Watch this report as Republican Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell's former chief of staff, describes how VP Cheney deliberately gutted U.S. environmental regulation and installed industry lobbyists and executives in regulatory agencies. For example, Cheney installed Chris Oynes, a 20-year veteran lobbyist for oil industry, as head of the MMS.
Wilkerson says Cheney recruited about 1,600 political operatives to be civil servants in key regulatory positions; and it will take 2 years for the Obama Administration to root them out.
It was classic "agency capture" or "foxes watching the hen house," as they say.
And of course we know that Cheney's ex-employer Halliburton installed the leaky cement cap on the Deep Horizon well.
Said Wilkerson, "We, Republicans, have stripped government of its ability, of its capacity, to do the kinds of things that it should do, that no one else can do, certainly not someone with a profit motive can do."
The other two parts of this interview have fascinating revelations. Although he criticized Cheney and Dubya, Wilkerson did call Cheney one of the best Secretaries of Defense since that post was created.
With Paul Jay
June 8, 2010 | The Real News Network
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
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