Cheney's Iraq Role Revealed

Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman has published a book called Angler. In it, he provides an account from a top Republican source that Vice President Dick Cheney told demonstrable lies in order to secure congressional authorization for the Iraq War. While it has long been alleged that Cheney fabricated justifications for the invasion, the report marks the first time a high-ranking Republican source has provided first-person corroboration for the suspicions.

The source is none other than former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas). According to the Los Angeles Times characterization of the book, "Armey had spoken out against the war, and his opposition gave cover to Democrats who feared the political costs of appearing to be weak." Armey reversed his position, however, after a private meeting in Cheney's Capitol office. In that meeting, Cheney assured Armey "that the threat from Iraq actually was more imminent than we want to portray to the public at large."

Cheney went on to describe that Iraq's "ability to miniaturize weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear," had been "substantially refined since the Gulf War," and would soon result in "packages that could be moved even by ground personnel." In other words, the dreaded "suitcase" nuclear bomb. There has never been a shred of U.S. intelligence to indicate Iraq possessed any such capacity.

Armey said he now believes Cheney intentionally misled him by stating, "Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had direct personal ties to al-Qaeda terrorists and was making rapid progress toward a suitcase nuclear weapon." Armey is quoted as summarizing, "Did Dick Cheney...purposely tell me things hew knew to be untrue? I seriously feel that may be the case...Had I known then or believed then what I believe now, I would have publicly opposed the (war) resolution right to the bitter end, and I believe I might have stopped it."

We are now in the home stretch of a highly charged presidential election campaign and so close to the end of Cheney's term that an impeachment trial is politically out of the question. Nonetheless, it would serve the country well to prosecute the Vice President for war crimes once he and President Bush leave office. There needs to be a strong example of serious personal consequences on the record the next time a constitutional officer contemplates committing the nation to a war based on a falsified and fabricated rationale. Over 4,500 Americans are dead as a result of these lies, nearly 1,600 more than were killed by Al-Qaeda operatives at the behest of Osama bin Laden on 9/11. As the President himself might say, it is time for all the evildoers to be brought to justice.