Vice President Cheney’s disregard for America’s system of checks and balances and his huff-and-puff advocacy of unilateral military responses to complex national security challenges has really harmed America’s portfolio of interests.
He should be challenged every time and every where he speaks. He should get no easy passes, and Americans should stop giving him laudatory back-drops and applause when he deigns to walk in public view — like he did recently in Denver.
According to this report, a man walking his young son walked over to Cheney who was glad-handing and said, “I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible.” He walked on. Ten minutes later, he was handcuffed and arrested under orders from the Secret Service.
Hmmm…..OK, no more inappropriate analogies with official, well-dressed thugs in nations leading up to World War II. Let’s just settle for a lighter, more cuddly version of the KGB.
IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WE DON’T HARRASS AND ARREST PEOPLE FOR SPEAKING THEIR MIND IN PUBLIC — AND CHALLENGING POLITICAL LEADERS!
Someone please tell that to the Secret Service — and to Cheney’s combustible chief-of-staff, David Addington. (read Jane Mayer’s excellent piece on this evangelist for torture techniques. . .again).
Here is a bit more of this disturbing report by Charlie Brennan in the Rocky Mountain News:
A Denver-area man filed a lawsuit today against a member of the Secret Service for causing him to be arrested after he approached Vice President Dick Cheney in Beaver Creek this summer and criticized him for his policies concerning Iraq.
Attorney David Lane said that on June 16, Steve Howards was walking his 7-year-old son to a piano practice, when he saw Cheney surrounded by a group of people in an outdoor mall area, shaking hands and posing for pictures with several people.
According to the lawsuit filed at U.S. District Court in Denver, Howards and his son walked to about two-to-three feet from where Cheney was standing, and said to the vice president, “I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible,” or words to that effect, then walked on.
Ten minutes later, according to Howards’ lawsuit, he and his son were walking back through the same area, when they were approached by Secret Service agent Virgil D. “Gus” Reichle Jr., who asked Howards if he had “assaulted” the vice president. Howards denied doing so, but was nonetheless placed in handcuffs and taken to the Eagle County Jail.
I can’t believe that this has to be reported.
— Steve Clemons
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