Cheney really running this country

I came across this article from Newsweek via firedoglake. Apparently Dick Cheney did not get permission from the President before ordering Flight 93 that was over Pennsylvania shot down on 911. Here's an excerpt from the Newsweek article:

Cheney testified to the 9/11 Commission that he spoke with President Bush before giving an order to shoot down a hijacked civilian airliner that appeared headed toward Washington. (The plane was United Flight 93, which crashed in a Pennsylvania field after a brave revolt by the passengers.) But a source close to the commission, who declined to be identified revealing sensitive information, says that none of the staffers who worked on this aspect of the investigation believed Cheney's version of events.


A draft of the report conveyed their skepticism. But when top White House officials, including chief of staff Andy Card and the then White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, reviewed the draft, they became extremely agitated. After a prolonged battle, the report was toned down. The factual narrative, closely read, offers no evidence that Cheney sought initial authorization from the president. The point is not a small one. Legally, Cheney was required to get permission from his commander in chief, who was traveling (but reachable) at the time. If the public ever found out that Cheney gave the order on his own, it would have strongly fed the view that he was the real power behind the throne.

I could only imagine the outrage coming from the right wing of this country had this been a Vice President in a Democratic administration. I always held the view that GW Bush was nothing more than a figure head for the neocon movement and for those on the extreme religious right. After the recent shooting in which Vice President Cheney didn't even notify the President to tell him that he had shot a man in the face it's become pretty apparent who is running this country.

Many on the right might not have a problem with that but we elect a person as President who we expect will fulfill the obligations of that office. What we appear to have is a President who is disengaged. This was tragically apparent during hurricane Katrina. If something were to happen to Cheney and rememer this is a man who has had several heart attacks, who would take over the day to day operations of running our government if President Bush apparently isn't qualified to do so? If President Bush needed Cheney to hold his had while he learned the ins and outs of being President then that is fine.

The problem is that Cheney seems to have taken all the powers of the office of President and is running the country from behind the scenes while Bush is simply window dressing. The office of Vice President was never intended to have as much of the power as Dick Cheney has taken. You now have Dick Cheney claiming that he has unilateral authority to declassify any documents he sees fit. He's said as much when questioned recently about the Valerie Plame CIA leak investigation. Most troubling of all is that it was Dick Cheney who really pushed for going to war with Iraq. It was Cheney who was putting the pressure on the CIA to come up with evidence that Saddam had WMDS. According to reports President Bush and Dick Cheney's relationship is now strained. Perhaps President Bush has come to the realization that his legacy is going to be judged by how well things go in Iraq and at this point in time the outlook isn't very good.