush Crime Family from losses.

    It was Cheney who ordered the NORAD stand down that allowed those planes to strike their targets, as witnessed by Norm Mineta, and testified to under oath.

    LEVELS OF ASBESTOS

    A statement about discovery of asbestos at higher than safe levels in dust samples from lower Manhattan was changed to state that “samples confirm previous reports that ambient air quality meets OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) standards and consequently is not a cause for public concern.”

    Language in an EPA draft stating that asbestos levels in some areas were three times higher than national standards was changed to “slightly above the 1 percent trigger for defining asbestos material.”

    This sentence was added to a Sept. 16 news release: “Our tests show that it is safe for New Yorkers to go back to work in New York’s financial district.” It replaced a statement that initial monitors failed to turn up dangerous samples.

    A warning on the importance of safely handling ground zero cleanup, due to lead and asbestos exposure, was changed to say that some contaminants had been noted downtown but “the general public should be very reassured by initial sampling.”

    http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0823-03.htm

    COLLEGE STUDENTS DYING FROM INHALED ASBESTOS:

    http://www.bupipedream.com/pipeline_web/display_article.php?id=3259

    ALL SO HALLIBURTON COULD REMOVE THE WTC ASBESTOS LIABILITY FROM ITS BOOKS:

    The WTC was a $15 billion HALLIBURTON liability.

    HALLIBURTON HAD ACQUIRED DRESSER TO SAVE THE BUSH FAMILY FROM THE LOSING POSITION IT WAS STUCK IN…all because of the pending Asbestos law suits:

    GW included the issue in his State of the Union speech in 2005.

    “To make our economy stronger and more competitive, America must reward, not punish, the efforts and dreams of entrepreneurs. Small business is the path of advancement, especially for women and minorities, so we must free small businesses from needless regulation and protect honest job-creators from junk lawsuits. (Applause.) Justice is distorted, and our economy is held back by irresponsible class-actions and frivolous asbestos claims — and I urge Congress to pass legal reforms this year.”


  11. ace says:

    Merger with Halliburton

    In 1998, Dresser merged with its main rival, Halliburton, and is now known as Halliburton Company. Dick Cheney negotiated the $7.7-billion deal, reportedly having done so during a weekend of quail-hunting. In 2001, Halliburton was forced to settle the asbestos lawsuits that it acquired as a result of purchasing Dresser, causing the company’s stock price to fall by eighty percent in just over a year.

    The New Dresser
    On 10 April 2001 the Dresser division (excluding the former Kellogg division) entered an agreement to separate itself once again from Halliburton by management purchasing its equity, the new company to be called Dresser, Inc.

    The new Dresser is 90% owned by First Reserve Corporation (U.S. based investment firm). It is planning a new IPO for the summer of 2005.

    Dresser, Inc. sells, services, and supports products that include: actuators, valves, meters, instruments, regulators, switches, natural gas fueled engines, piping specialties, retail fuel dispensers, blowers, and outdoor payment and point-of-sale systems.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresser_Industries

    Halliburton Iraq ties more than Cheney said
    NewsMax Wires
    Monday, June 25, 2001
    UNITED NATIONS, June 23 (UPI) — Halliburton Co., the oil company that was headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, signed contracts with Iraq worth $73 million through two subsidiaries while he was at its helm, the Washington Post reported.

    During last year’s presidential campaign, Cheney said Halliburton did business with Libya and Iran through foreign subsidiaries, but maintained he had imposed a “firm policy” against trading with Iraq.

    “Iraq’s different,” the Post quoted him as saying.

    Oil industry executives and confidential U.N. records showed, however, that Halliburton held stakes in two companies that signed contracts to sell more than $73 million in oil production equipment and spare parts to Iraq while Cheney was chairman and chief executive officer, the Post reported.

    Two former senior executives of the Halliburton subsidiaries said they knew of no policy against dealing with Iraq. One of them said he was certain Cheney knew about the deals, though he had never spoken about them to the vice president directly.

    If he “was ever in a conversation or meeting where there was a question of pursuing a project with someone in Iraq, he said, ‘No,’ ” Mary Matalin, Cheney’s counselor, said.

    “In a joint venture, he would not have reviewed all their existing contracts,” Matalin told the Post. “The nature of those joint ventures was that they had a separate governing structure, so he had no control over them.”

    The deal was legal, the Post said, and they showed how U.S. firms use foreign subsidiaries and joint ventures to avoid doing business with Baghdad. The practice is not a violation of U.S. law and falls within the U.N.-run oil-for-food program.

    The Post said U.N. records showed that the dealings were more extensive than originally reported and than Cheney had acknowledged, however.

    According to the report, the Halliburton subsidiaries, Dresser-Rand and Ingersoll Dresser Pump Co., sold material to Baghdad through French affiliates. The sales lasted from the first half of 1997 to the summer of 2000. Cheney resigned from Halliburton in August.

