Newly released photos of the Bush administration on 9/11

July 25, 2015 8:44 AM

A never-before-released set of photos show the anxiety of the Bush administration as it reacted to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The documentarian Colette Neirouz Hanna, whose work with PBS has focused on the Bush administration, received the photos in response to a freedom of information request. They were taken by the vice-president’s staff photographer. The full set is on Flickr: 1, 2, 3, 4
posted by biffa (75 comments total)

Weirdly, only Powell and Cheney look Presidential. W looks like slick and inattentive. So glad all of them are out of office.
posted by bearwife at 8:57 AM on July 25, 2015 [7 favorites]

Gee, make yourself comfy, Dick.

I know this argument gets used a lot, but if there was some similar disaster on Obama's watch and there was a picture of him watching coverage with his feet propped up like that, the Fox outrage would go through the friggin roof.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 8:57 AM on July 25, 2015 [44 favorites]

Here is the Frontline article.
posted by Kerwin15 at 8:59 AM on July 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

I wonder when anxiety turned to glee and anticipation. Probably about two minutes for Cheney.
posted by Artw at 9:00 AM on July 25, 2015 [30 favorites]

Yeah, all I can think about looking at these is the indescribable damage they're all about to wreak.
posted by nevercalm at 9:06 AM on July 25, 2015 [41 favorites]

You can see the fear in their faces.

Think of all the death and dismemberment and pain that fear spawned.
posted by bitterpants at 9:11 AM on July 25, 2015 [10 favorites]

Cheney looks traumatized to me. Not surprising, given the circumstances. But I sure wish he had chosen therapy over invasion.
posted by postel's law at 9:13 AM on July 25, 2015 [7 favorites]

Those are some sad looking little plates of cookies on the table. I'm kind of glad to see that the Vice President et al didn't get anything nicer than we get at our quarterly departmental meetings. Edit: they do get some sandwiches at one point. Hardly any the cookies get eaten.

I didn't realize that Laura Bush was stuck in there the whole time. Perhaps I feel kindly towards her because of Curtis Sittenfeld's book American Wife, but I feed bad for her here. Out of place, doesn't have a job to do amongst people who are working and stressed out, and she doesn't even have a book to read or a knitting project to whittle away at. She just has to be there and watch.

This picture makes me want to punch things.
posted by Elly Vortex at 9:16 AM on July 25, 2015 [6 favorites]

if there was some similar disaster on Obama's watch and there was a picture of him watching coverage with his feet propped up like that, the Fox outrage would go through the friggin roof.

Obama’s foot on Oval Office desk sends shockwaves around the world

Is Pres. Obama Disrespecting the Oval Office?
posted by obscure simpsons reference at 9:17 AM on July 25, 2015 [19 favorites]

The photos certainly make it appear that Cheney was the man in charge. Which isn't surprising to anyone who remembers those eight years. Even Bush looks as if he is deferring to the VP. When you have Bush and Cheney together, everyone looks toward Cheney. Like, if you didn't know who anyone was, you'd think Cheney was the president and Bush was some guy whose job was to fetch coffee.
posted by riruro at 9:20 AM on July 25, 2015 [7 favorites]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/19730373259/in/album-72157656213196901/

caption: “You realize, of course, that this whole mess will be blamed on us, right?”
posted by littlejohnnyjewel at 9:23 AM on July 25, 2015 [21 favorites]

Maybe if they had kept looking fearful and anxious instead of switching to happy and laughing once they got back out of the bunker they could have kept the good will of the nation. I spent a decade wondering what kind of psychopaths were these who weren't feeling any kind of anxiety over the horrible situation we were in.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:25 AM on July 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

You can see the fear in their faces.

On Bush's most of all. I noticed it at the time, too. He was putting a lot of effort into holding his shit together.

I remember when he addressed the nation. He spoke calmly and unwaveringly, he said the words he had to say, but the look on his face was pure "I AM IN OVER MY HEAD PLEASE HELP ME DICK AND COLIN PLEASE."
posted by univac at 9:28 AM on July 25, 2015 [9 favorites]

Too bad there isn't an audio record of all of this to go with the pictures. Be interesting to hear all the conversations of how they could turn this to their own advantage. Or perhaps Cheney rubbing his hands together and smiling an evil smile like Mr. Burns from the Simpsons and muttering, "Right on schedule... muahahahaha..."
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 9:28 AM on July 25, 2015

The photos certainly make it appear that Cheney was the man in charge.

