Former U.S. Vice President Cheney urged Bush to bomb Syria in 2007

[News_Editor]

Former U.S. Vice President Cheney urged Bush to bomb Syria in 2007

2011-08-26 04:53:08 GMT+7 (ICT)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney reveals in a new memoir book some of the most controversial decisions of the Bush administration regarding its tactics abroad, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

Dick Cheney, who served as Vice President of the United States from 2001 to 2009, has written an autobiography entitled "In my time: A personal and political memoir" which is due to be published by Simon & Schuster next week.

In his book, Cheney says he urged President George W. Bush to bomb a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor site in June 2007. But, he wrote, Bush opted for a diplomatic approach after other advisers expressed misgivings about taking U.S. military action against the reactor. In September 2007, the Israelis bombed the site.

According to The New York Times review, the book is often pugnacious in tone and expresses little regret about many of the most controversial decisions of the Bush administration. It also portrays Cheney as an outlier among top advisers with whom he often disagreed on national security issues.

In the memoir book, Cheney defends the use of "tough interrogations" such as water boarding on captured terrorism suspects, saying it helped extract information that saved lives. Former Vice president, who consistently defended Iraq's invasion, further rejects portrayals of such techniques as "torture."

The book also includes an account of Cheney's experiences during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when he essentially commanded the initial government's response while Bush played a peripheral role. Cheney wrote that he did not make any formal statement to the nation that day because "it would undermine the president, and that would be bad for him and for the country."

In regard to President Obama's military decisions, Cheney says he criticized the planned withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan but was "happy to note" that he has failed to close the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as he had pledged.

The book's recurring theme is Cheney's long struggle with heart disease. He reveals that he wrote a resignation letter in March 2001 in the event he had a health problem which would leave him incapacitated. However, Cheney never used the letter and he served two terms as vice president, leaving office alongside Bush in January 2009.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-08-26

[geriatrickid]

What a dangeous nasty piece of work this Cheney is.

Ever notice that people with no combat experience ( he obtained 5 deferments during the Vietnam war, so as to avoid service) are some of the most rabid proponents of attacks and war? Say what you want about Senators Kerry and McCain, but despite their tough lines, they are skewed to avoiding wars. Both Senator McCain, a former POW, and Kerry were vociferous in their protests about waterboarding.

Harry Truman, a veteran of the WWI trenches, Eisenhower & JFK, veterans of WWII were careful when it came to war.

Bush and Cheney who never saw active service did not share the cautious restraint typical of those that understood that war meant dead people and devastation.

Maybe one of the reasons why the USA has so many problems with military policy now is that the people who understand what war is are long gone from Congress. Those veterans of WWII and Korea, while conservative and perhaps rigid on some policies knew what it meant to have a friend die or to see someone's head blown off. Today's wars can be so arms length and impersonal, with the launching of missiles and the use of drones, that the people that need to understand the real costs, don't.

[Scott]

Very well said, GK. But even for those who may not fully understand the cost, Washington is starting to understand the cost in dollars. That maybe the only lesson they are capable of understanding at this point in time.

[flying]

What a dangeous nasty piece of work this Cheney is.

Ever notice that people with no combat experience ( he obtained 5 deferments during the Vietnam war, so as to avoid service) are some of the most rabid proponents of attacks and war?

Agreed Cheney is a piece of crap.

As for his rabid appetite...I dont think these dogs are so much hunting the attacks/wars as the profits they produce.

He & others have had long standing ties with Halliburton/KBR etc. All via no bid contracts.

In 2006/2007 his stock options rose 3,281 Percent

[Steely Dan]

So had the Israelis not bombed the Syrian reactor as Cheney advised Bush to we may now have found ourselves in a situation where Syria had nuclear capability in danger of falling into the hands of the Muslim brotherhood. I would agree his Vietnam 'record' does sound hypocritical but look where appeasement got us with Iran, and should a war with Iran become inevitable, as I suspect it will, you can tot up the cost of fighting that war years ago against a probably far greater cost of doing so against an Iran who are constantly building up their capabilities as well as those of their terrorist network.

[Wallaby]

As much as I despise Bush I must give him credit for ignoring that moron.

With his way of thinking he can't go jumping up and down when US soldiers are tortured. What's good for the goose......

[Credo]

You go to war because you have to; not because you want to. You don't fight someone just because you can beat them.

