Question for the experts at DU

[Octafish]

53. Worked for Poppy while minding Pruneface.

So, it would seem likely, given Dim Son's ten-gallon ego and half-pint head.



In the system, Smirko gets the glory and draws enough idiots who want to have a beer with him to the polls to give election-stealing some plausibility. Meanwhile, Cheney does the dirty work and the thinkin'. It's a matter of record they both are cashing in the checks from Halliburton, Carlyle Group, UBS, etc., Big Time.

More from CAQ:

George Bush Takes Charge: The Uses of ‘Counter-Terrorism’

By Christopher Simpson
Covert Action Quarterly 58

EXCERPT...

NSDD 207. NATIONAL PROGRAM FOR COMBATTING TERRORISM, (TOP SECRET), JAN. 20,1986

This nine‑page directive was the "comprehensive presidential statement of US counter-terrorism policy" in effect during both the Reagan and Bush administrations, according to an NSC deposition filed in US District Court. It formalized the recommendations of Vice President Bush's Task Force on Combatting Terrorism (NSDD 179). Washington's announced policy, both in public forums and in classified orders such as this one, was that the US government would make "no concessions (to guerrillas) ... pay no ransoms, nor permit release of prisoners or agree to other conditions that could serve to encourage additional terrorism."

In fact, of course, President Reagan, VP Bush, and others had already engineered a series of concessions to secure release of hostages in what would come to be called the Iran‑Contra affair.

From the standpoint of broad policy, this directive covered much of the same ground as NSDD 138, signed the previous April. In addition to the "no concessions" pledge, the US government asserted that it would "take measures to protect our citizens" (preemptive action); "make every legal effort to ... prosecute terrorists" (later acknowledged to include seizure of foreign nationals abroad for prosecution in the US); pay substantial rewards for information concerning guerrilla activity; and ensure that states that support anti‑US guerrillas "will not be allowed to do so without consequence."

NSDD 207'S innovation lay in its new administrative measures to implement the broad policies. It created an Anti‑Terrorism Assistance Program within the government, ordered new restrictions on the Freedom of Information Act, and renewed efforts to pass new emergency powers legislation developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which would authorize declaration of martial law in the US during "emergencies" announced by the president.

The directive authorized creation of a "proposed organization" within the US government specializing in anti‑guerrilla intelligence gathering, paramilitary operations, and rescue techniques. The existence, budget, tactics, leaders, and personnel of the group were intended to remain classified. Other measures included: authorization of an FBI and Immigration and Naturalization Service campaign to review the immigration status of political suspects in the US; preparation of legal arguments designed to justify various US responses to guerrillas, including use of deadly force and unilateral military operations abroad; and creation of specialized tactics, equipment, and squads of trained paramilitary operatives useful for striking at guerrilla targets.

CONTINUED...