Former Vice President Dick Cheney was given a multi-million contract to write a book about his political career. According to Cheney’s media hype, the book, called In My Time, will have “heads exploding all over Washington.” The Darth Vader of the Bush administration offers no apologies and feels no remorse. But peace activists around the country are stealthily gearing up to visit bookstores, grab a stack of books, and deposit them where they belong—the Crime Section.

Here are ten of Cheney’s many offenses to inspire you to move Cheney’s book, and to insert these bookmarks explaining why the author of In My Time should be “doin’ time.”

1. Cheney lied; Iraqis and U.S. soldiers died. As Vice President, Cheney lied about (nonexistent) weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein’s (nonexistent) ties to the 9/11 attack as a way to justify a war with a country that never attacked us. Thanks to Cheney and company, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and over 4,000 American soldiers perished in a war that should never have been fought.

2. Committing War Crimes in Iraq. During the course of the Iraq war, the Bush/Cheney administration violated the Geneva Conventions by targeting civilians, journalists, hospitals, and ambulances, and using illegal weapons, including white phosphorous, depleted uranium, and a new type of napalm.

3. War profiteering. U.S. taxpayers shelled out about three trillion dollars for the Bush/Cheney wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—a major factor in our nation’s present economic meltdown. But Cheney and his cronies at Halliburton made out like bandits, getting billions in contracts for everything from feeding troops in Iraq to constructing the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan to building the infamous Guantanamo prison. Cheney was CEO of Halliburton from 1995-2000, leaving for the VP position with a $20 million retirement package, plus millions in stock options and deferred salary. Before the Iraq War began, Halliburton was 19th on the U.S. Army's list of top contractors; with Cheney’s help, by 2003 it was number one—increasing the value of Cheney’s stocks by over 3,000%.

4. Violating basic rights. Cheney shares responsibility for holding thousands of prisoners without charges and without the fundamental right to the writ of habeas corpus, and for keeping prisoners hidden from the International Committee of the Red Cross. He sanctioned kidnapping people and simply rendering them to secret overseas prisons. His authorization of the arbitrary detention of Americans, legal residents, and non-Americans--without due process, without charges, and without access to counsel--was in gross violation of U.S. and international law. A fan of indefinite detention in Guantanamo, Cheney writes in his book that he has been “happy to note” that President Obama failed to honor his pledge to close the Guantánamo prison.

5. Advocating torture. Cheney was a prime mover behind the Bush administration's decision to violate the Geneva Conventions and the U.N. Convention Against Torture and to break with decades of past practice by the U.S. military by supporting “enhanced interrogation techniques.” This led to hundreds of documented cases in Iraq and Afghanistan of abuse, torture and homicide. The torture included the practice known as "water-boarding," a form of simulated drowning. After World War II, Japanese soldiers were tried and convicted of war crimes in US courts for water-boarding. The sanctioning of abuses from the top trickled down, as the whole world saw in the photos from Abu Ghraib, becoming a recruiting tool for Al Qaeda and sullying the reputation of our nation.

6. Trying to prolong the Afghan war. Not content with the damage he caused as VP, Cheney continues to encourage more grist for the war machine. In his book he criticizes President Obama’s decision to withdraw, by September 2012, the 33,000 additional troops Obama sent to Afghanistan in 2009. He has also cautioned Obama not to pull out all the troops from Afghanistan at the planned date of 2014. “I don't think we need to run for the exits,” he told Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace.

7. Abusing executive privilege: Cheney used executive privilege to refuse to comply with over a dozen Congressional subpoenas related to improper firing of Federal attorneys, torture, election violations and exposing—for political retribution--the identity of Valerie Plame, a covert CIA operative working on sensitive WMD proliferation.

8. Spying on us. Cheney was the mastermind behind the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program that spied on thousands, perhaps millions of American citizens on American soil. This massive government interference with personal phone calls and emails was in violation of FISA (the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), the Federal Telecommunications Act, and 4th Amendment of the Constitution.

9. Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran. When Cheney was CEO of Halliburton, the company skirted the law against investing in Iran by using a phony offshore subsidiary. Once VP, however, Cheney advocated bombing Iran. "I was probably a bigger advocate of military action than any of my colleagues," Cheney said in response to questions about whether the Bush administration should have launched a pre-emptive attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities prior to handing over the White House to Barack Obama. Cheney thinks Obama is too soft on Iran, and has said that the only way for diplomacy with Iran to work is if Obama also threatens to bomb the country. Negotiations are “bound to fail unless we are perceived as very credible” in threatening military action against Iran, he said. It seems that wars with Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, plus drone attacks in Pakistan and Yemen, are not enough to satisfy Cheney’s war addiction. But wait, there’s more….

10. Favored bombing Syria—and North Korea—instead of negotiating. One of the key anecdotes in Cheney’s memoir is his recollection of a session with the National Security Council in 2007, when he advised Bush to bomb a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor site. “After I finished,” he writes, “the president asked, ‘Does anyone here agree with the vice president?’ Not a single hand went up around the room.” Luckily, Cheney's advice was dismissed in favor of a diplomatic approach (although the Israelis bombed the site in September 2007). As for North Korea, in his book, Cheney calls former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice naive for trying to forge a nuclear weapons agreement with North Korea.

