Dick Cheney Tells Chris Wallace: ‘Traitor’ Snowden Possibly Had Chinese Connection Before Leaking

[cali]

Dick Cheney staunchly defended the NSA surveillance programs started under his tenure as Vice President, telling Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday that the programs could have stopped 9/11 had they been in effect, and that Edward Snowden was a traitor for revealing the information and fleeing to China.

“When you had the hijackers in 9/11, they were in contact with their leadership overseas and the rest of the organization in the States,” Cheney said. “If we had been able to read their mail and intercept communications, and pick up from the calls overseas the numbers here that they were using in the United States, we would then have been able to thwart the attack.”

In contrast to critics like Rand Paul, Cheney believes the government was justified in expanding the scope of surveillance to all phone metadata, even of people not suspected of crimes, claiming that wartime footing allows additional national security measures.

“Congress authorized the president to use military force to deal with the crisis,” Cheney said, referring to the War on Terror. “That puts you in the category of using your military assets, intelligence assets and so forth in order to protect the country against another attack. When you consider somebody smuggling a nuclear device into the United States it becomes very important to gather intelligence on your enemies and stop the attack before it is launched.

<snip>

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/dick-cheney-tells-chris-wallace-traitor-snowden-possibly-had-chinese-connection-before-leaking-info/

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Traitors also out CIA agents, Dick...

The irony dripping from his lips is always staggering, isn't it???

[nashville_brook]

17. +1000000

[alp227]

51. In meme form...

[Fumesucker]

2. Ctheney just wants to keep us safe

No one is more misunderstood, bless his liquid helium pump.

[ProSense]

3. Dick Cheney Laughs Off Privacy Concerns Over Government Surveillance

Dick Cheney Laughs Off Privacy Concerns Over Government Surveillance

By Josh Israel

Former Vice President Dick Cheney (R), whose false statements helped propel the United States into an eight year war in Iraq, said Sunday that citizens should simply “trust” the federal government on matters of privacy and security.

In an interview on Fox News Sunday, Cheney laughed off questions about why federal surveillance of phone records need be kept secret, suggesting that since the people who authorize the program are elected by voters, voters should simply trust their judgment.

<...>

While Americans do elect the President and Vice President, only a small fraction of voters select who will be in Congressional leadership. Cheney’s suggestion that voters should trust them because they elected them sets up a substantial catch-22 — if voters can’t know what their elected officials are doing on matters of privacy and national security, they cannot know whether they are earning their trust.

And the Bush-Cheney administration is a perfect example of why voters should not always trust their elected leaders. According to the Center for Public Integrity, the administration made at least 935 demonstrably false statements in the lead up to the 2003 Iraq War. Cheney himself made 48 of those, including his infamous 2002 claim that: “Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us.”

- more -

http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/06/16/2164401/dick-cheney-trust-surveillance/

Dick Cheney, still evil.

Another misleading media report implies that warrantless wiretapping is legal
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023026724

[cali]

25. lol. and just think, he and you agree on so much. perfect really.

[adric mutelovic]

37. +1

[ProSense]

48. Cheney: Obama has ‘no credibility’ — but the NSA is ‘to be believed’

Cheney: Obama has ‘no credibility’ — but the NSA is ‘to be believed’
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/16/cheney-obama-has-no-credibility-but-the-nsa-is-to-be-believed/

"Sarin my ass. they're LYING to us again...And no, sorry, I don't automatically believe President Obama. I want fucking indisputable PROOF of claims that supposedly justify military intervention."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023021177

"he and you agree on so much. perfect really."

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

4. Who's side to take Patriot Whistle Blower or War Criminal Traitor

I'll go with the patriot whistle blower

[sabrina 1]

10. Yes, I was thinking the same thing, didn't take me a minute to get the answer.

WMDs, Dick! Valerie Plame, Torture. Now, again without producing a shred of evidence (he probably has Curveball, the drunken liar, on speed dial so they can produce some more of that 'evidence' they get from their paid 'assets') he makes yet another accusation.

When is this criminal going to be prosecuted?

And when is the President going to get nervous about the sting of war criminals and liars that are lining up behind him?

Wouldn't you wonder if you were on the right side, when Ari Fleischer, Dick Cheney, Peter King et al turned out to be on YOUR side?

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

20. Yep, and our whole political and media establishments are now complicit in their crimes

by the fact that they have covered them up, and/or chosen not to investigate and prosecute them.