Well, there were shot by his staff photog.
posted by aaronetc at 9:29 AM on July 25, 2015 [12 favorites]

These pictures remind me of that line about how "the adults are in charge"

I was 22 when 9/11 happened and that I think that little soundbite was the push that made me stop believing in adults

It the very least, it was a good inoculation against impostor syndrome; I knew I could never get in over my head as badly as these turkeys did
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:37 AM on July 25, 2015 [19 favorites]

Someone needs to caption these
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:39 AM on July 25, 2015

You can see Cheney actively counting Iraqi oil assets like your covetous brother in-law walking through grandpa's house taking inventory the day after he died.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:41 AM on July 25, 2015 [7 favorites]

The fact that Dick Cheney gets to walk around with someone else's heart beating inside his chest is unfortunately a strong argument against organ donation. If there's such a thing as a just God, it will keep him alive long enough to be tried as a war criminal.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:41 AM on July 25, 2015 [19 favorites]

I wonder when anxiety turned to glee and anticipation. Probably about two minutes for Cheney.

More like -20 years if you are aware of how long he spent laying the groundwork.
posted by srboisvert at 9:43 AM on July 25, 2015 [5 favorites]

I'm also appalled at the lack of cable management.
posted by srboisvert at 9:47 AM on July 25, 2015 [21 favorites]

riruro: "The photos certainly make it appear that Cheney was the man in charge. Which isn't surprising to anyone who remembers those eight years. Even Bush looks as if he is deferring to the VP. When you have Bush and Cheney together, everyone looks toward Cheney. Like, if you didn't know who anyone was, you'd think Cheney was the president and Bush was some guy whose job was to fetch coffee."

Remember, remember that time when Dubya put Cheney on the commission to find out who he should have as his VP? Remember who Cheney chose?

I can't look at these photos without thinking how much of an evil fucking mastermind Cheney is. Not because "9/11 is an inside" (not even close) but because he knew he would take any opportunity to go after Saddam, him and the whole neocon crew. This was a convenient excuse. I'm sure there would have been some other reason, but halle-fuckin'lujah for Dick, to magically be in the right time and place with all the warmongers. How convenient.

I'm so fucking traumatized, like - I'm not saying for everyone, especially for those who had to live through the experience directly - it's not the case, but for me? Seeing that fucking mug of that prick is way more traumatizing than seeing images of the attacks. I feel heartbroken and sad over the attacks, but traumatized by Cheney.

I'm not too concerned about the feet-propped up. Honestly, that's a weak slander ... well... as someone said "can you imagine if Obama was like that, how FOX would have a field day?" And yet - here we mention it as if it matters.

Sometimes people need to let their legs up (maybe he has to do it for his cyberblackheart). The burden of being evil can bear a lot of weight on one, they need to kick up a little to alleviate that soulcrushing pain on whatever shriveled up remnant of a human heart that may have ever existed.
posted by symbioid at 10:00 AM on July 25, 2015 [17 favorites]

Thumbing through these posed pictures of war criminals, conspirators and profiteers, I feel about as sick as I did seeing the buildings come down.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 10:23 AM on July 25, 2015 [8 favorites]

These pictures remind me of how shockingly different the last 14 years or so would have been had Al Gore become president instead of Bush, and that just depresses me.
posted by LastOfHisKind at 10:25 AM on July 25, 2015 [26 favorites]

"Obama’s foot on Oval Office desk sends shockwaves around the world"

Every single president since the 19th Century has fucked someone over that desk and they're complaining about his feet.
posted by fullerine at 10:32 AM on July 25, 2015 [23 favorites]

We've all heard the old saw that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is King. Tragically, in the land of those with hearts, the man with barely a heart was King.
posted by riverlife at 10:33 AM on July 25, 2015

"Soooooooo.......Iraq?"
posted by anazgnos at 10:42 AM on July 25, 2015 [14 favorites]

Jesus, why anyone would want to remember this is beyond me.
posted by Nevin at 10:47 AM on July 25, 2015

It would have been fun to see Cheney's reaction when Obama announced the deal with Iran, but I imagine the neocons and their allies are too busy plotting *Iran's* upcoming attack on America.
posted by three blind mice at 10:54 AM on July 25, 2015

Good thing nobody read the memo about "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US."

