Your Opinion, Please: Part Two

[H2O Man]

"Only hours after the September 11 attacks, the administration installed a ‘shadow government’ of about a hundred senior executive branch officers to live and work secretly outside Washington at two East Coast locations, reportedly run from the White House. ….The shadow government is supposed to assume command of the government in case of a national emergency. Of course, this shadow government consists of one branch only, the executive branch.

"This shadow government was created under the authority of the ‘continuity of operations’ plans left over from the Cold War and executive orders issued by President Ronald Reagan. However, the Congress has not sanctioned the shadow government, nor were members of Congress even made aware of its existence until the story was leaked in March 2002. This shadow government has been described as an ‘indefinite precaution,’ which can mean anything. While a few newspaper stories appeared in March 2002, very little new information has been reported since then. The shadow government is presumed to continue its operations outside of congressional oversight."
--Senator Robert Byrd; Losing America; 2004; pages 78-79.

Last week, after news reports documented that the Bush-Cheney administration had considered "suspending" Amendment 1 as part of their "war on terrorism," I asked DUers to tell me their opinion of why this step was evaluated. There was an interesting range of responses, some touching on the more obvious reasons, and some exploring more hidden motives. I appreciate all of the thought that went into all of these responses.

In this, the second part, I’d like to put the same basic question into a slightly different context. As Senator Byrd noted, hours after the 9/11 attacks, the Bush-Cheney administration instituted the "shadow government." Readers familiar with James Bamford’s book, "A Pretext for War," will recall two important facts: first, that the "continuity of government" plans, which began under Eisenhower, were updated for President Reagan by VP George Bush, Ollie North, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and James Woolsey (Rumsfeld and Woolsey were private citizens at the time, and Cheney was in Congress); and, second, it called for teams that included members of the executive branch and the business community (and excluded Congress and the federal courts).

My questions are: What businesses do you suspect were represented when VP Cheney installed the "shadow government"? Is it possible that corporations that own/control large segments of the "national media" were included? If so, why would they consider suspending Amendment 1? Or did they, and this "shadow government’s" existence has never really been reported on for this reason? And, finally, what other businesses or groups (including "private" intelligence) were represented?

As always, there is no "wrong" answer. I encourage people to add other related questions that I have not listed here.

Sincerely,
H2O Man

[H2O Man]

1. One at a time, please.

It's hard to read all these responses at once.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. The businesses would have been

the same ones Cheney spoke with to determine energy policy, I'd think. And of course the list would include the businesses with which Cheney and his friends were associated.

What I find very interesting is that, despite all their elaborate planning, they did not succeed in taking over the government. They tried, and nearly ruined us, but it didn't work. I'm finding that part of our drama in Maya the most interesting part.

[Karenina]

3. Hmmm...

:kick:

[tavalon]

4. This actually brings up a more pressing question for me

The official government changed hands on Jan 20, 2009. What about the shadow government? Given that we know next to nothing about it, how would we know if it was humming along merrily, just waiting for.................for who the fuck knows.

Is it still in place? Where? Who? Does our real government have any more information than we do about it?

[yy4me]

8. One wonders why Cheney is still in the area. Why did he not go

back to his home where the buffalo roam? Too many things still going on under the radar?

[OneGrassRoot]

5. You made me chuckle this morning, H20 Man...

;) "one at a time"....lol

My first thought was the same as Ayesha's: Cheney's energy policy cohorts, Blackwater, et al. I tend to think insurance and pharmaceutical companies were/are involved somehow as well, as they have evolved into (or perhaps have always been?) entities which feed on, and propagate, fear.

Interesting about the media. Perhaps the discussions regarding the suspension of Amendment 1 were due to their fear that they wouldn't be able to muzzle the worker bees. I have a hard time believing MSM's owners weren't/aren't involved.

