The much anticipated memoir of former Vice President Dick Cheney, In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir, was published yesterday.
To reflect on Cheney's tenure in the George W. Bush administration, Democracy Now! speaks with Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell.
"This is a book written out of fear, fear that one day someone will 'Pinochet' Dick Cheney," says Wilkerson, alluding to the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who was arrested for war crimes.
Wilkerson calls for George W. Bush and Cheney to be held accountable for crimes he believes were committed while they held office. "I'd be willing to testify, and I'd be willing to take any punishment I'm due," Wilkerson said.
Democracy Now! also speaks to Salon.com political and legal blogger Glenn Greenwald about his recent article on Cheney, "The Fruits of Elite Immunity."
"Dick Cheney goes around the country profiting off of this sleazy, sensationalistic, self-serving book, basically profiting from his crimes, and at the same time normalizing the idea that these kind of policies...are perfectly legitimate choices to make. And I think that's the really damaging legacy from all of this," says Greenwald.
"One of the most significant aspects of the roll-out of Dick Cheney's book is that he's basically being treated as though he's just an elder statesman who has some controversial, partisan political views. And yet, the evidence is overwhelming ... that Dick Cheney is not just a political figure with controversial views, but is an actual criminal, that he was centrally involved in a whole variety not just of war crimes in Iraq, but of domestic crimes, as well," says Greenwald.
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