Years later, so much money and so many lives lost for nothing, and these idiots still get to be on TV. And to talk as if they're experts, instead of being pelted with garbage.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 11:02 AM on July 25, 2015 [5 favorites]

This picture basically nails the mental image I have of the Bush administration. Doofuses with nukes.
posted by dis_integration at 11:12 AM on July 25, 2015 [2 favorites]

Also, check out this awesome phone drawer.
posted by dis_integration at 11:16 AM on July 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

Am I right in thinking that since these were4 taken by Cheney's staff photographer that they are naturally Cheney heavy? Would photos by Bush's photographer show a different perspective?
posted by SLC Mom at 11:51 AM on July 25, 2015 [2 favorites]

It's been a while since I did an foia request, I can't remember. What is out there for the viewing with just a request? I know some things are or can be protected under the auspices of being classified, but I wonder what great history we can get from foia requests.
posted by cashman at 11:51 AM on July 25, 2015

The Bushies were such utter fuckups.
posted by persona au gratin at 12:08 PM on July 25, 2015

Underground bunker? Cowards. A real leader would climb onto the roof of the White House and scream something along the lines of “FUCKING ATTACK ME YOU FUCKING FUCKERS!!!”
posted by floatboth at 12:12 PM on July 25, 2015 [3 favorites]

Or sing God Bless America on the Capitol steps.
posted by peeedro at 12:17 PM on July 25, 2015

Surely this...
posted by not the fingers, not the fingers at 12:29 PM on July 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

I got the impression that the dominating emotion in the room was anxious exhilaration and the unspoken thought of most was "Gentlemen, we have just been given an unprecedented opportunity."
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 12:33 PM on July 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

Let me rephrase then: why was Lynne Cheney, the spouse of the VP, a position not mentioned in the Constitution, someone who is neither part of the government nor support staff for someone who is, involved in ultra-high-level classified meetings?
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 12:49 PM on July 25, 2015 [6 favorites]

feckless fecal fear mongering: "why was Lynne Cheney in any of these classified meetings?"

It was a somewhat uncoordinated response because it wasn't totally clear what was going on at first, but the First Lady, Veep's wife, and Bush twins were all hustled to secure locations, which in general involves going to the same places as the president's staff goes; you don't keep a separate bunker for "families of officials" ... they all go in the same bunker, stay out of the way, and wait to get evacuated to Nebraska or whatever if necessary. Laura Bush and Lynne Cheney spent HOURS sitting in the conference room waiting to be told where to go next, not able to do anything but sit.

And actually Mrs. Bush had to wait as long as almost any parent that day, when the phones were so jammed, to talk to her daughters, as even the Secret Service couldn't get through at first.

Anyway, that part's not that unusual (I mean, Eva Braun wasn't in the bunker because she provided important strategic military advice!); there are a lot of presidential relatives (and other officials' relatives) hanging around in important events in American history. We have lots of excellent first-hand accounts of important Civil War decisions -- for example -- because Lincoln's sons were sometimes in the room when a discussion went on, or Kate Chase, daughter of the Secretary of the Treasury, was serving tea to the cabinet when they made strategic decisions, or similar.

Actually, that's be an interesting post/book/article -- accidental witnesses to history as family members of leaders.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:51 PM on July 25, 2015 [59 favorites]

Maybe they only had one underground bunker and she is on the list of people they have to protect? Or maybe only one telly in the underground bunker they were all in?
posted by biffa at 12:52 PM on July 25, 2015

I would read the shit out of that post, Eyebrows.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 12:52 PM on July 25, 2015 [10 favorites]

I can't help but remember Lynne Cheney's appearance on the Daily Show - she gifted Jon Stewart with a Darth Vader toy, tolerated a few questions, thanked him for his time and stormed off set.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 12:56 PM on July 25, 2015 [3 favorites]

Ah, wouldn't have hit post if I'd seen the previous comment.
posted by biffa at 1:16 PM on July 25, 2015