We all now live in a grand "potemkin village" as we go about our daily lives, and listen to the news go on and on with their BS like nothing is wrong with the system, everything the gov is gospel, and the only amendment we are allowed to have and "fight" for is the 2nd.

[MNBrewer]

29. Why didn't he prosecute them?

Oh yeah, "look forward" and "the people had no stomach for political prosecutions".... so I've been told by DU.

[sabrina 1]

43. On the contrary, the people were screaming for those particular prosecutions, all over the world

except for the far right in this country and a few our dictator friends overseas.

[MNBrewer]

45. That's what I used to think too, but I've been assured by a DU'er that nobody wanted to see

a "political prosecution" of the War Criminals, the public had "no stomach for it"

[Thinkingabout]

12. Except in this case Snowden as a contract employee of NSA his protection as a whistleblower is

exempt. The information on the Patriot Act is listed on Wikipedia so how has he blown the whistle? He did violate his Code of Ethics which makes him a criminal. I am not defending Cheney, he has his own problems.

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

14. That doesn't change a thing I wrote. Patriot vs War Criminal

Now before you start quoting the statutes back to me, let me state that I do not believe you have committed a crime when you reveal a crime by our government no matter what laws the totalitarians write.

[Thinkingabout]

24. Since you do not want the statutes then I will state he is a criminal and it has nothing to do with

whether you perceive it is a crime.

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

26. And I will state the fact that we have the notion of a WHISTLE BLOWER for a reason

so that corrupt laws, and wrong doing will not go on in perpetuity, even though totalitarians pass laws that "legalize" their crimes.

[Thinkingabout]

28. If you think he is going to have the protection of a Whistleblower, nope, won't happen, his position

is excluded, no whistleblower title for him, criminal will do.

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

31. No totalitarian in their right mind would grant him any kind of protection, hello...

But the people will, bet!

[Thinkingabout]

34. Never happen, watch the actions of the FBI to get your answer.

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

35. derp

[Thinkingabout]

38. Is your IQ a one also

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

39. derpity

derp

[Thinkingabout]

40. yep, I am right again

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

41. Sure, and you're in good company, too!

[Thinkingabout]

42. You are wrong again, got anything right lately

[MNBrewer]

30. Hold on Mr. Judge-Jury-Executioner.... He's an *Alleged* criminal

[sabrina 1]

44. Which statute do you have more faith in? Bush's Patriot Act (I see you referred to it for

backup) or The US Constitution?

[Thinkingabout]

49. As a US citizen I am bound by all, i do not get to pick and choose, I may not agree with

All laws in whatever form they may be covered but by our process it is what we have. We have freedom of speech but we can't yell fire in a crowded theater if it is not true.

[sabrina 1]

58. So if something is the law you will accept it? How about it being against the law for women to vote

or African Americans to be segregated from White Americans?

Here's the way I see it. If a law is bad, I do not use it to defend those who ARE using to do bad things. I would never, eg, have used a law that forbade women to vote by referring to it as 'the law which we must abide by'. I would refer to it as 'the law that must be changed'.

The Patriot Act has a sunshine clause, the only way Bush was able to get it passed. It was supposed to be temporary and he even knew it was so bad that he had pretend it was temporary.

Those who believed him were stupid, imo. Or maybe it was just an out for them knowing their constituents would be furious with them for voting for it.

It is a horrible law to which I never refer anyone, especially when we have GOOD laws, the Constitution itself, to refer to.

So when I see someone saying 'it's the law' without adding, 'that damn well needs to go', I'm not sure where they stand.

They can pass all the bad laws they want, they are still bad and still need to go. That's the only reason I would ever mention that Orwellian, Bush piece of garbage 'law'.

We are also not obliged morally to obey bad laws. History teaches us that without those who refused to obey bad laws, this would be a very bad place to be living in for an awful lot of people.

[Thinkingabout]

59. Until those rights was changed the women and blacks did not vote, they was not able to

Vote retroactively, just as Snowden can nit be judge and jury on violating his Code of Ethics but in the case of Snowden he accepted the position, there was not a law saying he had to take the job. Somewhere apparently he thought he could take action and not have to answer for his actions. Too many are getting twisted out of shape about "causes". There is nothing which forces anyone to use the services being monitored, don't like being monitored then cease all services which do so and then you can have freedom for intrusions. This is not a hard decision.

