from Amazon reader reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/1565848403/ref=cm_rev_next/103-4121084-8137432?%5Fencoding=UTF8&customer-reviews.sort%5Fby=-SubmissionDate&n=283155&s=books&customer-reviews.start=11We Invaded Iraq Due to Cheney With Bush Signing On, October 26, 2004
Reviewer: William Hare (Fort Lauderdale, Florida United States) - See all my reviews
Two of the most important books to read concerning the 2004 presidential election are Seymour Hersh's revealing "Chain of Command" and "Dick: The Man Who Is President" by Madison (Wisconsin) Capital Times and Nation reporter John Nichols. It was Nichols who penned one of the most informative works on the 2000 post-presidential election pyrotechnics with "Jews For Buchanan."
When George Bush the Elder was concerned about his son the Texas governor not possessing the knowledge and experience to tackle the presidency, while remaining bullish at the prospect of having him in the White House, his thoughts turned toward the veteran Dick Cheney, who had served the older Bush as his secretary of defense during the 1991 Gulf War. Cheney had a long resume, which included becoming the youngest White House chief of staff in history at 34 under President Gerald Ford. He had also served in the House of Representatives from Wyoming, where he achieved leadership in the conservative ranks and compiled an inflexibly right wing voting record.
Cheney was devoid of charisma and his one effort to attract attention in a trial run for the presidency ended with a flat tire before the first primary of 1996. Shortly afterwards, while fly-fishing off the coast of New Brunswick in Nova Scotia, Cheney met executives from the multi national Texas-based oil services provider, Halliburton Corporation. They liked Cheney's government accessibility as a former secretary of defense and congressional leader and were then looking for a new chief executive officer. Cheney and the executives agreed they could help each other and the political veteran signed on.
When the older George Bush came calling as the 2000 presidential election beckoned following the conclusion of two terms by Democrat Bill Clinton, it was to tap the Halliburton executive to lead a search committee to find the proper running mate to shore up the young George's deficiencies. Cheney, an intrigue artist with well developed palace guard instincts, he had been second in command to the more flamboyant Donald Rumsfeld in Republican politics for too long. This time he saw a way to vault above Rumsfeld and place himself in the White House catbird position.
One by one candidates were be screened. Cheney remained on the scene always, and was able to supply the final word without a disparaging word from the Republican Party's presidential nominee. Former Missouri Senator John Danforth, who had become a minister after leaving Washington, was thought by many to have the inside track to become vice presidential nominee, but meanwhile Dick Cheney was shrewdly operating behind the scenes.
There had been earlier grumblings, but when Danforth was also found wanting he joined the chorus, having believed that he, like those considered before him, had been manipulated for Cheney's personal gain. With time running out Cheney proposed an idea to George W. Bush, who by then had become reliant on his judgment. "Why not me?" Cheney suggested.
Bush agreed, joking when he announced the selection that, with Cheney compelled to move back to Wyoming to become a voting resident there to avoid disrupting the constitutional restriction of a presidential nominee and his running mate both residents of the same state, "We didn't do it to win the 3 electoral votes of Wyoming."
The Karl Rove directed Bush propaganda machine, temporarily abandoned the "ah shucks, just plain folks" image showcasing Texas "cowboy" George Bush long enough to spin the word that would be bandied about through the rest of the campaign. Cheney was selected because he had "gravitas," a Latin word meaning seriousness or sobriety of thought.
With Bush failing to know the names of important leaders while making numerous grammatical errors and malapropisms, humor had been used to paper over his deficiencies. Republicans sought to convert negatives to positives by revealing the Texas governor as someone like your next door neighbor, imperfect, not knowing all the answers, but the type of person you would like to invite over for a beer.
An older, more experienced political hand was needed to keep a sometimes-rambunctious George W. Bush in tow and Dick Cheney, after running what Nichols and others concluded was a charade to seek a running mate for the Republican nominee, ultimately tapped himself. An important distinction between the two Republican candidates surfaced in the fall debates with their Democratic opponents. While Bush took a more restrained global political position against what he called "nation building," when Cheney had his lone vice presidential debate against Connecticut's Senator Joseph Lieberman an important distinction arose between the two Republicans.
Oddly, Cheney's stated position in his debate with Lieberman found them in more harmony than was the case when contrasting what he said along with the Bush position as expounded in his appearances with Al Gore. Cheney let it be known that he strongly believed in the U.S. assuming a role as warriors abroad rather than as peacekeepers.
He repeated an argument he had made when secretary of defense under the elder Bush that it would be a mistake to cut the defense budget in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. He opposed the "peace dividend" then and in the way that he perceived that Bill Clinton had used it. To Cheney it was a big mistake to transfer some budget priorities away from the Pentagon to the domestic sector.
When asked by debate moderator Bernard Shaw about where Iraq fit into his equation, Cheney assumed a hawkish position that would be advanced from the time that he took his office in the White House. As Nichols noted, those who watched the 2000 debates with an emphasis on what Bush was saying about restraint on the global scene were clearly paying attention to "the wrong end of the ticket."
As anti-terror intelligence specialist Richard Clarke and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill both wrote afterwards in insightful memoirs of the period after Bush took office, the focus from the beginning was on Iraq. The emphasis never varied even after the 9-11 attacks, which, despite Cheney's false claims, had nothing to do with Saddam Hussein.
In place of keeping the emphasis on Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda, Cheney sought to bring Iraq under the umbrella of international terrorism to generate a priority. It was a priority that was shared by members of the energy task force that met in Cheney's office under his chairmanship. Even a lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch failed to pry information out of tight-lipped Dick and cohorts, but a few maps were located dividing up Iraq among the oil elite.
We would ultimately learn that Cheney's old company Halliburton would receive a no bid contract to supply services in Iraq. Another favorite Republican multi national, Bechtel, corporate stomping grounds for George Schultz and Casper Weinberger, also prospered from Cheney largesse.
It was Cheney and not Bush that orchestrated the rush to war in Iraq. Cheney was the one who generated pressure among CIA analysts with appearances that were unprecedented from a vice president to the Langley headquarters. With Cheney leading the drumbeat Iraq was invaded.
Nichols is a crack researcher. After digging and revealing it becomes clear to any perceptive observer that Dick Cheney is the real power in the Bush White House.
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