Enough? Since President Obama is not interested in holding Cheney accountable, the least we can do is show our disgust by dumping his books in the Crime section and inserting this bookmark. And if you happen to be lucky and catch one of Cheney’s book signings, bring along a pair of handcuffs.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/08/29-3

And no civilians or soldiers have died since obama took office?

What a surprise.

Nothing new or relevant coming from the hypocrites on the left.

Where are all the anti-war marches?

That's right.. The left are hypocrites..

Case in point..

so if they did put your "list" of people you want want jailed in jail, what then? will it change anything? will it undo anything? how will it affect your life? will it create jobs? will it stabilize the economy? what good will it do?

I think it's natural for all people to want to see people who they see as criminals to be brought to justice. executing Bin Laden didn't even create jobs or stabilize the economy, but I think it was an OK thing. It only should have happened through our justice system.

nice answer, but trying to convict those two won't really do anything but cost more money... i don't really see any reason to waste the time or effort.

I don't see it as a waste of time. As it stands, we have precedent for just giving our leaders a pass on crimes, just because they are powerful people. I think that's a really bad thing.

but it is ok for the presidents relatives to be here illegally... can someone say double standard?

Does the President have relatives in the country illegally? Tell us more about this. Who told you that?

News
World news
United States

Barack Obama's uncle arrested on suspicion of drink driving

Onyango Obama pleads not guilty to operating under the influence of alcohol following arrest in Massachusetts


Jasmine Coleman
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 30 August 2011 00.55 BST
Article history

Barack Obama’s uncle arrested
Barack Obama’s uncle has pleaded not guilty to drink driving. Onyango Obama, originally from Kenya, is being detained by US Immigration as he has an earlier deportation order. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

Barack Obama's uncle has been stopped on suspicion of drink driving after narrowly escaping a crash in Massachusetts.

Police said Onyango Obama, 67, was being held by immigration officials following his arrest on Wednesday about 20 miles west of Boston.

He is accused of ploughing through a stop sign, forcing a police officer to brake suddenly to avoid hitting his SUV (sport utility vehicle).

The police report said Onyango slurred his speech and became argumentative when stopped.

When asked whether he wanted to make a phone call to arrange bail, he said: "I think I will call the White House."

Onyango, who is the half-brother of the president's late father and originally from Kenya, was being held in custody on a detainer from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which said he had an earlier deportation or removal order.

Onyango pleaded not guilty on Friday to operating under the influence of alcohol, negligent operation of a motor vehicle and failure to yield the right of way.

Zeituni Onyango, the president's aunt, made headlines last year when she won the right to live in the United States despite being denied asylum by an immigration judge in 2004. She had stayed in the country illegally but was allowed to remain after the courts decided she could be in danger in Kenya

Okay, put someone in jail for being in the country illegally,
but it's going to be a waste of time and money to prosecute someone
who led the country into an illegal war that killed thousands of people?

Do you even know how silly that sounds?

I don't get how people claim a war is illegal. Its not illegal to go to war.

In fact I don't know of any laws against anything you listed. Are there laws against "advocating" things? I don't think so.

sounds silly that you think the war was illegal... to bad that no one that matters agrees with you... if it was illegal, then he would have been tried for it, but he wasn't... you have no legs to stand on there

Sure it did, they are making a movie about it................ Big budget movies employs thousands of people.........

Isn't dumping books from one section to another vandalism? Isn't this a crime?

August: Deadliest month for U.S. in Afghanistan

By Amir Shah - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Aug 30, 2011 7:50:33 EDT

KABUL, Afghanistan — August has become the deadliest month for U.S. troops in the nearly 10-year-old war in Afghanistan, where international forces have started to go home and let Afghan forces take charge of securing their country.
Related reading

A record 66 U.S. troops have died so far this month, eclipsing the 65 killed in July 2010, according to a tally by The Associated Press.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/08/ap-august-deadliest-month-us-troops-afghanistan-083011/


Where is Cindy Sheehan and why isn't she getting wall to wall media coverage protesting in front of the White House?

Oh... I forgot.. Obama is a Democrat..

H Y P O C R I T E S

I think she's in jail again! Either that or she's locked up in the looney bin AGAIN!........

I know it sounds silly and so do most adults.

America might have some credability.

“By debasing the United States and its commitment to the rule of law, encouraging unjustified yet devastatingly expensive and corrupt foreign wars, and even attempting to re-legitimate torture in a way not seen since the Middle Ages, Dick Cheney has likely done more damage than any other Bush administration official – or indeed anyone else in US history — to our nation’s authentic security and future prospects." - Chip Pitts, former president of Amnesty USA.

Having been through one I think I know a little about them.

And I believe there are plenty of people who matter that agree with me.