Cheney key to hard line on Iraq

Posted on Tue, Sep. 16, 2003
Cheney key to hard line on Iraq
By Ron Hutcheson
Philly Inquirer Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Vice President Cheney has reemerged as the Bush administration's most forceful advocate of a hard-line policy in Iraq, and he is offering no concessions to win more international help.

Cheney's vigorous defense of U.S. policy during a television interview Sunday underscored his pivotal role in shaping President Bush's approach to the region. At a time when some Bush advisers, led by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, are seeking a midcourse correction, Cheney gave no indication that he had any second thoughts about the administration's case for war or its plan for rebuilding the country.

Senior administration officials say Cheney, arguably the most influential member of Bush's inner circle, took the lead in pushing for Saddam Hussein's removal. He was also among the most optimistic in assessing the prospects for postwar Iraq, predicting that U.S. troops would be greeted as liberators.

"His influence was at the starting point. He planted the seeds, and the seeds grew into what he wanted," said retired Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, who worked in the Pentagon office that dealt with postwar planning. "The vice president was a player in this policy."

Another senior administration official said Cheney "has been the most powerful engine behind the Iraq policy from the start." The official, who was unwilling to be identified as criticizing administration policy, said Cheney had tipped the balance in internal debates by siding with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld over Powell.

Rumsfeld shared Cheney's desire for military action and his distrust of the United Nations, whereas Powell pushed for diplomatic alternatives to war and is seeking a broader U.N. role in postwar Iraq.

"If it weren't for the vice president, Powell would have a fighting chance against Rumsfeld," the official said.

Cheney used the Sunday talk-show circuit to deliver a point-by-point defense of administration policy. He said the rising death toll in Iraq and the rising cost of the war should be balanced against the progress U.S. troops had made in transforming the country into a stable democracy.

"The price that we've had to pay is not out of line and certainly wouldn't lead me to suggest or think that the strategy is flawed or needs to be corrected," he said on NBC.

His comments raised new doubts about the administration's willingness to surrender any control in Iraq in return for international assistance. Bush is scheduled to travel to the United Nations in New York next week to urge nations around the world to contribute money, troops and expertise to Iraq's reconstruction.

The call for help is meeting resistance from France and other countries that want the United States to share power in Iraq with the United Nations.

Cheney's vigorous defense of administration policy was in keeping with his role during the buildup to war, when he was a persistent advocate for ousting Hussein.

"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction," Cheney said in August 2002, when others were advocating more U.N. weapons inspections. "There is no doubt that he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies and against us."

Since the war ended, no conclusive evidence has emerged that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.
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Contact reporter Ron Hutcheson at 202-383-6101 or [email protected].