Sunday, February 05, 2006
Government in the Shadows
On September 11, 2001, the day of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, President Bush (or was it Vice President Dick Cheney) reinstituted a practice started by Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s. They established a shadow government which would take over if the current government leaders were murdered. No one in Congress was informed - not even Majority Leader Dennis Hastert or senator Robert C. Byrd, the president pro tempore of the Senate, the elected officials who were by law the first and second in line of succession after the vice president.
Immediately after 9/11, according to James Bamford (A Pretext for War, Anchor Books, 2004), nearly one hundred officials were secreted away in two "doomsday" sites in Virginia and Pennsylvania. President Bush hid in the Virginia site at Mount Weather; Vice President Cheney in the Pennsylvania site near Camp David. Soon after the "shadow" government was established at these two protected sites, Congressional leaders were also brought there.
This story has all the elements of a Hollywood blockbuster - another "Manchurian Candidate." Surely somone in government must have recognized how stupid it was to bring all the nation's leaders under two roofs. Even if the bunkers couldn't be penetrated from the outside, it is a situation ripe for a coup from the inside. Congressional leaders would have been safer in their home ridings.
The formation of a secret shadow government is unconstitutional. Any such body would have to be approved by Congress. Afterall Senate ascent is required for any executive appointments. If by some unforseeable chance both the president and vice president were to die at the same time, the rules of succession allow for a new executive and process for the appointment of government officials. Let the rule of law prevail rather than contravening the law by appointing a "shadow" government that has no basis in law.
Immediately after 9/11, according to James Bamford (A Pretext for War, Anchor Books, 2004), nearly one hundred officials were secreted away in two "doomsday" sites in Virginia and Pennsylvania. President Bush hid in the Virginia site at Mount Weather; Vice President Cheney in the Pennsylvania site near Camp David. Soon after the "shadow" government was established at these two protected sites, Congressional leaders were also brought there.
This story has all the elements of a Hollywood blockbuster - another "Manchurian Candidate." Surely somone in government must have recognized how stupid it was to bring all the nation's leaders under two roofs. Even if the bunkers couldn't be penetrated from the outside, it is a situation ripe for a coup from the inside. Congressional leaders would have been safer in their home ridings.
The formation of a secret shadow government is unconstitutional. Any such body would have to be approved by Congress. Afterall Senate ascent is required for any executive appointments. If by some unforseeable chance both the president and vice president were to die at the same time, the rules of succession allow for a new executive and process for the appointment of government officials. Let the rule of law prevail rather than contravening the law by appointing a "shadow" government that has no basis in law.
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