[Reader-list] Dick Cheney, Commander in Chief

[Rana Dasgupta]

      Dick Cheney, Commander in Chief
      By Jim Lobe, AlterNet
      October 27, 2003


      "Like with a horse, Powell is always able to lead Bush to the water.
But
      just as he is about to put his head down, Cheney up in the saddle
says,
      'Un-uh,' and yanks up the reins before Bush can drink the water.
That's my
      image of how it goes," said Sen. Joseph Biden, the ranking member of
the
      Senate Foreign Relations Committee, describing the power relationship
      between George Bush and Dick Cheney in a recent interview with the
      National Journal.

      The image of the president of the United States as a tame horse,
saddled
      up and ridden by his own vice president, may seem overblown, but Biden
is
      not alone in his assessment of the White House's internal dynamics.
When
      it comes to foreign policy, Cheney is increasingly seen as holding the
      reins in the power circles within Washington.

      While the mainstream media mostly continue to cast Bush as the captain
of
      his ship, hints that Cheney is the dominant figure shaping
Washington's
      diplomatic policy have become too numerous to ignore. A recent
Washington
      Post article assessing Condoleezza Rice's performance as national
security
      adviser revealed a most stunning example of this lopsided state of
      affairs. According to the Post, Bush had ordered Cabinet officials not
to
      give any preferential treatment to Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National
Congress
      (INC) when U.S. forces moved into Iraq last spring. But soon after, in
      flagrant violation of his directive, the Pentagon flew Chalabi and 600
of
      his armed followers into southern Iraq in early April, "with the
approval
      of the vice president."

      It would not be the first or last time that Cheney simply ignored his
      commander-in-chief. The extent of Cheney's power is not surprising
given
      the degree to which Bush relied on him during his presidential
campaign
      and in the administration's early days. And the fact that Cheney, who
was
      asked by Bush to recommend his running mate in 2000, picked himself
for
      the job reveals that he expected to wield extraordinary power if Bush
won
      the election.

      Cheney's dominance has been the decisive factor in the ongoing battle
      between the Pentagon and the State Department over U.S. foreign
policy.
      Secretary of State Colin Powell, according to Biden's account, has
      sometimes talked Bush into pursuing a more conciliatory foreign-policy
      line, as he has done with North Korea or the United Nations from time
to
      time. But thus far Cheney's views have always won out in the long run.
      Enforcing policy discipline, especially in a divided administration,
is
      ordinarily the task of the national security adviser. But Rice, an
      academic whose substantive knowledge of foreign policy is largely
confined
      to the Soviet Union and Russia, has not been equal to the job. Her
failure
      combined with Bush's own passivity and inexperience has enabled Cheney
to
      dominate the policy process, particularly with respect to the Middle
East
      where Cheney's views are almost entirely consistent with those of
Israeli
      prime minister Ariel Sharon.

      A Republican right-winger, Cheney is surrounded by neo-conservatives,
many
      with close ties to Israel's Likud Party. Even before Sept. 11, Cheney
had
      endorsed Israel's selective assassination policy; even as the State
      Department was busy denouncing it. One year later, Cheney told
Israel's
      defense minister, albeit privately, that he thought Palestinian
President
      Yasser Arafat "should be hanged." Biden told reporters in October, "If
you
      look at Afghanistan, if you look at the (Israeli-Palestinian peace)
road
      map, if you look at Iraq, if you look at bilateral and multilateral
      dealings with the Europeans, just as Powell looks like he will stitch
the
      garment back together again, Cheney goes to the Heritage Foundation
and
      re-enunciates the policy of preemption."

