The complaints from the neocons were getting louder, and Dick Cheney was positioning himself at the center of it all. He and several others were providing the counterargument the Sunday talk shows and 24 hour news shows were clamoring for. Cheney and Wolfowitz were only two of the prominent critics. William Kristol, Donald Kagan, and David Horowitz were showing up. They had previously had George Bush's ear, but I had tuned them out. Most of them were academics, with either think tank experience or time spent in the Reagan or Bush 41 administrations.
For the next two weeks Cheney and crew tried to roast me alive. It was very clear that Cheney was positioning himself to my right, and was planning a primary challenge in 2004. I could smile and tell Ari and the others not to worry about him, but John McCain wasn't going to be put off. He asked to see me about this. If I wasn't going to run, he was, and he needed to plan his options. Well, I had promised the man I would discuss it with him, and give an answer by the summer, and I guess February is the summer in Washington. (You really don't want to actually be in Washington in the summer, it's miserable!)
On Monday, February 11, I had John meet me in my office in the morning. Other than the usual non-stop crises, it was a quiet morning. "John, I won't beat around the bush. You want to know what I am doing in 2004, and what I am going to do about Dick Cheney."
John nodded and replied, "Yes, Carl, I do. I need to know how to plan things. I think it is obvious that Dick Cheney is not planning on slipping away quietly."
"That is very true. Well, I wasn't planning on making any announcements this early, but I suspect it will have to come out. I will be running for election in 2004. I talked it over with Marilyn over the weekend, and she supports me. I am going to need your help, because I have never done a national campaign like this before. You will need to help with the planning."
He looked at me and nodded. I am sure he was figuring that this was a real possibility all along, but he had also been hoping that I would decide not to do it. "Well, it's not like you didn't say you might. If Cheney stays in, it's going to get ugly."
At that I smiled. "I don't want to sound too confident, but Dick Cheney is going to be the least of our worries. You're right, he wants it so bad he can taste it when he drives past us on the street. It won't matter. I plan to drive a stake through his heart."
"You have said that, but I'm not sure I am going to buy it. I think I want to know what you are planning."
"Okay, but you have to swear you are not going to say anything to anybody. Not your wife, not your girlfriend, not your priest – nobody! If you talk in your sleep, start sleeping alone.", I answered.
He smiled at that. "Okay. So, what can't I speak about?"
"Have you had a chance to read the report from the Three Amigos? They issued it to me last Friday, and I plan to send it to Congress this Friday.", I asked.
"No, I can't say as I have. I spent a long weekend with Cindy. I know it's in my In Box. You'll need to bring me up to speed.", he said, half apologetically.
"Here goes. You are aware that before 9-11 Cheney and Wolfowitz and Scooter Libby were all making Iraq war sounds. Everything, and I do mean everything, pointed to the fact that Al Qaeda was a subsidiary of Saddam Hussein and we needed to go in and finish the job. Richard Clarke and I disagreed. Clarke was fired, and they were trying to figure out a way to dump me."
"Yes, I remember that. After the attack, the CIA showed it had been Al Qaeda, in Afghanistan, but with Iraqi assistance. We talked about this when you asked me on board. That was when you started cleaning house.", he said, accusingly.
"That's true. Since then, the truth has come out. You've seen the latest intelligence, Iraq had nothing to do with this. Now these guys are beating a different drum, that Iraq has nukes and chemical weapons and bioweapons. Same story. They want a war with Iraq. What you don't completely know yet is just how much they were gaming the intelligence. You've seen some of it, but not all. What you don't know yet is that the CIA knew the names of some of the 9-11 hijackers ahead of time."
John's jaw dropped when I said this, and his eyes popped wide. He stammered for a moment, and then gasped out, "We knew!?"
"Not exactly, but close. The DIA figured out some names and sent them to the CIA. The CIA buried them, and then after the attacks, tried to bury the DIA program. Nothing could get in the way of the Iraq message. It's all very embarrassing, but not necessarily illegal."
"They killed the President and it's not illegal? Are you insane?", he sputtered.
"Calm down, John! Save that for the press conferences we are going to have!" I smiled at him. "No, there is actually a distinct possibility that no laws were broken. The DIA simply found some names of suspicious characters and sent them to the CIA for follow-up. The CIA decided, for whatever reason, not to do so. They might have had a valid reason, or it might be a bullshit reason, but the guidelines were formal and specific, that the DIA report the names to the CIA, and the CIA could do with them what they deemed appropriate. It's a subtle distinction, but enough to keep them out of jail."
"Nobody wants to hear about subtle distinctions, Carl, not on this!"
"John, this is why I say we are going to drive a stake through their hearts! My hands on this are really clean. Richard Clarke and I can stand up and swear on a stack of Bibles that we warned them, and we'll have plenty of witnesses and notes and minutes from the NSC meetings to back us up. You were in the Senate at the time, so they were in effect lying to you, too. What's really going to hang them, though, is that they tried to cover it all up. Cheney ordered Libby to shut down the DIA program. Colin caught wind of it and shut down the shut down. Then he took it to Ashcroft. Ashcroft might be a Bible thumper, but the man has got his share of integrity. He's got a Special Prosecutor chasing it down."
John eyed me curiously. "So, if what they did was legal, what's the prosecutor doing?"
"Technically, Libby had no legal right to order a Pentagon program to be shut down. Legally, State would come to me and I would go to Defense. The real problem is, at least according to Ashcroft, that Libby lied to an investigator about it. That's perjury and obstruction of justice. That's what they are going to nail him with, not the shut down.", I replied.
I could see the wheels whirling in McCain's head. "Scooter wouldn't do this on his own."
"So, what happens when the Special Prosecutor issues a subpoena to Dick Cheney? What happens when the Special Joint Intelligence Committee issues a Congressional subpoena to Dick Cheney? Dick is too smart to lie, so he either takes the Fifth or refuses to respond and gets hit with a contempt citation. Either way, his political career is over. John Ashcroft has told me that his man has enough evidence to send Scooter to Club Fed. If you and I can't bury Dick Cheney with this, we don't deserve to be here another four years!", I told him.
"Huh!" John sat there in awe for a bit. "When is this all going to come out, anyway?"
"By the end of February. After that, Dick Cheney won't be able to get a job as a school crossing guard! We are going to have to have a meeting with John Ashcroft, as well as the White House Counsel's office, and a few other people. You will definitely have to be in the loop on this. John ordered me to keep my fat yap shut, so that's why I haven't said too much."
"So we simply have to survive another few weeks."
"Maybe less. My understanding is that the Special Prosecutor is preparing subpoenas for Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz. If they refuse the subpoenas, he plans to haul them in on material witness warrants and do perp walks for the nightly news. They are probably going to claim executive privilege, and the Counsel's office is figuring out that one. That works a whole lot better if I go along with it, and I'm not feeling all that generous."