As a follow-up to Eyebrows's excellent point -- FLOTUS and SLOTUS do have extremely high security clearances, for just this reason (and because generally they have access to people and areas with classified information). There are similar clearances and their concomitant investigations for spouses of Cabinet members and various key Congressional leaders.
posted by Etrigan at 1:23 PM on July 25, 2015 [2 favorites]

And yes, basically there is just the one underground bunker under the White House; everyone entitled to Secret Service protection (including the president, vice president, and their immediate families, including spouses) who was in/near the White House at the time was put in the same place. We don't know a whole lot about the layout (it's classified), but it's not a very big space, and it's built to withstand a direct nuclear hit. If it's typical of similar installations, it has one larger conference room -- where the women were waiting -- a couple of very small offices where the top officials can work privately (and possibly sleep); an administrative/communications area that would be manned by military personnel (probably at least a few are in there on standby 24/7), where unnecessary personnel would definitely be in the way as it's crowded, noisy, and working; and then a small support area with minimal food prep facilities, shower and toilet, and possibly a couple of closet-like areas to sleep. So the main conference room probably would have been where Lynne Cheney was the least in the way of people doing the actual work. IIRC she was evacuated along with Dick that evening to a "secure location" outside Washington, and she doesn't appear in the pictures where he's "working" after that.

In general if you go back and read now-declassified Cold War plans, the families are all immediately evacuated to the nearest bunker, then in the hours or days afterwards, the families are gradually -- as events allow -- moved to other secure locations much farther away (obviously depending on what places had been bombed). The goal IS to get them out of the way of the people doing the actual work, and reducing the people at the main "working" bunkers to essential personnel, but that goal is a little ways down the list behind "getting everyone in a concrete room" and "figuring out wtf is going on" and "transporting essential personnel." So when it's safe for them to be moved and there's transport available that isn't needed for higher-priority people-moving, they'll head out to other secure locations intended for longer stays, more people, etc., that are in general in rural places and much larger (like Raven Rock, maybe, the underground Pentagon in Pennsylvania that sleeps 3,000). The White House bunker is very much an emergency "OH FUCK" bunker and not intended for a long-term residence, so there's just not a lot of private space.

Another relatively analogous situation might be Jackie Kennedy and Lady Bird Johnson on Air Force One with suddenly-President Johnson, having both been hustled by the Secret Service into the safe transport of the plane along with the president and his staff.

Laura Bush talked about 9/11 in her memoirs, and she talks only in the most general ways ("drab conference room") about being in the bunker, or in the most personal ways ("calling my daughters and my mom, worrying about my husband."). She doesn't say a SINGLE WORD about conversations she definitely saw and heard during the first several hours after the attacks; all the information she relays (like at what time she was able to speak to W) had already been released. The family members of officials know they have to keep their mouths shut about official communications they happen to hear, and you can be darn sure people brief them on what is and is not okay to reveal.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 1:27 PM on July 25, 2015 [19 favorites]

"Soooooooo.......Iraq?"

People forget that BushCo already had a plan drawn-up for deposing Saddam long before 9/11. All they needed was a semi-plausible excuse. Thanks, Osama!
posted by Thorzdad at 2:12 PM on July 25, 2015 [2 favorites]

All of us left of center mock the photos. Easy enough to do. What was shcking, aside from the horror of the attack, was that our intel never was shared among our agencies and so this act took place. That Bush struck back at the Taliban was hardly outrageous, though some people suggest that Afghanistan was willing to turn over Taliban leaders and if that were true, then our attack would have been uncalled for. But the real huge mistake was Bush and Gang ordering an invasion of Iraq, as though somehow they were tied into the Trade Tower attack. The ramifications of this Bush "initiative" have put us in the mess we currently are in.
posted by Postroad at 2:14 PM on July 25, 2015 [7 favorites]

These are so bleak. I just realised how much difference it makes to me, a non-American, to know that Obama is in the White House rather than Bush: there was something deeply oppressive and scary about that time, after 9/11 and when we got the cascade of Iraq and 'old Europe' and 'enemy combatants' and Guantanamo Bay and the torture memos. Of course Obama's administration isn't perfect on foreign policy but there was a kind of nihilism to the Bush administration that was a special level of frightening. (The torture memos, especially, captured something truly horrible about the spirit of the administration.)
posted by Aravis76 at 2:21 PM on July 25, 2015 [18 favorites]

If these photos lean heavily on Cheney's experience because they are the product of his personal staff photographer, does that mean Bush also had a staff photographer scurrying around the bunker? Who else? It's wild for me to imagine these staff members, getting these shots, staying out of the way, in this historic and tragic moment.
posted by firemouth at 2:22 PM on July 25, 2015

Of course these photos focus on Cheney. Not only were they taken by his photographer but the president was also kept out of DC for several hours as the attacks occurred and in their immediate aftermath (remember the video of him reading to school children as he was notified about the initial attack?).
posted by ElKevbo at 2:44 PM on July 25, 2015

The focus on Cheney is understandable given who was taking the photos, but that doesn't excuse the obvious amount of power Cheney is shown to have in these photos. The VP has basically no constitutional authority besides being second-in-line and a tie-breaking vote in Congress. There's no reason he should be so clearly at the center of the discussion about how to deal with the aftermath here. He could just as easily been scurried away to an "undisclosed location" to watch the events unfold on CNN while the cabinet members actually invested with the responsibility for these things took care of business. Cheney was something of a trojan horse. I mean, can you imagine Al Gore being such a central figure in an environment like this? If Clinton was off at some elementary school getting hot for teacher when 9/11 happened, it wouldn't have been Clipper-Chip Gore to whom everyone was obviously deferring judgment, it would've been Madeleine Albright. These photos just reaffirm for me the widespread opinion that the real "decider" in the Bush years was Cheney.
posted by dis_integration at 3:54 PM on July 25, 2015 [7 favorites]

(By Congress I mean Senate.)
posted by dis_integration at 3:58 PM on July 25, 2015

People forget that BushCo already had a plan drawn-up for deposing Saddam long before 9/11. All they needed was a semi-plausible excuse. Thanks, Osama!

And others forget that drawing the US into an endless and terminal military conflict was Osama's strategy and intention.
posted by bigZLiLk at 4:53 PM on July 25, 2015 [6 favorites]

I don't ever need to see pictures of these people again. Thanks, though.
posted by uosuaq at 5:14 PM on July 25, 2015 [3 favorites]

I wonder how many shitty decisions DICK made because his cardiac output simply couldn't properly oxygenate his brain?
posted by mikelieman at 5:30 PM on July 25, 2015

Oh, and Elizabeth de la Varga's excellent case for indicting the lot of them.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/143205/
posted by mikelieman at 5:31 PM on July 25, 2015 [2 favorites]

I mean, can you imagine Al Gore being such a central figure in an environment like this?

Not really, but I can easily imagine Joe Biden being a central figure in an environment like this, especially 10 month's into Obama's presidency, and as photographed by his staff photographer.
posted by skewed at 6:07 PM on July 25, 2015 [7 favorites]

To me the shots that were used in Michael Moore Fahrenheit 911 are very hard to match. There is a proverb unsourced but repeated, for example, in Eliphas Levi Transcendental Magic that every thought, every act is etched with some force upon your soul and upon your physique and upon your face. Those closeups that Moore used of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Rice, Ashcroft et al were the visages of a profoundly messed-up group.

One of the least advisable acid trip movies ever.
posted by bukvich at 6:08 PM on July 25, 2015 [8 favorites]

"Go massive. Sweep it all up. Things related and not."
posted by thelonius at 7:04 PM on July 25, 2015 [2 favorites]

I, for one, am glad that the leaders of the free world were supplied with a plate of delicious chocolate cookies and a bowl of fruit to keep their sugar-levels high even in times of extreme danger and emergency.

I also would like to imagine that both Cheney and Bush were staring at another plate of chocolate cookies that's off the picture, and were salivating at the prospect of eating them unhurriedly, instead of figuring out which place to bomb next.
posted by the cydonian at 7:52 PM on July 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

We could be eating these delicious, nutritious cookies by the handful, Dick, but you let your goddamn personal paparazzi in the bunker like a rook.
posted by carsonb at 8:24 PM on July 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

The only person in the bunch who seems to be consistently engaged and concerned is Condi Rice (and, to some extent, Karen Hughes). Bush comes off as someone who worked hard on the PowerPoint presentation that he was going to show, only to find out when he brought it up that it was displaying text in a non-English alphabet and he couldn't figure out how to fix it on the fly.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:29 PM on July 25, 2015 [7 favorites]

Maybe they only had one underground bunker and she is on the list of people they have to protect? Or maybe only one telly in the underground bunker they were all in?