[sabrina 1]

60. Well the cause is the defense and protection of the Constitution. Did you know that the oath

taken by every elected official and military personnel has one requirement of them 'defend and protect the Constitution'. That is ALL that is required in their oaths of office.

Women and African Americans may not have been ALLOWED to vote but they sure did not accept those laws. They WORKED, the violated OTHER laws, they PROTESTED, DEMONSTRATED and got themselves arrested, some even killed by law enforcement, but they did not just say 'well, it's the law'.

And Snowden is doing what they did, he is risking his own freedom and life, as they did (and now we call them heroes, back then they were called traitors) to protect the US Constitution.

That is what he said, and another hero, once a whistle blower himself, Ellsberg, calls him 'the man we have been waiting for for 40 years'.

So what would do to defend the Constitution if you are not going to break any laws to try to save it, what would have done about women voting, if you were not willing to break any laws to get that vote?

'We were only following orders' has not been an acceptable excuse for wrong doing since WW11 when those who WERE following the laws of their countries, were prosecuted for NOT violating those laws and this country was responsible for many of those prosecutions.

[Thinkingabout]

61. Perhaps this is your cause but it is not my cause. Snowden is probably not about the cause, he is

About himself. Go with your cause

[sabrina 1]

63. Okay! You don't care about the Constitution. There's not much more to say

to someone who doesn't care about the Constitution. It's only the very foundations of this Democracy, but hey, if you'd rather go with gossip and talking points by those who are struggling hard to try to change the conversation but failing miserably, you go right ahead with that useless game.

But they have violated the Constitutional rights of the American people, so get ready to see a lot of people be extremely upset over it.

As the polls are showing, the American people by a large majority care about this country and what has been revealed, no matter by whom, is very disturbing to them as they have demonstrated.

[maxrandb]

50. False Argument, but nice Strawman

Gee, Dick Cheney might actually think that Stalin was wrong for killing millions of his own people, and I'd agree with him...Guess that means I agree with everything Dick Cheney ever says.

I think it's more appropriate to say "a traitor is a traitor", and if anyone would know treason...it's Dick "effing" Cheney.

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

54. War Criminal and Traitor to the American People, Dick Cheney has no standing on this subject

sorry

[maxrandb]

55. Oh I agree with you

Dick Cheney has NO credibility on anything...BUT, folks are trying to say that "since Dick Cheney thinks this guy committed treason by turning over National Security data to the Chinese", then anyone that agrees that TUNRING OVER SECRET DATA TO THE CHINESE, OR ANY FOREIGN COUNTRY without authorization, must support Dick Cheney in everything. See, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, or so some on DU seem to think.

I expect that from the mouth-breathing T-Baggers, but, I guess I expected more from DU.

Oh well, I guess since Dick Morris once worked for the Clinton's, I should just get in line with anything he says now.

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

57. You agree with the totalitarian Dick Cheney, on this spying issue, and that is where we part ways

Revealing to the world that the US is spying on EVERYONE, terrorist or not, is a public service, especially to us Americans.

Of course, you are free to disagree, but I am not a partisan on this issue, I was against it when cheney and bush were doing it, and I am still against it now even with a dem in office.

Hypocrisy, the tribute vice pays to virtue.

[WCGreen]

5. But, Mr. Cheney, we were NOT under a declared state of war...

Nothing destroys a free society quicker when people are willing to cede rights for safety. And in this situation, the spetacular trumps the reality and it is people like Cheney who will jump to take advantage of circumstance to erode civil liberty.

[MNBrewer]

32. Authoritarians in both Parties will use the AUMF to justify anything

regardless of what it is. Torture? No problem! Domestic surveillance? Done! Indefinite detention? You took the words right out of my mouth!

[JHB]

6. Geez. "If we'd been able to...". You WERE able to, Dick!

Everything needed to find those guys was already available to you. You guys just dismissed and deprioritized it.

[Catherina]

7. Of course he does. It was in 2001 that the equipment for all this was installed

“The decision must have been made in September 2001,” Mr. Binney told me and the cinematographer Kirsten Johnson. “That’s when the equipment started coming in.” In this Op-Doc, Mr. Binney explains how the program he created for foreign intelligence gathering was turned inward on this country. He resigned over this in 2001 and began speaking out publicly in the last year. He is among a group of N.S.A. whistle-blowers, including Thomas A. Drake, who have each risked everything — their freedom, livelihoods and personal relationships — to warn Americans about the dangers of N.S.A. domestic spying.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/opinion/the-national-security-agencys-domestic-spying-program.html?_r=0

Bill Binney resigned from his 40 year career as a Director at NSA when the programs he wrote for foreign surveillance were used against fellow Americans. And they tried to destroy him for blowing the whistle as surely as they're trying to destroy Edward Snowden right now for the same thing.

director of the NSA’s World Geopolitical and Military Analysis Reporting Group and was a senior NSA crypto-mathematician largely responsible for automating the agency’s worldwide eavesdropping network.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023024549

Why is that war criminal roaming free?

