Richard Bruce (Dick) Cheney
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Categories: Wyoming Republicans | George W. Bush associates | Vice Presidents of the United States | Secretaries of Defense | Neocon | Energy Shill
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney widely known as Dick Cheney served as Vice President of the United States in the George W. Bush administration.
Contents |
Background
Whether Cheney was born with his trademark snarl on January 30, 1941 is unknown. What is known is that he grew to become a politician and businessman affiliated with the Republican Party. Conservatives like to sing the praises of free enterprise but this is one of many who has made of career of exploiting the connections between business and government. Cheney is a former CEO of Halliburton, former U.S. Representative from Wyoming and a former Secretary of Defense. He previously he served as Secretary of Defense with the George H.W. Bush administration, and as White House Chief of Staff under Gerald R. Ford. From 1978 to 1989, he served as a U.S. Representative from Wyoming.
Sanity
A former colleague and appointee under George W. Bush, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, concludes Cheney is insane as of September 2009[1], possibly much earlier.
Ideology
A neo-conservative and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Cheney is the former CEO of Halliburton Company, which greatly benefits from contracts with the U.S. government, especially in the war with Iraq [2]. Cheney has ties to the Carlyle Group, is a former Senior Fellow with the American Enterprise Institute [3], served on the Advisory Board of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), and has been linked to the Project for the New American Century (PNAC).
Mr. Cheney opposed the Equal Rights Amendment, is an anti-abortion advocate, and supports prayer in school. While serving in Congress, he was one of 21 members opposing the sale ban of armor-piercing bullets; was one of only four to oppose the ban on guns that can get through metal detectors; opposed sanctions against the apartheid-era South Africa in the mid-1980s along with voting against a resolution calling for the release of Nelson Mandela; voted for a constitutional amendment to ban school busing; voted against Head Start; and voted against extending the Clean Water Act in 1987.
Mr. Cheney is still drawing a $1,000,000 per year paycheck from Halliburton while serving as the Vice President. [4] [5]. He evidently sees no conflict of interest between taking this paycheck, and participating in White House decisions that have allocated billions of dollars of bids to Halliburton that have not gone to open tender.
His persistent embroglio in the Junior Bush regime has been with his Energy Task Force through which, during the early months of 2001, he was taking dictation from Enron and studying petro maps of Iraq. All of the notes from these meetings have been kept secret.
Cheney has been perhaps the most influential Vice President in history. During his 2001-2004 term with George W. Bush, he has [6]
- championed Donald Rumsfeld for Defense Secretary
- "over fierce objections by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell", insisted "on placing Paul Wolfowitz in the number two position at the Pentagon"
- "insisted, again over Powell's misgivings, on making ultra-unilateralist John Bolton, then vice-president of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), undersecretary of state for arms control and international security."
- "reportedly played a key role in the appointment of another controversial neo-conservative, Elliott Abrams, to head the Middle East office on the National Security Council."
- "reportedly visited the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) several times in the run-up to the war in Iraq, in what was seen as pressure on CIA analysts to take a darker view of Saddam Hussein's alleged ties to al Qaeda and weapons of mass destruction."
Cheney's staff, headed by extremist Lewis Scooter Libby, had a major hand in [pre-]writing Colin Powell's February 2003 speech to the United Nations. [7],[8]
Cheney was patron of the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans. [9]
Note: In honor of Big Business Day 2003, Citizen Works presented Dick Cheney the "Daddy Warbucks" Award for eminence in corporate war profiteering on Friday, April 4.[10]
Cheney's wife, Lynne Cheney, is a senior fellow with the American Enterprise Institute. When not lecturing at college campuses about moral values, she occasionally discusses her seamy 1981 lesbian romance novel, Sisters, when she isn't suing to keep the smut from being reissued. Cheney's daughter, Mary Cheney, left her job as gay liasion for the anti-gay, far-right Coors (see Joseph Coors) company to work for the 2000 Bush/Cheney campaign. Both father and daughter spoke of inclusiveness within the Republican Party. Cheney himself said that the issue of legally recognizing same-sex relationships should be left up to the states. Republicans netted 25% of the GLBT vote as a result. In 2004, with Republicans no longer wanting or needing such a "degenerate" voter base, Cheney happily endorsed the sweeping and draconian Federal Marriage Amendment. No longer being valuable political-capital, Mary was kept far in the shadows (despite this, she still worked for her father's 2004 campaign). The gay Republican organization Log Cabin Republicans ran TV ads in various swing states during spring and summer 2004 to remind voters of Cheney's 2000 statement (see quotation below).
On February 11, 2006, Cheney accidentally shot his friend, Harry Whittington, while hunting quail at a ranch owned by Katherine Armstrong. (link to Washington Post.)
Cheney's cardiovascular health is precarious [11]. Of greatest concern, the condition of his cerebral vasculature is unknown. Small-vessel cerebral atherosclerosis could produce insidious, difficult-to-recognize degradation of mental faculties.
Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, 1975
Secrecy
- 2005 was the third year in a row the Office of Vice Pres. Cheney refused to disclose data on its classification and declassification activity, in an apparent violation of an executive order issued by President Bush. "The Office of the Vice President (OVP), the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB), and the Homeland Security Council
(HSC) failed to report their data to ISOO this year," the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) noted in its new 2005 Annual Report to the President (at page 9, footnote 1).
- Document
- In 2007, Cheney continued to defy the ISOO by claiming that his office was not part of the executive branch of government. [12] When the ISOO launched an investigation, he retaliated by trying to cut their funding to zero.
- Although it's still officially unclear, Scooter Libby was found guilty and more evidence of Cheney's involvement in the illegal outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame continues to be officially documented.
Arresting Protesters
Cheney cannot tolerate public dissent, and he has arrested at least one person who dared to challenge his policies:
- Arrest over Cheney barb triggers lawsuit by Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News, Oct. 3, 2006.
Torture
- Cheney admitted that the U.S. used waterboarding on prisoners, but then denied that it constituted torture:
Q Would you agree a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?(Source: Interview of the Vice President by Scott Hennen, WDAY at Radio Day at the White House - the official White House transcript.)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: It's a no-brainer for me, but for a while there, I was criticized as being the Vice President "for torture." We don't torture. That's not what we're involved in. We live up to our obligations in international treaties that we're party to and so forth. But the fact is, you can have a fairly robust interrogation program without torture, and we need to be able to do that.
Quagmire Prediction
- In 1994, Cheney was the Secretary of Defense, and he predicted that invading Baghdad would lead the US into a quagmire. He reiterated these views in 2000. (Source: On Iraq Regime Change, 2007 Cheney Contradicts 2000 Cheney While Dismissing 1994 Cheney, Thinkprogress.org, August 17, 2007)
Quotations
- "We know [Saddam Hussein]'s been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons, and we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons." -- VP Dick Cheney Meet the Press 3/16/2003.
- "The fact of the matter is we live in a free society and freedom means freedom for everybody. We don't get to choose, and shouldn't be able to choose and say, 'You get to live free, but you don't.' People should be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to enter into. That matter is regulated by the states. I think different states are likely to come to different conclusions, and that's appropriate. I don't think there should necessarily be a federal policy in this area." -- Then VP-candidate Cheney, 2000
- "I support the President [on Federal Marriage Amendment]". - VP Cheney, January 2004
- "The insurgency in Iraq is, "in its last throes." VP Cheney on CNN's "Larry King Live", May 30, 2006,
Nicknames
- Dick "Deadeye" Cheney Op-Ed Column
Affiliations
Related articles
External Links
- Angler: The Cheney Vice-Presidency - comprehensive four-part series on Cheney's secret influence over every area of the executive branch.
- Impeaching Cheney First David Lindorff
- Cheney Impeachment Campaign
- Loyal and Experienced. Cheney a Washington insider with a long political resume, CNN Specials 2000, no date.
- Jan Tucker, Vice President Cheney: Armenian Holocaust Denier, Human Rights Roundup, no date.
- George Szamuely, W's Oil Warriors, New York Press, August 1, 2000.
- Robert Bryce, Cheney's Multi-Million Dollar Revolving Door, Mother Jones, August 2, 2000.
- Lawrence F. Kaplan, From Russia With Loans, The New Republic, August 7, 2000. Article links Simon G. Kukes with the Halliburton Company and Cheney.
- Kenny Bruno and Jim Vallette, Halliburton's Destructive Engagement: How Dick Cheney and USA-Engage Subvert Democracy At Home And Abroad, EarthRights International, October 2000.
- Martin A. Lee, Cheney Made Millions Off Oil Deals with Hussein, San Francisco Bay Guardian, November 13, 2000.
- Scott Lindlaw, GAO Investigates Cheney - Congress pressures Cheney for names, AP, June 25, 2001.
- Eli Pariser, WHO IS DICK CHENEY?, MoveOn Bulletin, July 11, 2002.
- Arianna Huffington, Corporate crackdown: Will Cheney be held accountable?, Tallahassee Democrat, August 6, 2002.
- Knut Royce and Nathaniel Heller, Cheney Led Halliburton To Feast at Federal Trough, The Public i, March 16, 2003.
- Pratap Chatterjee, Cheney's Close Ties to Brown and Root, CorpWatch, March 20, 2003
- Pratap Chatterjee, Halliburton Makes a Killing on Iraq War, CorpWatch, March 23, 2003.
- Halliburton Subsidiary Wins Iraqi Oil Firefighting Contract, Associated Press, March 26, 2003:
U.S. Army provides contract to Kellogg Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton, to fight oil well first without any bidding. - Paul Krugman, "Delusions of Power," The New York Times, March 28, 2003.
- Frida Berrigan, "Halliburton's Axis of Influence," In These Times, March 28, 2003.
- Lee Drutman and Charlie Cray,Cheney, Halliburton and the Spoils of War Citizen Works, April 4, 2003.
- Cheney Sees 2.5 Mln Bpd Iraq Oil Output, Reuters, April 9, 2003.
- Gary Martin, Democrats question oil-well fire contract, San Antonio Express News, April 9, 2003. House Democrats called for investigation into whether Bush administration contracts to rebuild Iraq favored Halliburton, once headed by Vice President Cheney.
- Richard W. Stevenson,Cheney's Standing Increases as Plans For Election Form, The New York Times, May 8, 2003.
- Oliver Burkeman, Cheney firm paid millions in bribes to Nigerian official, Guardian/UK, May 29, 2003.
- The Buying of the Presidency: The Center for Public Integrity: "Dick Cheney."
- Cheney Energy Task Force Documents Feature Map of Iraqi Oilfields. Commerce & State Department Reports to Task Force Detail Oilfield & Gas Projects, Contracts & Exploration. Saudi Arabian & UAE Oil Facilities Profiled As Well, Judicial Watch/judicialwatch.org, July 17, 2003.
- Democracy Now! dissects some of Cheney’s statements in his interview with Tim Russert on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
- Cheney may still have Halliburton ties. Congressional report finds Vice President still has financial interest in his old company, CNN.com, September 25, 2003.
- Andrew Limburg, Documenting the Halliburton / Cheney Crimes and Controversies, Independent Media TV, November 7, 2003.
- What Dick Cheney Really Believes, Franklin Foer & Spencer Ackerman, The New Republic, Post date 11.20.03 | Issue date 12.01.03.
- Mark Hosenball and Michael Isikoff, Exclusive: Cheney and the ‘Raw’ Intelligence, Newsweek, December 15, 2003: "A memo written by a top Washington lobbyist for the controversial Iraqi National Congress raises new questions about the role Vice President Dick Cheney’s office played in the run-up to the war in Iraq."
- Cheney faces prosecution: report, The Age, December 21, 2003: "A French official is examining whether to prosecute US Vice President Dick Cheney over alleged complicity in the abuse of corporate assets dating from the time he was head of the services company Halliburton, the French newspaper Le Figaro said. ... The case stems from a contract by a consortium including the American company Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), a Halliburton subsidiary, and a French company, Technip, to supply a gas complex to Nigeria..."
- How Are You, Mr. Cheney?, New York Times Op-Ed, December 22, 2003.
- Doug Ireland, Will the French Indict Cheney?, The Nation, December 29, 2003.
- Judy Keen, Cheney says it's too soon to tell on Iraqi arms, USA Today, January 19, 2004: "Cheney said he's effective working behind the scenes and doesn't believe voters will choose the next president based on running mates. "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole?" he said. "It's a nice way to operate, actually."
- Beth Hundsdorfer, Costello pushes hearings on Cheney, Belleville.com, January 20, 2004: "U.S. Rep Jerry Costello has called for impeachment hearings against U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney during Congress' session that begins today. ... Costello questioned the award of billions of dollars of contracts to Cheney's former corporation Haliburton to extinguish fires and rebuild Iraq's oil infrastructure after the war. ... 'Can you imagine what the Republicans would be doing to a Democratic president who was a CEO of a company that now has gotten billions of dollars worth of contracts -- no-bid contracts -- without competition?' Costello, D-Belleville, was quoted as saying."
- Richard Sale, Cheney's Staff Focus of Plame Leak Probe, UPI, February 5, 2004.
- A cloud over Cheney, Boston Globe Editorial, February 10, 2004: "The Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, French prosecutors, and the Nigerian government are all investigating allegations that a Halliburton subsidiary paid millions of dollars in bribes to Nigerian officials during the 1990s, when Vice President Dick Cheney was the Halliburton CEO. If such payments were made and Cheney approved them, he could be guilty of violating the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. If the payments were made and he did not know about them, he could not have been a hands-on leader of his conglomerate. The nation, in any case, deserves answers before it votes in November if, as President Bush has indicated, he retains Cheney as his running mate."
- Robert Cohen, Treasury reconsiders legality of Halliburton's work in Iran, Star-Ledger (NJ), February 11, 2004.
- Sheila Samples, Time For The Buck To Stop, Axis of Logic, February 16, 2004.
- Who's Who in the White House, updated February 16, 2004.
- Andrew Limburg, 'Documenting the Halliburton/Cheney crimes and controversies', Independent Media TV, February 17, 2004. Reprinted by smirkingchimp.com from Independent Media TV.
- Jonathan S. Landay, CIA director disputes Cheney assertions on Iraq, Knight-Ridder, March 9, 2004.
- Sheila Samples, "You play Cheney's game, you play by Cheney's rules and with Cheney's stacked deck," BuzzFlash, April 5, 2004.
- Katherine Q. Seelye, "Cheney's Five Draft Deferments During the Vietnam Era Emerge as a Campaign Issue," New York Times, May 1, 2004.
- Mike Pope, "Cheney's career is an inspiration," Tallahassee Democrat, May 1, 2004.
- Jeff Barnard, "Mondale Says Cheney Changing Role of VP," AP, May 3, 2004: "Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale said Sunday that the strong role Vice President Dick Cheney has taken in the White House is changing the way government and politics work. ... Cheney, however, has taken the power of the office to a new level, operating, in effect, with his own National Security Council, Mondale said."
- In Cheney's World, We All Report To The Military by Robyn E. Blumner
- Amusing Short
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