In Your Guts, You Know He's Nuts,and She is too

Emerging like a huge cartoon head from Monty Python, Dick Cheney returned to the video screen to lament the failure of the Obama Administration to waterboard the gonad bomber. Interviewed by my old executive assistant Jon Karl, Cheney again complained that Obama took away the tool of torture in fighting terrorism. But the Liberator of Buffalo did suppport the rescinding of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Cheney blasted Joe Biden's statements this week on Larry King supporting Obama's policy in Iraq. CNN--which has gone mental these days--referred to Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin as the voices of the GOP on national security.

Thank heaven, Joe Biden showed up to point out that Cheney is trying to rewrite history. Joe pointed to the Obama Administration eliminating 12 out of 24 of the top Al Qaeda leaders and 100s more of their affiliates. Al Qaeda is now in disarray and running for cover, which inhibits their chance to wage sophisticated attacks. He also repeated the refrain that the gonad bomber was not treated any differently than the Shoe Bomber. Biden also got the dig in that so far over the 300 terrorists tried in criminal courts, none are free and all are in prison. But two out of the three tried by military commissions are free on the streets. He also blasted Cheney for being responsible for shredding the Constitution.

My point about trying terrorists in crimnal court is pretty simple. These are people bent on killing, they are not warriors; they are not combatants and to treat them any different is to afford them the status they don't deserve and that they crave.

The Washington Post printed an article today rehashing the criticism that Obama is killing more terrorists through drones, depriving our intelligence services of the chance to capture terrorists and interrogating them for more information. The sourcing of the material is indicative of the internal fight. Anonymous intelligence agents decry their lack of human materials to work on, while the military positively respond to the new policy and say the Commander-in-Chief often gives the go-ahead himself. They also cite the killing of the person responsible for the Kenyan embassy bombing in Somalia and how fast Obama responded in attacking Al Qaeda in Yemen.

So far we haven't heard from Cheney and his acolytes about the Obama Administration breaking up a large-scale plan to attack New York City on the anniversary of 9/11. That was done by the FBI and not the spooks. Nor have we heard about the killing of the mastermind of the bombing of the USS Cole. But conservatives did send e-mails out purporting to be from a window of a sailor slain in the incident claiming Obama was weak on terrorism. Nor have we heard from our vaunted media about how Al Qaeda Arabian Peninsula is the sole creation of Dick Cheney himself who personally released the men from Gitmo.

Ms. Lindsey Graham weighed in today calling for Jack Brennen's resignation as counter-terrorism czar. Brennen, who has served several Presidents, doesn't take prisoners as witnessed by his sharp response to the Republicans this past week.

Sarah Palin said on Fox News that Obama would try to win re-election by declaring war on Iran. Now today, she believes he should declare war on Iran. The Republican adoption of pre-emptive war, an unprecedented doctrine in American history, got us where we are today. Apparently, it doesn't matter that Obama has beefed up defense systems for the Gulf states, looked sideways at Israeli assassinations of Iranian agents and Hezbollah and Hamas leaders, and sent Hillary Clinton to the Gulf to prepare for the next stage of sanctions on Iran. Presumably, we should declare war--the Congress' role, not the President's--and wing it like in Iraq. I don't think we have the manpower or the $1 or 2 trillion to do the job. Or I don't think we can take the massive hit again on American prestige in the world.

But, never fear, operatives in the RNC are preparing for Ms. Sarah. Rumors have it that there is such bad blood after the last election that knives are being sharpened for 2011 to take Palin out. RNC operatives believe Palin was a massive mistake and that she is dangerous. When you hear negative news about her, it will be Republican leakers. We already know from the words of Steven Schmidt and others on the McCain campaign some of the politically juicy stuff but there is alot more to follow. Apparently, Sarah has an open marriage with her husband "The First Dude", who was revealed this week to be a major decider on policies in her State House. While the Obama campaign purposively avoided frontal attacks on Palin during the campaign, we should expect Republicans to be not so queasy. They claimed she had sex all along the campaign trail with leading Republicans. They also know that at least two affairs in Alaska led to her family businesses being closed--the laundromat and a snowmobile franchise. They also claim that her business woes far surpass Clinton's Whitewater 's problems. They also know that her son serving in Iraq was giving a choice of jail or enlistment by an Alaskan judge for his rampage vandalizing school busses. RNC people promise they will not let her get off the ground in 2011.