One would expect the current American DCI, at any point in time, to be the most informed person in the world. OK, probably the heads of Mossad, the Chinese Army, and MI-6 all come in front. But hey, work with me, my friends.

Alas. No.

Panetta, whose previous intel experience seems to consist of having helped Hillary run Bimbo Eruption Eradication Patrols (BEEP program, henceforth), is terribly confused about exactly who is who in the American political landscape. Of Real-Man Dick Cheney he says “it’s almost as if he’s wishing that this country would be attacked again”.

Mm-kay, let’s look at that a bit, shall we?

The administration in which Cheney played an important leadership role:

• engaged wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — winning wars at the moment — to take it to the terrorists, in the very heart of darkness.
• captured KSM, and extracted from him information on active terrorist plots in the United States that (among other things) probably saved Los Angeles from a 9/11-style attack.
• housed dangerous enemy combatants at Gitmo to take and keep them out of circulation, unable to engage in further acts of terrorism against the United States.
• used the tracking of banking transactions to follow and disrupt terrorist financing operations.
• had a fence on the Southern frontier of the United States about half-built, and cared much more about it as a defense against terrorists than as a barrier for illegal immigrants.
• listened in, per FISA, on communications in which one participant was in the United States (which we call the Homeland) and the other participant was a known or suspected terrorist abroad.
• made it the official public policy that the United States would oppose terrorism and seek to defeat terrorists, anytime, anyplace.

One might question the legality of certain tactics and the effectiveness of others. But what cannot be rationally questioned is the fact that the Bush Administration, with Vice President Cheney playing an active part, went to great lengths to further the interests of keeping America safe from terrorist hits after 9/11. No sane, intelligent person can doubt that. Only idiots and shills can.

The Democrats, during the Bush administration and now under the current regime*:

• outed, on the front pages of the Washington Post and New York Times, the finance-tracking and wiretapping operations, effectively ending the usefulness of both, and drying up extremely valuable intelligence against those seeking to attack us.
• fought for and won habeas corpus rights for captured enemy combatants.
• are busy closing Gitmo, currently scratching their heads trying to figure out how to dispose of those people without causing riots wherever they land.
• attempted and nearly succeeded in ending the war in Iraq by starvation, blocking funding for more than a year, and following that by supplying short-term funding with an eyedropper.
• then they called it a miserable failure.
• when the war actually started to turn, they called General Petraeus “General Betray-Us”.
• have multiple times publicly called our troops murderers, harrassers, and molesters, without the benefit of the facts.
• have effectively halted construction of the border fence, ensuring an open entrance for terrorists who may soon have nuclear weapons.
• have sworn off aggressive interrogation, and announced that the United States is just as bad as the other guys (the ones who behead captives) if not worse.
• persistent rumors have it that captured terrorists abroad are now being Mirandized. Persistent rumors according to first-hand accounts provided by Mike Rogers (R, MI-08), minority member of the House Intelligence Committee and ranking member of the Terrorism Subcommittee.
• are pressuring Israel to lay down and die at the hands of Hamas and other terrorist regimes and organizations.
• declared that America is not a Christian nation, but a Muslim nation, and our head of state has bowed to the Saudi King.
• seem to be on the verge of releasing photos that are said to have the likelihood of inflaming the passions of terrorist-friendly people and endangering American troops.
• have halted work on anti-missile defense shield, while the day draws near that North Korea will be able to shoot nuclear-armed missiles into American cities.

So, quick-draw, do you really think it’s Cheney that wants the country to be attacked again?
.
Really?

* The astute reader notes that I blithely group the major American newsmedia, the Congressional Democrats, State and CIA departments, and the Obama Administration into one nice little herd of skunks. Very good eye, dear reader.