Cheney Ordered Planes To Be Shot Down

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Does the VP have the power to order a military response?

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Since Bush was away from Crisis Control, that officially put Cheney in charge.  That's the way it has always been.

I have never heard of this.  Does that mean the VP could have ordered a nuke attack on China?

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Since Bush was away from Crisis Control, that officially put Cheney in charge.  That's the way it has always been.

I have never heard of this.  Does that mean the VP could have ordered a nuke attack on China?

If they shot first.

Who would be there to argue with him?  If you're saying the VP was in constitutional control on 9/11, then he certainly had the power to launch any kind of attack, just as the Pres has to power to launch a nuclear first-strike on Russia.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

If there is a crisis or disaster while the President is away from "Crisis Control" then the VP has the authority to take all appropriate measures.

Bush was never out of contact.  His constitutional authority was never transferred.  

But, don't get me wrong:  I'm glad Cheney took charge.  But I wonder if it was legal for him to take charge.  What if Cheney had ordered the wrong plane shot down?  That's a totally different set of political and legal consequences than if Bush had order the wrong plane shot down.  Bush ordering the wrong plane shot down would have simply been viewed as the "fog of war", but if Cheney did it, people would have been asking why he was giving the order in the first place.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Crisis Control must be run from the White House.

Since when?

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Well, if "Crisis Control must be run from the White House" then what happens in the case the While House is destroyed in a terrorist attack?

I think this whole conversation is half-baked.  Is it being reported that Cheney made that decision on his own or did he first speak over the phone to Bush?

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

If the VP has to, then they are allowed to make decisions on their own.  Don't take this as an attmpt to assert that Cheney is really in charge.  The only ones who are going to read it like that are those who can't be convinced otherwise.

What I am asking is this:  How was Cheney even in the chain of command when Bush was NOT incapacitated?  Bush was never out of contact.  Now if Bush gave Cheney orders to respond to necessary threats until Bush reached Air Force One, then I’d have no problem with that.  But if Cheney just decided to insert himself into the chain of command without any legal authority whatsoever, then that raises some potential concerns.

Again, I agree with Cheney’s orders.  I just wish the orders had come from somewhere within the chain of command.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

From posted article:  <<White House deputy chief of staff Joshua Bolten, at the conference table with Cheney, suggested that the vice president contact Bush and confirm his authorization. Cheney called the president and got the confirmation, the commission said.>>

This confirms that this whole conversation has not been dealing with the facts.  The article states that even Bolten and Cheney questioned the authoritative legality of Cheney inserting himself into the chain of command, so they called Bush and Bush OK'd the downing of the planes.