    “Halliburton and Ingersoll-Rand, as far as I know, had no official policy about that, other than we would be in compliance with applicable U.S. and international laws,” said Cleive Dumas, who oversaw Ingersoll Dresser Pump’s business in the Middle East, including Iraq.

    Cheney’s spokeswoman, Juleanna Glover Weiss, referred the Post’s calls to Halliburton, which in turn, directed them back to Cheney’s office.

    In a July 30, 2000, interview on ABC-TV’s “This Week,” Cheney denied that Halliburton or its subsidiaries traded with Baghdad. Three weeks later, on the same program, he modified his response after being informed that a Halliburton spokesman had said that Dresser Rand and Ingersoll Dresser Pump traded with Iraq.

    Cheney said he did not know the subsidiaries were doing business with the Iraqi regime when Halliburton purchased Dresser Industries in September 1998.

    The firms traded with Iraq for more than a year under Cheney, however. They signed nearly $30 million in contracts before he sold Halliburton’s 49 percent stake in Ingersoll Dresser Pump Co. in December 1999 and its 51 percent interest in Dresser Rand to Ingersoll-Rand in February 2000, the Post quoted U.N. records as saying.

    Cheney has long criticized of unilateral U.S. sanctions, which he says penalize American companies. He has pushed for a review of policy toward Iraq, Iran and Libya.

    Copyright 2001 by United Press International.

    http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/6/24/80648.shtml


  12. ace says:

    David Rockefeller & Dick Cheney:

    American Traitors…

    Cheney laughs about lying to his constituents in order to get elected:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdxLYuvvbgs&NR


  13. ace says:

    He is the enabler of all of the windfall oil wealth created since 1999. He was in the midst of the scheme to defraud California using Ken Lay’s Enron and has been raking in the profits ever since.

    Even prior to that, he did the Bush/Carlyle group a favor by absorbing all of the billions of dollars worth of Asbestos liabilities under the Halliburton banner when he was CEO and bought out Dresser Industries.

    Everyone involved in the scheme went short Halliburton for the trip south on the “news” of the Asbestos case against them, then came the “energy crisis scheme” designed to push oil prices higher and predispose the electorate to an OIL ADMINISTRATION.

    Then came the SECRET meetings with the oil and Gas CEOs and Alan Greenspan to plan the economic aftermath of the planned 9/11 attack – which Cheney was IN CHARGE OF IMPLEMENTING.

    Once Greenspan put the floor in the market, it was all hands on deck for the Halliburton stock rebound and the big payoff for those original investors in Dresser who would otherwise have been killed of Dresser Industries had been forced to take the entire Asbestos liability hit.

    They are ALL criminals. This was an attack against our country and a preplanned war – all designed to ensure that the rich not only remained so, but became richer – and more powerful.

    Got Fascism?

    Cheney was at the heart of it all. NORAD and the NSA and Mossad were in on it with him. Israel and Big oil got their “New Pearl Harbor” – just as the PNAC proscribed.

    IMPEACH – ARREST – HANG


  14. ace says:

    Was it Cheney who ordered Chertoff to kill the Ptech Investigation??? And Remember “Operation Greenquest?” That investigation was killed too!

    http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/2005/01/michael-chertoff-and-sabotage-of-ptech.html

    A tipster was Indira Singh, who has said she recognizes the separate command and control communications system Mike Ruppert describes Dick Cheney to have been running on September 11th as having “the exact same functionality I was looking for (Ptech).”

    The Ptech case turned into an ugly dispute last year when company whistleblowers told Greenquest agents about their own suspicions about the firm’s owners. Sources close to the case say those same whistleblowers had first approached FBI agents, but the bureau apparently did little or nothing in response. With backing from the National Security Council, Greenquest agents then mounted a full-scale investigation that culminated in a raid on the company’s office last December. After getting wind of the Greenquest probe, the FBI stepped in and unsuccessfully tried to take control of the case.

    Whatever the truth, there is no dispute that the case has so far produced no charges and indictments against Al-Qadi or anyone else connected with Ptech.

    What role did Dick Cheney play in killing the investigation into Al-Qadi?

    Now, how does Chertoff figure in the Ptech story? It goes back to the turf war of two years ago over Operation Greenquest, “the high-profile federal task force set up to target the financiers of Al Qaeda and other international terrorist groups.”

    *
    Clearly ptech represent some nexus between the government and terorism that must not be revealed, and Chertoff is just the man to cover it up.


  15. lestatdelc says:

    The VP will simply tell the House Natural Resources Committee to go Cheney itself. BTW, Cheney was not a sole actor in this, GOP Senator Gordon Smith carried a ton of water (pun noted) to basically buy off the votes of rural Klamath farm voters, which resulted in the fish-kill. Smith is running like hell from this issue (like so many others) in order to try and bamboozle Oregon voters into buying his “moderate” schtick again. But as the latest polling shows, Oregonian’s are not buying it this time around. His disapprovals are now a bit larger than his approvals and 2 out of every 3 Oregonians say they will vote for someone else ant not vote to re-elect the frozen pea flip-flopper.


