on cheney

The Washington Post started running a four-part series on VP Dick Cheney this morning. The first installment details the Veep's staff/cohorts and some of their methodology in terms of getting Cheney's decisions to and approved by the President.

The series looks to be a good bit of investigative journalism, though thus far the strongest point is to affirm what many of us have thought all along; Cheney is the power behind presidential decisions.

Of particular interest in installment one is the method used to circumvent the Geneva Convention's guidelines in terms of treatment of prisoners. Humane treatment, in my view, has never been considered a "quaint" idea of the past. Additionally, the details of the efforts to keep secret communications surveilliance and how Cheney's team bypassed those who would have the strongest objections is interesting.

It's unfortunate that this investigation is so late into this administration's "ownership" of the White House. It may well have served the American people better several years ago.