Re: ...Clearly, there had to have been a prior written declaration to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House to the effect that W was not able to be the Commander and that Cheney could act as his place.
Only if it involved a blanket transfer of powers by the President to the Vice President. Yet, as I pointed out, it merely concerned the President's prerogative in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief (of the US military). Now you can challenge the constitutionality of such a breakdown of the presidential authority to suit a particular course of events.... I guess that's just one more reason the written document attesting it has been classified for the next 20 years.
Anyway, the clue to Vice President Cheney's promotion to acting Commander-in-Chief on Sept 11, 2001 lies in Mineta's testimony to the 911 Commission --here's the key sentence:
...There was a young man who had come in and said to the vice president, "The plane is 50 miles out. The plane is 30 miles out." And when it got down to, "The plane is 10 miles out," the young man also said to the vice president, "Do the orders still stand?" And the vice president turned and whipped his neck around and said, "Of course the orders still stand. Have you heard anything to the contrary?"
The mere fact that the "young man" addresses the Vice President about an order issued by the Commander-in-Chief betrays the real capacity of Dick Cheney... Indeed, it's not proper for a military officer --especially under such dire circumstances as those prevailing on 911-- to fail the due chain of command. Again, that's what the USS Liberty precedent was supposed to inform us about: when Rear Admiral Geis phoned the White House and got civilian McNamara on the line he knew he was talking to the wrong person and asked him to put him through to the Commander-in-Chief...
When the book says that you're answerable to the commander there's no point for you to ask any Tom, Dick or Harry about what's next! You ask the commander. Period. Likewise, that "young man" had nothing to ask the Vice President about... unless... Unless? UNLESS?! Unless the Vice President somehow squeezed himself into the chain of command. Unless the Vice President actually was the (acting) Commander-in-Chief!
Another disturbing detail given away by Mineta's testimony is the seniority --or rather the lack thereof-- of the officer addressing Vice President Cheney... I mean, amidst such a momentous, life-and-death, crisis, at that (high) level in the chain of command, in the sanctuary of the US government --the Situation Room-- I'd expect a senior, high-ranking officer to do the liaison between the (acting) Commander-in-Chief and the USAF pilots... But Mineta explicitly mentions a "young man". That, imo, indicates how jittery, how unnerved the brass hats were about the reshuffle of their chain of command: no four-star general felt reckless enough to "bend the rules"... Even if the whole thing was covered by a confidential NSPD --it was still uncharted constitutional territory.
Gus |