[SamKnause]

8. NSA

TRAITOR Cheney.

Enough said.

[backscatter712]

9. Ah, it came from Dick Cheney, so it must be true!

Why, Cheney and his toadies would never lie or conceal the truth about national security issues (*COUGH* Valerie Plame!)

[Zen Democrat]

11. I see the Father of Lies has spoken on Father's Day. Only at FoxNews.

[magellan]

13. The shame of it is that The Dick isn't doing his talking from a jail cell. n/t

[Daniel537]

15. I'm with Cheney!

Snowden broke the law. Whatever the govt. tells you to keep secret, you keep secret damn it! So their spying on all of us? Big whoop. Deal with it. Its for National Security. That's all you need to know. Damn limp-wrist civil libertarians.

[Cooley Hurd]

18. Might need a sarcasm tag...

...unless you're serious.

[reformist2]

21. This is going to put the NSA apologists here in an awkward position! :)

[sabrina 1]

22. Better put the snark tag on that comment. Unless you meant it of course.

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

27. Yeah! Where do these peons get off thinking they know the law better than we?!

Don't they know that we write the laws!?

They got some nerve, especially being a high school dropout and all, sheesh!

/sarcasm

[lonestarnot]

16. Hey shootemintheface. Fuck you. You couldn't give a rat's ass what happens to Americans, as long

as it doesn't happen to your old mechanical insulated ass. So just shut the fuck up and fuck you. "Determined to strike." Yeah could have you fuckwad.

[malaise]

19. Remember Cheney wiretapped people without warrants

and he outed a CIA agent.

Just croak Cheney and do the planet a favor.

[Vinnie From Indy]

23. An evil prick that deserves a jail cell

I would not be surprised at all if Cheney still had complete access to NSA superpowers.

[DirkGently]

33. Thank god Dick Cheney is on the case!

He'll give us the straight dope on national security and who our real enemies are.

Because, that's totally his thing.














Er.

[DirkGently]

36. If the whole issue comes down to who the worst MESSENGER is ...

... I think anyone opposed to widespread domestic surveillance just won.

"Snowden isn't a friendly neighbor" doesn't seem so damning (wait, when did it seem damning?) compared to Señor Waterboarding's resume, eh?

[woo me with science]

46. The facade of Red versus Blue is falling apart and revealing he REAL battle,

which is corporate fascists against the rest of us. And the corporate fascists live in both parties.

When the people finally wake up to what is being done to them and start to demand answers and accountability regardless of party, *of course* the long denied collusion between corporatists in both parties is finally exposed.

These corporatists have been walking hand in hand all along, on virtually every major issue important to the One Percent. We are only seeing their collusion and clinging together more clearly on *this* issue, because the outage across the country is finally bipartisan, and they can no longer hide behind their carefully propagandized Red and Blue Teams to pretend they are on opposite sides.

[xiamiam]

47. interestingly enough, yesterday i googled cheney and the current and last director of nsa

I could not find one image with cheney and either of them. I found a couple images with bush and cheney and alexander taken at the same time. If its evil and awful, Cheney usually has his hand in it are my thoughts. The only good thing about seeing current images of Cheney is that he looks healthy enough to stand trial and be sent to jail. Stranger things have happened and I have yet to give up hope for justice to eventually be served. I think its interesting that I couldn't find any photos with the nsa directors spanning his time in office. Hayden, director of the NSA during 911 said he heard about the world trade center from cnn.

[bowens43]

52. It doesn't matter. It doesnt change the fact that our government is spying on all of us.

[heather blossom]

53. war criminal

Why isn't this war criminal in jail?

[Marr]

56. Wow. I don't envy the apologists right now.

Imagine being on the same side of an argument as Dick Cheney, mocking "the Left" as villains, and *still* having to convince yourself that you're the base of the Democratic Party.

[JackRiddler]

62. And apparently about half of DU agrees with Cheney.

Except they didn't like the program Snowden revealed when it was under Cheney. Curious.