[EFerrari]

6. I have to think about this but my first response is that Cheney didn't have to

suspend the First Amendment because he's fine with simply ignoring it. Most of us have sat down to routine paperwork and maybe rushed through it at times. I imagine that's how he regards the Constitution, paper that has to get "done" but is only peripheral to what he does.

It's an interesting question. GE? Verizon? Along with his friends at Haliburton? Chevron? ATT? Microsoft? BioPort or Emergent as they now call themselves? Btw, Eric Prince has stepped down from Xe (formerly, Blackwater):

The Blackwater name is gone. So is the focus on the security business that made it famous. Now the founder who built the private company into one of the world's most respected, and reviled, defense contractors is stepping aside as its chief executive. Erik Prince's decision yesterday to relinquish his role as chief executive underscored how hard the company now called Xe, pronounced like the letter "z," is working to bury the Blackwater brand and move its focus further away from the security contracting that severely tarnished its reputation. Xe has already been expanding into other lines of business. It has built a fleet of 76 aircraft that it has deployed to such hot spots as West Africa and Afghanistan.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/ny-usnatl036055958mar03,0,3142388.story?track=rss

So Blackwater is gone but not gone. Prince is likely not gone either.

[radfringe]

7. why would they consider suspending Amendment 1

A. Is it possible that corporations that own/control large segments of the "national media" were included?

B. If so, why would they consider suspending Amendment 1?

Answers:

A. Yes, media is not owned by media corporations. They are owned by corporations which, as their core business, have nothing to do with media, and as their core business had much to gain with government war contracts.

B. Suspend Amendment 1 and you squash those who oppose you. Yes, there would be an "underground" or "blackmarket" for news, but it would be easy to portray these groups/individuals as "traitors" and use the corp run media as a bullhorn to push that message.

[Are_grits_groceries]

9. I also think that Cheney's energy cabal and security

firms were well represented. However, I also suspect that we would be horrified at what other corporations were included. It only takes the top officers to do this, not the entire workforce.
I can't remember the corporation, but its CEO said something along the lines of his loyalty to his company came before his loyalty to the country. That's a scary and probably prevalent attitude in a nutshell.

On another tangent, I have been curious about some of the moves the Obama government is making. Some just don't fit with what I can find out. I've decided it's the hidden force theory. Astronomers were able to tell that there was an object near Neptune before they could see it. (I think it was Neptune.) They deduced that there was something they couldn't yet see causing the wobble.

I think there are things and/or people we can't see in the government that are causing wobbles. Remember the order Bush made before he left office that made nursing home inspectors federal employees. Because he did this, they couldn't testify in lawsuits brought by people against the people who ran the nursing homes. Nobody knew this until 37 days after Bush left office.

Who knows what other surprises the new administration is finding? They may be unable to tell us what they are because of their nature. They may be taking a lot of time trying to undo thses traps.

[OneBlueSky]

10. assuming this shadow government does indeed exist . . .

how much does Obama know about it, and what does he intend to do about it, if anything? . . . given that it would undoubtedly be peopled by Bushites and other right wingers, wouldn't he want to either abolish it, or at least install his own people in critical positions? . . . how would he go about doing that without telling the American people all about this shadow government, how it came about, what it's there for, and what kind of dangers it poses for a free democratic society governed by a Constitution? . . . just wonderin' . . .

btw, could you post a link to Part 1? . . . thanx . . .

[tjwash]

11. Probably Hunt Oil, KBR, and Halliburton for were the heads of the shadow govt. for starters.

I know the Hunt brothers sat in on the closed door energy meetings with Dick, and are good friends of his. KBR and Halliburton have both profited tremendously from the war in Iraq.

[H2O Man]

12. Update: Part 2.5

Tonight's reports on the "death squads" that had no oversight, other than the OVP, should be viewed in the context of this OP. Two things: first, think about the larger picture, including the Plame and especially the neocon/AIPAC espionage scandals; and second, be prepared, should information actually be released, to find out these squads included two types of contract groups.