      Cheney has played a much more important role than Rice since the early
      days of the administration, despite her closer personal relationship
with
      the president. It was Cheney's choices that prevailed in the
appointment
      of both cabinet and sub-cabinet national-security officials, beginning
      with that of Donald Rumsfeld as Defense Secretary. Not only did Cheney
      personally intervene to ensure that Powell's best friend, Richard
      Armitage, was denied the deputy defense secretary position, but he
also
      secured the post for his own protégé, Paul Wolfowitz. Moreover, it was
      Cheney who insisted that the ultra-unilateralist John Bolton be placed
in
      a top State Department arms job; a position from which Bolton has
      consistently pursued policies that run counter to Powell's own views.
      Moreover, Cheney's own national-security staff is the largest ever
      employed by a vice president. Its members have largely been chosen for
      both their ideological affinity with their boss and proven Washington
      experience. "They play to win," said one State Department official.
      Cheney's chief of staff and national security adviser, I. Lewis
"Scooter"
      Libby, a Washington lawyer and Wolfowitz protégé, is considered a far
more
      skilled and experienced bureaucratic and political operator than Rice.
      With several of his political allies on Rice's own staff, including
      deputy national security adviser Stephen Hadley and Middle East
director
      Elliott Abrams; Libby "is able to run circles around Condi," noted a
      former NSC official .

      Cheney's muscle is most apparent in shaping the White House's Iraq
policy.
      He played a key role in assigning responsibility for post-war
      reconstruction to the Pentagon, a major departure from the
long-standing
      tradition to giving the State Department the lead in such areas.
      Similarly, Cheney backed the Pentagon's decision to entirely exclude
the
      State Department from the planning process. The State Department's
mammoth
      "Future of Iraq Project," which pulled together hundreds of Iraqi
      expatriates and other experts to come up with a detailed plan for the
      post-war reconstruction of Iraq, was simply ignored and so was Tom
      Warrick, a highly regarded Iraq specialist who oversaw the project.
      According to retired intelligence officers, Cheney and Libby played
the
      decisive role in distorting the intelligence used to make Bush's case
for
      war. Libby made frequent trips to the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) in
      the run-up to the Iraq war, pressuring analysts in include
questionable
      evidence supplied by the INC and Rumsfeld-led hawks.

      More recently, it was Cheney who led the effort to deny Powell the
      authority to negotiate a new UN Security Council resolution that would
      have reduced the Pentagon's control over the political transition in
Iraq,
      even though the president initially approved such a deal.

      The vice president is currently working within the White House to
resist
      congressional pressure to reduce Pentagon's control over Iraq policy
and
      to oust several senior hawks in the DoD. Beginning with Undersecretary
of
      Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, the neoconservatives in the Pentagon
are
      under fire for misleading Congress on both the evidence used to
justify
      the war and the post-war situation.

      Cheney's clout has even elicited rebukes from the Hill. Senate Foreign
      Relations Committee chairman Richard Lugar and Joe Biden, the
Committee's
      ranking Democrat, explicitly mentioned the vice president as part of
their
      bipartisan appeal to Bush, asking him to take control over his foreign
      policy.

      "I would say, Mr. President, take charge. Take charge ... Let your
      secretary of defense, state, and your vice president know 'This is my
      policy, any one of you that divert from the policy is off the team,'"
said
      Biden on NBC's 'Meet the Press' in early October. Lugar, a staunch,
albeit
      moderate Republican, appearing on the same show echoed the sentiment,
      adding, "The president has to be president. That means the president
over
      the vice president and over these secretaries."

      Recent announcements that Rice has hired Robert Blackwill, Bush's
former
      ambassador to India and reputedly a skilled bureaucratic and
Republican
      infighter himself, as her top deputy and that she is heading up a new,
      inter-agency Iraq Stabilization Group, are designed to create the
      appearance that she is at last taking charge of the country's foreign
      policy. So far, however, there is little evidence that Cheney is
prepared
      to turn over control of his favorite hobbyhorse.

      Jim Lobe writes on foreign policy for AlterNet, Inter Press Services,
      TomPaine.com and Foreign Policy in Focus.


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Rana Dasgupta
www.ranadasgupta.com
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