One slimeball out, two take his place

From Juan Cole:

Vice President Richard Bruce Cheney replaced his indicted chief of staff, Irving Lewis Libby on Monday with two problematic figures-- David Addington and John Hannah.

As Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel note, Addington is the author of legal memos justifying torture of prisoners held by the US abroad, in direct contradiction of US treaty obligations under international law. I guess Cheney thinks the authors of the US constitution were appalled by cruel and unusual punishment only if American authorities committed it in North America. In reference to Addington, the Washington Post published an editorial recently calling Cheney the Vice President of torture.

Hannah was a point man in spreading the disinformation produced by Ahmad Chalabi and the Iraqi National Congress about Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction.