By today's standards, this hardly seems scandalous at all. Which was probably the strategy all along.

Which says something about what tomorrow's scandals may look like.

Is James J. "Jim" Rouse related to James W. Rouse, the real estate developer who planned Columbia, Maryland and turned Faneuil Hall into an upscale market?

Unlikely, since James W. Rouse died in 1996 (according to your link).

Another great liberal myth turns out to be nothing. Too bad.

How do we know that some of the list/log isn't classified? Further, we don't know what was discussed at particular meetings. At least I am relieved that under current theory, not all the folks that participated in the withheld list are likely on the take.

What's pathetic is that he tried for so many years to cover up something that just basically confirmed what we already knew. What was the point?

rnc: "Another great liberal myth turns out to be nothing. Too bad."

Who cares what losers like you think, rnc? Who really cares, except your own kind?

Yeah, the great "myth" that Cheney was giving the government teat to his buddies among the corporate planet-killers. Like them, rnc, you suck. Big-time.

Six years after it happened, the Washington Post has finally gotten its hands on the top secret list of everyone who met with Dick Cheney's energy task force back in the early days of 2001:

Yes, Kevin. Congratulations. You have finally caught Cheney red-handed. In Cheney's meetings on determining the best energy producing policy for America, Cheney invited... energy-producing industries! Amazing! What would they know about energy production right? Of course, liberals would've only invited tree huggers and moveon.org so it's not surprising liberals would find Cheney's decision to invite energy-producers to a meeting about energy producing policy such a catastrophe! *snicker*

Cute that all the environmental groups met with him on April 4, at 10 a.m., all the renewable energy folks met with him on March 28, at 10 a.m. and the energy efficiency folks met with him on March 13 at 10:00 a.m.. Cheney is nothing if not efficient. I find that 10:00 is an excellent time for meetings. One has time before the meeting starts to get some real work done but can still finish easily before lunch.

I would be curious to read what those individuals have to say about those meetings.
Curious, too, that this list was such a big secret.
Even more curious that it is leaked now.

My theory has always been that the incriminating info is not who attended, but what was said.

I speculate that at these meetings, which took place before 9/11, Cheney was already proposing the invasion of oil-rich Iraq.

Now we just need the minutes from the meetings, regarding how Iraq's oil wealth would be carved up after the invasion, and the impeachment trial can begin.

Who does this bald-headed, impotent, draft-dodging war-profiteer think he works for anyway?

Impeach and imprison this pile of filth...

CREA is on the list. Isn't that the Abramoff affiliated non-profit that has recently disappeared?

What's surprising to me is that they did actually meet with a lot of environmental groups.

And yet the any mention that the war in Iraq is about is oil is met with criticism.

This war in Iraq has NEVER been about anything else BUT OIL.

WHY DID BUSH WANT RICHARD CLARKE TO LIE TO AMERICANS AND SAY THAT IT WAS IRAQ AND SADDAM WHO ATTACKED THE US ON 9/11?

We have NEVER gotten the answer to that. NOT TO THIS DAY, the news media completely disregarded what Richard Clarke told the 9/11 commission. WHY! But even as Bush sat there on that bullhorn with his arm wrapped about that old New YORK firefighter saying we were going to get bin Laden, Bush was lying. Bush was only going to use Afghanistan as pitt stop on his way to Iraq.

The truth is that Bush and this Whitehouse didn't want Americans to know who really attacked the US on 9/11. AND this begs the question - did Bush knowingly disregard his August 6th briefing because of this administration pre energy force task meeting, and did the PNAC needed some reason, any reason at all to go after Saddam, to stake out those Iraqi oilfields?

This war in Iraq has NEVER been about anything BUT OIL, because this war makes no sense otherwise. The Iraqis want the US troops out, bring democracy is an extremely lame excuse and it certainly wasn't about WMD, which was always extremely lame too - as Joe Wilson pointed out Saddam wasn't even close to getting a nuclear anything - Iraq had no weapons at all the could even defend itself against an attacked by Iran.

This administration KNEW we were going to be attacked by terrorist - and this administration, and the members of the PNAC that make-up the personnel in this administration LET IT HAPPEN because they wanted some reason, ANY reason to invade Iraq - had it on the books since Clinton was in office and needed an excuse, any excuse to use the US military to invade Iraq. Our President and Vice President lied, with the intent to lie about every reason we went into Iraq -- the oil, control of region is the ONLY reason Bush won't leave now. Bush is staying the course in Iraq, even as the Iraqi congress goes on vacaction because Iraqis have yet to sign any oil contracts with Western oil companys. Iraqis can and should simply wait Bush and Dick Cheney out, via waiting until Bush leaves office.

Bush and Cheney overthrow a bad government but one that keep Iraqis from civil war, thus letting civil war ensue, never caring about anything but the green zone, all those dead Iraqis, Bush could care less about them. Bush doesn't even give a damn about the problems with Walter Reed either, or anything else, JUST Western oil contracts.

Bush and Cheney do NOT serve Americans, they serve only the interest of Western energy companies, it's why they wiretap Americans, it's why they torture, why they hide their email, and destroy their email with the help of RNC. Bush and Cheney are simple big time Mafia style criminals - its all they have EVER been.

And they have had a very compliant, in fact so compliant a press that it looks like our mafia styled administration owns half the damn members of the press. Better ask for those paper ballots because this president has done everything in his power to overturn democracy here in this country.

Bush and Dick Cheney are not conservatives - they are big time criminals whom daily practise the intent to do criminal act right after another.

I speculate that at these meetings, which took place before 9/11, Cheney was already proposing the invasion of oil-rich Iraq.

yes, of course he was

"What's pathetic is that he tried for so many years to cover up something that just basically confirmed what we already knew. What was the point?"

control was the point. as long as that list was locked up in cheney's safe we did not *really* know. of course the intervening follies have pretty much removed the fangs because, unfortunately, the public's memory is pretty short.

I wonder if the leaker will later be found dead whith a canary in his/her mouth?

fat finger: s/dead whith/dead with/

What's surprising to me is that they did actually meet with a lot of environmental groups.

Try reading the article.

Now all they have to do is ask these folks the right questions. I wonder if we'll ever figure out which civilian executive was at the helm when that submaine surfaced through that Hawaiian fishing vessel.

I see Ken Lay's visit is the only one that says "w/VP". I wonder what that means? Hmmmmm.

The list hardly seems scandalous, but Dick(head) is at least smart enough to pepper it with alternative energy groups and consumer advocates. It's never been about who is on the list, it's about who Dick(head) listened to, and what they talked about. If a roomful of oil tycoons discussed carving up Iraqi oil fields - 2 years before the invasion - wouldn't that seem scandalous?

I don't want a list of attendees, I want the fucking notes.

With all those people, it was hard to keep the Iraq war plans a secret.

Actually the Ken Lay stuff is fairly interesting even though the Washington Post thinks it's old news. Six years later people may forget the context.

*May 2000 Significant energy price rises.
*June 14, 2000 Blackouts affect 97,000 customers in San Francisco Bay area during a heat wave.
*August 2000 San Diego Gas & Electric Company files a complaint alleging manipulation of the markets.
*January 17-18, 2001 Blackouts affect several hundred thousand customers.
*January 17, 2001 Governor Davis declares a state of emergency.
*March 19-20, 2001 Blackouts affect 1.5 million customers.
*April 2001 Pacific Gas & Electric Co. files for bankruptcy.
*May 7-8, 2001 Blackouts affect upwards of 167,000 customers.
*Spring 2001, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power met with the Cheney Task Force, asking for price controls to protect consumers. The Task Force refused, and insisted that deregulation must remain in place.
*December 2001 Following the bankruptcy of Enron, it is alleged that energy prices were manipulated by Enron.
*February 2002 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission begins investigation of Enron's involvement.

---------------
Minutes from energy task force meeting:

Cheney: "They're f------g taking all the money back from you guys? All the money you guys stole from those poor grandmothers in California?"

Lay: "Yeah, grandma Millie, man"

Cheney: "Yeah, now she wants her f------g money back for all the power you've charged right up, jammed right up her a------ for f------g $250 a megawatt hour."

I have now read the article. Ok, I'm not surprised anymore that they met with environmental groups....

Congratulations. You have finally caught Cheney red-handed. In Cheney's meetings on determining the best energy producing policy for America

Gee, that energy producing policy has really worked out great hasn't it ?

Of the seven Energy Task Force documents released under the FOIA (and linked by cleek above), three are about Iraq, two about UAE, and two about Saudi Arabia.

The Iraqi documents include a map of oil production sites in Iraq, plus two documents with a detailed list of "Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts". These include several dozen companies from a variety of countries other than the USA.

I wonder how many of these "Foreign Suitors" still do any business with Iraq. The task force seems to have been concerned that Iraq was not giving its contracts to US firms. It would be good to know what was discussed on this subject.

Ah, Kevin.

Ah, screw it. I got nuthin'.

By contrast, the UAE and Saudi Arabia documents list not "Foreign Suitors" but "Major Oil and Natural Gas Development Projects" and the companies involved are either US/EU or local ones (like Aramco) whose major contractors are US companies (like Halliburton).

The renewable energy groups all met on one particular day at the same time. The conservation groups all met on another day at the same time. While the number of environmental and renewable groups on the list might be significant, the amount of time devoted to them in comparison to the other industry groups appears to have been very small.

it's not so much the list that is of interest, it's the deliberations. were they gaming out an Iraq invasion? resource control? price fixing? corporate welfare? sucking blood from babies?

most likely.

Ah, Kevin.

I really feel sorry for you people. Government meets with industry all the time. Nothing scandalous here. Plus, this shows that Cheney also took time bend over backwards to listen to environmental concerns, when he really didn't have to at all.

If you people had an ounce of integrity you would applaud him.

B entertains mightily, as usual. I also enjoyed the new Egbert at 10:05.

So six years later we get a wholly unsurprising list; as many others have noted, it's what was said in these meetings that's of real interest. I doubt the war plans even needed to be said aloud by that point.

This was weak:

Ah, Kevin.

I really feel sorry for you people. Government meets with industry all the time. Nothing scandalous here. Plus, this shows that Cheney also took time bend over backwards to listen to environmental concerns, when he really didn't have to at all.

If you people had an ounce of integrity you would applaud him.

Shouldn't it have been:

Ah, Kevin.

I really feel sorry for you people. Government meats with industry all the time. Nothing sandalous here. Plus, this shows that Cheney also took time bend over backwards to listen to environmental concerns, when he really didn't have to at all.

If you people had am ounce of integrit you would applawed him.

"I really feel sorry for you people. Government meets with industry all the time. Nothing scandalous here. Plus, this shows that Cheney also took time bend over backwards to listen to environmental concerns, when he really didn't have to at all. "

He did not, RTFA:

"A confidential list prepared by the Bush administration shows that Cheney and his aides had already held at least 40 meetings with interest groups, most of them from energy-producing industries. By the time of the meeting with environmental groups, according to a former White House official who provided the list to The Washington Post, the initial draft of the task force was substantially complete and President Bush had been briefed on its progress."

Obviously there is no problem with government officials talking to industry. The problem is twofold, though. One is that a government which talks solely to industry and ignores environmental groups and other such groups is not doing the job of the people.

The other problem is the question of what was said at these meetings. To what extent was Iraq talked about at these meetings? I mean, this was before 9/11 (but after PNAC said Iraq must be invaded). Yet the war wasn't about oil, I remember. It was about democracy.

This isn't a major scandal nowadays, but it's all relative.

From comments, you all seem to FINALLY be getting it. What I've been trying to tell y'all about since 2000. B is closest of all.

Al, Dick Cheney could shtup your mother before your own eyes and if he told you it was for the good of the country, you'd bring him some Handiwipes. Nuff said?

Who was the former White House official who gave the list to the WaPo, and how long before Cheney has him whacked?

Putin just met with the CEO of Exxon and Henry Kissinger just before signing the decree pulling out of the CFE.

Coincidence?

And Vlad (the Impaler) also shtupped Al's mother. But that WAS just a coincidence.

how long before Cheney has him whacked?

You mean, how long before Cheney invites his rascally buddy on a private hunting trip?

cleek, thanks for that link.

Did this get any press attention at the time the docs were released? I have no memory of it; it was before I started reading blogs.