Vader Crushes Skywalker
The Dark Side, Jane Mayer, 2008
This is the story of Dick Cheney a.k.a. Darth Vader and his omnipresent bullying lawyer and chief of staff David Addington and how the two of them after 9/11 took over the presidency and led the administration into the dark side from which it has never returned. Cheney is described as having changed into a paranoid, deranged fanatic after the attacks, living in underground bunkers emerging only to browbeat the few administration opponents into defeat and resignation. Neither Cheney, nor Addington, nor John Yoo, who gave legal cover to the administration from his justice department position, appear to have any respect for the constitution or for the law. Everything is about the powers of the imperial presidency. This account leaves little doubt that the power of the presidency resides securely in the hands of Cheney-Addington.
This work is a good companion piece to Nemesis, Shock Doctrine, Ghost Wars, and Legacy of Ashes.
The principle focus of the book is the capture and treatment of prisoners (illegal enemy combatants) in the war on terror both by the DOD military and by the CIA. It meticulously tracks the few cases have come to light and makes a compelling case that virtually nothing of value was learned by the torture inspired interrogation methods. Among the few cases are several cases of murder and numerous cases of innocent victims. Covered are the CIA special rendition program and black sites (unknown prisons) located throughout the world (including Afghanistan, Thailand, presumably Poland, and others) where the captured are held indefinitely beyond the reach of any law.
The book could have been about those heroes who tried to stand up to Cheney-Addington except these otherwise conservative actors always lose or their short lived victories are immediately undercut by new, equally illegal moves by Cheney-Addington. Bush is portrayed as a cowboy easily manipulated and largely outside the decision fray. Cheney presents him with a decision and Bush signs it. Condoleezza Rice and John Ashcroft, while supportive of Bush, are clearly outside the decision making loop. Of course good soldier Colin Powell was outside the loop.
When congress passes anti terror legislation sponsored by John McCain, Addington simply crosses out the parts he and Cheney disagree with (most of the bill) and have Bush issue a signing statement stating basically that he will not enforce the law. Later, when a bill is passed giving legal war crimes cover to the participants in the torture activity all the way up to Cheney, loose cannon McCain votes for the bill. (Maybe Bush is so ignorant of what is going on he doesn’t need cover?)
Korean lawyer John Yoo, who clerked for Clarence Thomas, was appointed to the Justice department key Office of Legal Council where he was in a position to write opinions which are considered legally binding interpretations of the law for the administration that act as “golden shields” or “get out of jail cards” for the administration. Most of these opinions including the torture authorization and the domestic surveillance opinion which end runs the FISA courts were kept secret even from those responsible for implementing the opinions.
When two cases on Guantanamo Rasul v Bush and Hamdi v Rumsfeld reach the Supreme Court, even Antonin Scalia votes against the administration. Other would be Luke Skywalkers here are Yoo’s successor Jack Goldsmith who almost has a nervous breakdown and resigns before he was able to rewrite Yoo’s secret torture opinion, William Waxman, Alberto Mora, and Phillip Zelikow. So far, Darth Vader has won every battle.