In the waning hours of the 108th Congress, the democratically elected government of George W. Bush was overthrown in a military coup lead by a coalition including Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon.
Ignoring the outpouring of public support for the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, and overcoming the strong support of the Bush Administration, the Cheney-Rumsfeld-Pentagon Coalition killed landmark legislation that would have forced the Pentagon, which controls an estimated 80 percent of the government's $40 billion intelligence budget, to cede much of its authority on intelligence issues to a national intelligence director.
The decision to block a vote on the bill, which would have created the job of a cabinet-level national intelligence director to oversee the C.I.A. and the government's other spy agencies, came after what was described as a near-rebellion by a core of highly conservative House Republicans aligned with the Pentagon who were emboldened to oppose their leadership and the White House.
The coup occurred while the recently elected President of the U.S., George W. Bush, was in Chile at a meeting with world leaders where he was seeking support for his planned expansion of U.S. military action against the sovereign governments of Iran, North Korea and Syria.
New York Times - House Leadership Blocks Vote on Intelligence Bill
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