In case you missed it over the weekend, the final piece of the puzzle picture revealing Darth Cheneys vision for America fell into place. It turns out Cheney wanted to send U.S. troops into the streets of America to arrest suspected terrorists, no matter that the Constitution and subsequent laws forbid the military from being used in domestic raids or to seize property. Because, you know, were the United States, and not some friggin banana republic for cryin out loud!
Remember the Lackawanna Six? No? No wonder. They were one of the slew of dangerous terrorists whove been identified by government officials but then turned out to be mere low-grade idiots without a clue. These particular dopes were a group of Arab American 20-somethings living in Buffalo, N.Y., who attended an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan a few months before 9/11, but then decided theyd rather go home and play video games then do all that dangerous terror stuff. At the time of their arrest by regular law enforcement officers, the press jumped up and down and hollered that, as Bush officials suggested, the six doofuses were an al-Qaeda sleeper cell the enemy within! Well, no they werent. It turned out that the group didnt have even the mere beginnings of a plan of action, and, whats more, didnt plan to have one, as they thought their trip to Afghanistan had been a stupid mistake.
Cheneys wish to send U.S. troops into an American city to make the arrests is a chilling reminder of how dangerous panicky leaders can be in this case way more dangerous than the people who were mistakenly arrested. The kicker of the story is that even George W. Bush thought Cheneys troops-as-cops idea was, if not batshit crazy, at least a really bad PR move, and so he refused to go along. If only hed been as careful about sending troops overseas.