  16. "Big Time Dick" Cheney says:

    Sure. I’ll testify.

    As long as I can bring my gun with me; that way if anyone asks me any questions I don’t like I can shoot them in the face.

    Go cheney yourselves.


  17. Marcus Aurelius says:

    Cheney will only attend if two conditions are met:

    1. there’s something for him to steal, and;

    2. there’s something for him to kill (but it has to be innocent).


  18. Zimzone says:

    Dirty. Dick. Cheney.

    Worst. President. Ever.


  19. JMOHR says:

    I believe that Cheney should be called before the senate in his capacity as a member of the legislative branch. He should be stripped of his position as President of the Senate should he fail to appear. Then turn around and impeach him for having rendered himself unable to perform his constitutional duties as the President of the Senate due to his own misconduct.


  20. mikebee says:

    they should rename klamath falls, chenny falls. these republican crooks in south oregon have worked the system to steal the natural resources of us citizens and the native americans for decades. this is the neigborhood were the worst japanese detention camp was established and this historic hate and bigotry continues here. the corrupt police and courts take away more children from their parents than does the largest county in oregon, which is the portland area. so it is no suprise these pricks use their good buddy chenny to totaly fuck up the salmon industry to profit from the local water issues .the sight of tens of thousands of dead fish due to lack of water will never leave my mind. the light of day needs to be focused on this nest of sub-human trash that continue to align themselves with the low-life politicians to continue criminal activities .


  21. PaulB says:

    He should be stripped of his position as President of the Senate should he fail to appear

    He cannot be stripped of this position other than through a Constitutional amendment or impeachment. The latter is really the only thing that Cheney will pay attention to.


  22. Fan_of_Man says:

    IN OTHER NEWS, SORRY TO BE OFF TOPIC BUT THIS IS WORTH MENTIONING:

    Ready for a kick in the teeth?

    U.S. troops form risky ties with ex-insurgents INCLUDING AL QAEDA!

    It includes ex-insurgents, police dropouts with checkered backgrounds, and former Al Qaeda-linked fighters – all united by a desire to rid Diyala Province of the network’s influence, say US officers.

    “A lot of them are former Al Qaeda operatives … but when they saw the stealing, murder, and terrorism, they realized it was not the way forward for Iraq,” says Maj. John Woodward of San Antonio.

    CAN YOU SAY JESUS H CHRIST?!?!?!?!?!

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20070717/ts_csm/oallies


  23. JG says:

    Watch the Bill Moyers interview on Impeachment with staunch conservative Constitution scholar Bruce Fein and John Nichols author of THE GENIUS OF IMPEACHMENT:
    http://www.pbs.org/ moyers/ journal/ 07132007/ profile.html

    It is crucial this happens BEFORE they leave office. Watch and understand why.


  24. Roger_Roger says:

    Cheney didn’t force this. The science community actually ruled in favor of the farmers, thus the Federal government acted accordingly. If anything, blame the science community for screwing this up.


  25. JG says:

    http://www.pbs.org/ moyers/journal/07132007/profile.html


  26. JG says:

    Ahhh.. I still didn’t get the link right. One more try:
    http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07132007/profile.html


  27. Mr. President says:

    Mr. President is actually able to block and delete postings. Very interesting. You are very powerful with that software.

    Comment by ace — July 17, 2007 @ 4:05 pm
    —————————————————————

    Internet Explorer?


  28. RUCerious says:

    I’m surprised that Cheney didn’t go fishing in the Willamette and shoot the fish in the face.


  29. Zimzone says:

    #21, JG, Great Post!

    I watched that interview.
    In fact, my Wife taped it & we watched it again.

    If you really want to understand why we must impeach now, watch it!


  30. PatrioticLiberalChristian(PLC) says:

    Cheney and a 10-year water plan ??

    Awww, when I first saw this I read it as Cheney getting a 10-year waterboarding. Daydreams are nice.


  31. ForTruth says:

    Roger even if Cheney has nothing to do with this, he should be blamed anyway, because of all the other stuff he’s done.


  32. spit take says:

    Cheney didn’t force this. The science community actually ruled in favor of the farmers, thus the Federal government acted accordingly. If anything, blame the science community for screwing this up.

    Comment by Roger_Roger — July 17, 2007 @ 4:41 pm

    Then he has nothing to fear from testifying, right?

    Excellent.


  33. texas by midnight says:

    From what I have heard and read, Cheney will be going in for additional heart surgery to replace his aging stint. Wonder what will happen then?


  34. Mr. Bush Goes To Hell says:

    Face it, folks…

    You are NO LONGER “debating” or conversing with “trolls”.

    These people are “psyops”.

    In an earlier story, Rupert Murdoch was revealed today to be the
    “24th Member of Blair’s Cabinet”:

    http://thinkprogress.org/2007/07/19/murdoch-blair/



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