Commentary: Dick Cheney-- Shades of Dr. Mabuse
I spent a few hours watching old Fritz Lang films from Germany last weekend:
Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922) is actually two films in one-- totaling four-and-a-half hours and conceived to be watched on consecutive evenings. Its title character is a criminal mastermind with the power and the will to orchestrate complex capers, counterfeit national currencies, manipulate the stock market, and hypnotically bend anyone to play a role in his diabolical designs. The hand of Mabuse seems to reach everywhere--the Doctor pursues a life of crime that wreaks havoc and wrecks lives until he is finally stopped.
In the sequel, Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933), we rediscover the creepy mastermind years later, imprisoned for his crimes in an insane asylum. While locked away the powerful and manipulative monster has cryptically scribbled his last will and testament: a manifesto establishing a future empire of crime. From his cell the terrifying Dr. Mabuse exerts an unhealthy influence on his keeper-- the warden/psychiatrist—who communicates commands for him to a gang of thugs who carry out his orders on the outside. What follows is a wave of crime that bears his diabolical signature-- a dangerous plan for attaining world domination through sabotage. Mysteriously, no one can figure out just what's going on-- even the criminals that do his bidding don't really know who is giving the orders.
Lang admitted years later that the insane character of Dr. Mabuse was of course based on Adolph Hitler. The bizarre unrecognizable scribblings were a mocking representation of Mein Kampf. But the more I watched, the more I began to see a more contemporary figure in the role of the reclusive devil Mabuse: Dick Cheney --
If you look at Cheney’s record it’s easy to connect the dots in such a way that leaves the impression that he is orchestrating a grand scheme in the tradition of Dr. Mabuse...
Cheney's office played a leading role in the following operations:
- The WMD red herring >
- The Iraq War enterprise >
- Halliburton no-bid contracts >
- The NSA wiretapping scheme >
- Renditions, secret prisons and torture scandals
The back-story--Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain:
- When Cheney was Chief of Staff under Gerald Ford he pushed for Bush Sr. to become CIA Director.
- He opposed the official policy of détente with the Soviets.
- He steadfastly opposed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) with the USSR.
- He voted against economic sanctions on South Africa over apartheid
- He voted against a Congressional resolution calling on the South Africa to release Nelson Mandela from prison.
- He is a staunch supporter of SDI (aka Star Wars) . In fact, the ABM Treaty, which limited missile defense, would have been violated by SDI. Not surprisingly, one of the early acts of W’s administration was to pull out of the ABM treaty.
- He served on the Congressional committee investigating Iran-Contra. Finding for North and Poindexter, he strongly rejected the majority ruling that administration officials had been guilty of foul play.
- He was Bush Sr.’s Secretary of Defense-- in that capacity he advocated for, and managed, the Panama invasion and the first Gulf War.
- He’s a founding member of Project for a New American Century (PNAC)
- He was the Vice Presidential candidate in disputed 2000 election
- He onced refused to name the energy-industry executives who met with him behind closed doors to draft energy policy.
- He is a central, yet fleeting, figure in the CIA Leak Scandal involving Valerie Plame and Scooter Libby
- His office ordered the Secret Service last September to destroy all records of visitors to the official vice presidential residence in an effort to hide the names of conservative religious figures who regularly visited the vice president's house.
- He's accused of misusing Republican Party e-mail servers to by-pass record keeping laws, and of deleting e-mails illegally.
- He is currently locked in a struggle to keep his office’s records secret. He’s gone as far as threatening to abolish a National Archives unit that is pressing for conducting oversight of the records.
- In a recent commencement address, he once again railed against anyone who says prisoners should be protected by the Geneva Conventions and the US Constitution.
- Cheney has consistently shown a fanatical zeal for the principle of unrestrained executive power, consistently holding that no one, including Congress and courts, has the power to supervise or regulate the actions of the president (monarch?).
So wherever Dick Cheney goes shady happenings seem to follow. Reviewing this record – of secrecy, disdain for government regulations, backroom dealings, handsome paydays, executive over-reach and global intimidation --Mr. Cheney seems unconcerned about little things like constitutional checks and balances and the American belief in moderation and fairness obtained through the judicial, legislative, and treaty process. Is he running a secret government?
Like the evil Dr. Mabuse, our Mr. Cheney also appears to be obsessed with world domination at any cost. Mabuse would have loved a son like dastardly Dick Cheney.
Read the Washington Post series on the Cheney Vice Presidency
Cites:
Dick Cheney Rules. NY Times - June 3, 2007
Wikipedia