Because we don't like Iran, or agree with it's policies is not a good reason to go to war with them.

Bush's Iraq fiasco left a country in complete shambles and distracted everyone from more significant problems.

As for Cheny's book, I think I'd rather read the phone book than something he has written.

[Steely Dan]

You go to war because you have to; not because you want to. You don't fight someone just because you can beat them.

Because we don't like Iran, or agree with it's policies is not a good reason to go to war with them.

Bush's Iraq fiasco left a country in complete shambles and distracted everyone from more significant problems.

As for Cheny's book, I think I'd rather read the phone book than something he has written.

I would agree, you only should go to war if you have to, by that logic the removal of an already neutered Gadaffi was just as stupid as removing a neutered Saddam Hussein, so the Obama administration have no high ground on that front, nor do they with respect to the number of U.S casualties in Afghanistan which are overwhelmingly worse under the current administration than the previous one. The neocons may have been a kneejerk reaction to 9/11, but I would suggest Obama's actions with respect to cutting Mubarak loose and frankly appeasing Iran on every issue have caused far more damage to world stability than the Bush administration did.

[Credo]

I think you digress. I don't recall talking about the Obama administration. The book is from Cheney.

I didn't agree with the war in Iraq. I have no particular problem with the Libyan situation. I don't know that anyone has declared war. It seems that there is support for a rebel movement. Probably a wise and practical move once it was clear the Mr. Quadaffi was on his way. Best to be helping the winning side. In Libya I doubt there is a right and wrong side.

Syria is much tougher nut to crack. First, there is no organized resistance or rebellion to support. I am sure any attempt to form one would be crushed immediately.

The situation for the US in the case of Syria (and Iran by proxy)seems clear for now. No war unless attacked. For Israel, it is a much more pressing and personal nature, but I am fairly confident that any attack on Israel will meet the full might of the US military.

[TheWalkingMan]

So had the Israelis not bombed the Syrian reactor as Cheney advised Bush to we may now have found ourselves in a situation where Syria had nuclear capability in danger of falling into the hands of the Muslim brotherhood. I would agree his Vietnam 'record' does sound hypocritical but look where appeasement got us with Iran, and should a war with Iran become inevitable, as I suspect it will, you can tot up the cost of fighting that war years ago against a probably far greater cost of doing so against an Iran who are constantly building up their capabilities as well as those of their terrorist network.

appeasement? Wasn't that a buzz word on Fox News awhile back? I never heard that word mentioned as much as I did as when the boys at Fox put it into their rotation. Reminded me of advertising were the talking head mention the product over and over.

TheWalkingMan

[bonobo]

What a dangeous nasty piece of work this Cheney is.

Ever notice that people with no combat experience ( he obtained 5 deferments during the Vietnam war, so as to avoid service) are some of the most rabid proponents of attacks and war?

Agreed Cheney is a piece of crap.

As for his rabid appetite...I dont think these dogs are so much hunting the attacks/wars as the profits they produce.

He & others have had long standing ties with Halliburton/KBR etc. All via no bid contracts.

In 2006/2007 his stock options rose 3,281 Percent

I served in Iraq, and I saw the waste spent on private contractors, Halliburton being perhaps the biggest of them all. With the cost-plus method of accounting, the more the contractors spent, the more profit they made.

I certainly enjoyed the food we were served, for example, but did we really need lobster and prime rib? Did feeding one individual really need to cost almost $75 per day, whether we ate or not?

And did we need to pay security people $200k a year for going out once or twice a week when Marine lance corporals and Army corporals did the same on a daily basis for their $20k a year?

Whether true or not, the perception amongst people in Iraq was that this was all a sweetheart deal orchestrated by Cheney.

[flying]

I served in Iraq, and I saw the waste spent on private contractors, Halliburton being perhaps the biggest of them all. With the cost-plus method of accounting, the more the contractors spent, the more profit they made.

I certainly enjoyed the food we were served, for example, but did we really need lobster and prime rib? Did feeding one individual really need to cost almost $75 per day, whether we ate or not?

And did we need to pay security people $200k a year for going out once or twice a week when Marine lance corporals and Army corporals did the same on a daily basis for their $20k a year?

Whether true or not, the perception amongst people in Iraq was that this was all a sweetheart deal orchestrated by Cheney.

Exactly Bonobo...exactly