Also, these people are human beings and forcing them to abandon their loved ones at a time of such crisis would be cruel and could seriously affect their ability to focus on their role.

Still, why was Lynne Cheney there?
posted by fullerine at 10:29 PM on July 25, 2015 [7 favorites]

One of the least advisable acid trip movies ever.

Added to the list ( which includes SW:RoTS, long story )
posted by mikelieman at 1:37 AM on July 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Very well put, Aravis76. "Nihilism" is exactly the right word for it.
posted by persona au gratin at 3:22 AM on July 26, 2015

Salon has an over-the-top article. Seriously? The information was coming from tv, and Cheney watching seems unexceptional. What's weird to me about the pictures in general is that Cheney doesn't engage with others much. Photographer present? it's a historic day. I don't expect professionals to be emotional all day when there's a crisis. The pictures show a group of individuals who don't seem connected to one another, unlike the similar pictures of the bin Laden raid, where there seems to be a lot more cohesiveness. So, the hate for the pictures just feels to me like generic hate for these horrible people.

Cheney and Bush are war criminals, and like many people who do genuinely horrible things, the evil doesn't show. Not once do we see the Cheney lip curl. Absent thought bubbles, you can't see plans for exploiting this tragedy to make massive profits for Halliburton, Blackwater and other buddies, whatever their names are now. You can't see the casual disregard for truth, decency, law.
posted by theora55 at 7:35 AM on July 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

One of the least advisable acid trip movies ever.

Added to the list ( which includes SW:RoTS, long story )

Might as well add Terminator, an Andrew Dice Clay standup concert, and a porno called Raunch. (Long stories.)
posted by univac at 8:09 AM on July 26, 2015 [3 favorites]

When I saw this post, the first thing I thought was "Still too soon." It's kind of how I feel about anything related to 9/11 and the ensuing shitshow. Which is weird; I didn't lose anyone in the attack or in either war. But I can't seem to maintain my detachment. All I feel is rage when I see their faces again.
posted by emjaybee at 2:24 PM on July 26, 2015

if there was some similar disaster on Obama's watch and there was a picture of him watching coverage with his feet propped up like that, the Fox outrage would go through the friggin roof.

You'll note that Dick Cheney does not salute the Marine when he gets off of the chopper.

This is the worst possible crime anybody could ever commit against America.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 8:37 PM on July 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Slarty Bartfast: The fact that Dick Cheney gets to walk around with someone else's heart beating inside his chest is unfortunately a strong argument against organ donation.

Does it make you feel any better to learn that not only is no one's heart beating inside him, in fact he doesn't even have a heartbeat at all? He has an artificial heart pump that continuously pumps without beats.

Nope, doesn't help me, either.
posted by IAmBroom at 8:44 PM on July 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

Does it make you feel any better to learn that not only is no one's heart beating inside him, in fact he doesn't even have a heartbeat at all? He has an artificial heart pump that continuously pumps without beats.

Cheney had a battery operated heart for 20 months until he could find a real heart for transplant. Since the transplant in 2012, at age 71, Cheney has had a human heart beating in his chest.
posted by JackFlash at 8:12 AM on July 27, 2015

I'm not sure which is worse... that they didn't care and got a lot of people killed while wasting billions, or that they did care and got a lot of people killed while wasting billions.
posted by prepmonkey at 8:48 AM on July 27, 2015

Since the transplant in 2012, at age 71, Cheney has had a human heart beating in his chest.

See if you can guess whose heart it was:

• An optimistic American soldier picked up on his way home from Iraq for a ghoulish experiment gone wrong
• An Iraqi baby with radioactive superpowers picked for a ghoulish experiment gone horribly wrong
• A younger Cheney brought into the future from 1958 via a ghoulish time travel experiment gone incredibly wrong

Find out, in this week's episode of Tales from the Crypt!
posted by a lungful of dragon at 10:57 AM on July 27, 2015 [3 favorites]