Visit or Not
Some 24 hours ago a private and a state run TV station in Baghdad reported Vice President Dick Cheney to be in Baghdad, but there was no further confirmation.
The American Embassy said it could not confirm the visit, but that Cheney could be in the country to visit troops for the Thanksgiving holiday.
A military spokeswoman said that she could not confirm that Cheney was in the city.
Then there was this meeting which might have started before, during or after the car bombs exploded in Sadr city:
[T]op government officials held an emergency meeting at the home of Shia leader Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim that also was attended by Kurdish President Jalal Talabani, Sunni Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi and US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, an aide to al-Hakim said. The officials were believed to be discussing the deteriorating security situation in Iraq.
When did the meeting start? Why was this meeting in a private home? Why did Khalizad attend, but not Prime Minister al-Maliki?
Maliki was around somewhere as another report says:
Baghdad's airport has been closed, and Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki went on TV to appeal for restraint amid the violence.
"We denounce sectarian practices that aim to destroy the unity of the nation," Mr Maliki said.
Why was the airport closed? Sadr city is in the east of Baghdad, while the airport is west of the city.
But then, why bother - we can be sure Cheney was not in Baghdad to meet with al-Hakim, Talabani, al-Hashimi and Khlaizad (but not Maliki). Bloomberg writes:
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney isn't in Iraq, his spokeswoman said, following a report that he was in Baghdad to meet American soldiers on Thanksgiving Day.
"He's not in Iraq,'' Megan McGinn said in a telephone interview. Asked whether Cheney had intended to travel to the country, the spokeswoman said: "No, not to my knowledge.''
and AP later adds
David Almacy, a White House spokesman in Washington, said Cheney was not in Iraq and that his only currently planned travel to the region is the previously announced trip he will make to Saudi Arabia on Friday to meeting the next day with King Abdullah to discuss developments in the Middle East, including Iraq.
Again the timing is not clear as most of these reports do miss timestamps. Mr. Almacy's statement could also be correct if he made it after Cheney left Iraq - if he was there at all. Note that neither the spokesman nor the spokeswomen say where Cheney actually is or where he might have been at the time of the earlier reports.
But all this is tinfoil stuff anyway. Sorry for wasting your time with this which certainly was just some Frenchman's misinterpretation:
Earlier today, Agence France-Presse quoted a U.S. military spokesman as saying that Cheney was in the Iraqi capital to visit American personnel. The newswire later withdrew the report, saying that it was based on a misinterpretation of the spokesman's comments.
I guess the AFP's writer just did not understand English. In Paris, they do not even understand when you order "french fries" ...
Posted by b on November 24, 2006 at 7:29 UTC | Permalink
One shouldn't forget this Administration's obsession with style over substance. Statecraft, as they say, is stagecraft. As fauxreal pointed out once, it's all part of the pr. The better to keep the public in the dark, the easier to control the truth.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 24 2006 9:53 utc | 2
i'm not so sure the cheney visit is stagecraft. i think they pull out the shrub for the showtunes. w/the dec deadline looming for the oil contracts coupled w/the recent developements and preparations for the possible coup, i'd guess the big fish making big travel is big secret.
Posted by: annie | Nov 24 2006 10:39 utc | 3
Wanna bet this is why Cheney is suddenly going to Saudi Arabia, and no where else in the region. Nothing like getting your lies straight before the questions begin:
Judge: FBI must correct disclosures on evacuation of Saudis after 9/11
Posted by: Ensley | Nov 24 2006 15:46 utc | 4
heney (just having been in Baghdad?) going to Saudi today/tomorrow. Dubja to Amman next week to meet and/or fire Maliki (if Maliki comes at all - Sadr threatens to leave the government if he does). Rice, accompaning her husband to Amman next week, had plans to meet Abbas, that date is said to have been canceled now, as Abbas could not deliver the demanded undemocratc "unity government".
What are they cooking up right now? It screams "panic" all around ...
I fear that too, b...
Perhaps,
The Pressure-Cooker Theory is causing them to become unglued as crooks and liars blog is reporting: Cheney’s all busted up over Rummy’s sacking and I imagine he is out for blood. Like Pinky and the Brain, Cheney and Rummy are a set. Rumsfeld was Cheney's political mentor in the Nixon years and gave him his first big break in the Ford White House. Cheney owes Rumsfeld for his political career. Their ties go back at least 30 years.
As, Stevie Wonder sang:
So, it's gettin' ready to blow It's gettin' ready to show Somebody shot off at the mouth and We're getting ready to know It's gettin' ready to drop It's gettin' ready to shock Somebody done turned up the heater An' it's gettin' ready to pop!
-Stevie Wonder - 'Skeletons'.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 24 2006 19:50 utc | 6
Cheney visits Baghdad, and it just happens that bombs go off killing hundreds of people in Sadr City.
Posted by: lysias | Nov 25 2006 0:54 utc | 7
So where was Cheney on Thanksgiving Day, if he wasn't in Baghdad?
Posted by: lysias | Nov 25 2006 0:56 utc | 8
"What are they cooking up right now? It screams "panic" all around ..."
No shit, overused metaphore, but looks looks a perfect storm closing in.... and the administration is scrambling to blow up their waterwings.
Posted by: anna missed | Nov 25 2006 1:26 utc | 9
lysias - yesterday on CNN, they did this weird little report that said "there have been reports that the VP is in Baghdad but now his office says he is home at his private house in Maryland" followed by this standard stock footage of Rummy and Lynn leaving a helicopter ... I had not heard the earlier news of him going to Iraq but the footage was so silly as it looked just like every other bit of film of them, no sign that it was thanksgiving etc and Cheney looked unnaturally healthy like the footage was from years ago, not yesterday. All of which means nothing - was he, was he not? do we care? shrug ... it was just an odd story, made odder by the reports of all the admin running around the middle east this weekend.
Posted by: Siun | Nov 25 2006 4:59 utc | 10
I find it a little strange that both the president and veep are out of the country at the same time. Isn't that a but unusual?
Posted by: Mike P. | Nov 25 2006 5:31 utc | 11
Rice too, thats 3 out of top 5 succession members.
Posted by: anna missed | Nov 25 2006 5:37 utc | 12
President Jalal Talabani urged calm at a news conference after an evening meeting of Iraq’s top leaders. He also said he was postponing a weekend trip to Iran because the government had shut down Baghdad International
Bad excuse from Talibani (he is the government, isn't he?) - so someone has vetoed the meeting in Iran ..
Interesting b, I've yet to figure why they shut the airport down, except maybe the ban on driving. But I can see if something big is in the air, they might want to keep some in and some out, or keep some from getting out, or getting in.
Posted by: anna missed | Nov 25 2006 6:13 utc | 14
@anna - right something big is up - they also closed the port at basra - no idea why that should be needed - something stupid is about to happen
I read Jr. was @Camp David. If Cheney & the NeoNuts are being isolated, I was surprised that he was allowed to go to ME. The visit to SA especially unusual. Am. Heads of State don't go there as I recall. Did they need their approval on something - Iraq, oil, currency...
Posted by: jj | Nov 25 2006 6:42 utc | 16
TOP 10 DEMOCRACIES
According to the Economist Intelligence Unit's index of democracy (PDF):
1. Sweden
2. Iceland
3. Netherlands
4. Norway
5. Denmark
6. Finland
7. Luxembourg
8. Australia
9. Canada
10. Switzerland
The US manages to come in at 17, with the UK following up at 23. The report goes on to comment that:
"the United States and Britain are near the bottom of the full democracy category, but for somewhat different reasons. America falls down on some aspects of governance and civil liberties. Despite low election turnouts, political participation in the United States is comparatively high. In Britain low political participation (the lowest in the developed world) is a major problem, and to a lesser extent, for now, so are eroding civil liberties."
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 25 2006 22:39 utc | 18
I'd say Cheney was in Baghdad. Every time he goes anywhere, airports shut down. I've had to suffer through two visits, in two different cities.
Posted by: hopping madbunny | Nov 26 2006 3:25 utc | 19
I don't care where Dick Cheney is...He and George W. Bush are both FUCKFACES.
Posted by: Andrew Ian Murphy | Nov 26 2006 19:33 utc | 20
Who cares where Cheney is? Whereever he is,Iraq will still be a bloody diversion. As the army attacks Iraq, the US gov't erodes rights at home by suspending habeas corpus, stealing private lands, banning books like "America Deceived" from Amazon, rigging elections, conducting warrantless wiretaps and starting 2 illegal wars based on lies. Soon, another US false-flag operation will occur (sinking of an Aircraft Carrier by Mossad) and the US will invade Iran (on behalf of Israel).
Final link (before Google Books bends to gov't demands and censors the title):
America Deceived (book)
Posted by: 5th of November | Nov 26 2006 23:32 utc | 22
Always prompt at restauring lost alliance with France !!!
After all, what were our mistake ? To be right from the start and desesperatly trying to warn you. Unforgetable, certainly.
Posted by: cphil | Nov 26 2006 23:34 utc | 23
Why didn't Cheney visit the troops in their hour (months, years) of need? Does he hate the troops? Will he let them flounder while he's engaged in a political power battle? Where are the journalists? Waiting for Sandy Berger to drop documents out of his underwear?
I suspect Cheney was tying up loose ends and delivering an industrial sized shredder to his toads in the region.
Posted by: Everbody | Nov 27 2006 14:20 utc | 24
The comments to this entry are closed.
Harith al-Dhari, head of the Muslim Scholars Association recently went to SA to meet w/King Abdullah also..
al-Dhari as you may recall was recently supposed to be arrested and then maliki called it off. there has been much scuttle about it in some iraqi blogs. it was alledged he supported AQ, or made some statement to that effect and then that wasn't so. this all has to do possibly w/the coup imo. but he's always been uber anti occupation so it is interesting that cheney visits on the heels of al-dhari. missing links
The New York Times hit-piece on Dhari isn't mentioned in this article. But if the Dhari arrest-warrant episode is a milestone in the collapse of the Baghdad government and perhaps a sign of desperate things to come, then surely that NYT piece deserves its miserable place in history too).
Posted by: annie | Nov 24 2006 9:26 utc | 1