Cheney: War criminal or vice president?

With the presidential elections quickly approaching it is critical, or rather, a civic responsibility, that students look at the record and motives of those up for election. While tremendous attention has been placed upon the war record of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, little, if any, critical analysis has been dedicated towards important figures within the Bush Administration. President Bush consistently delegates key decisions of his administration (i.e., foreign policy, oil/energy) to his well-versed Vice President.

For this reason, it is essential that we look at this driving force within the Bush Administration, Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney served in Congress from 1978 to 1989. In Congress, Cheney voted against imposing sanctions upon the apartheid government of South Africa in 1986, which had been responsible for mass deportation, mass murder and institutionalized racial discrimination. Cheney added insult to injury by voting against a resolution calling for the release of Nelson Mandela. He was one of only 21 congressmen who voted against the banning of armor piercing, cop-killing bullets. He was one of only four congressmen who voted against a ban on guns able to pass through metal detectors. Cheney opposed increased air pollution regulations, the Equal Rights Act for women (which was never passed), and the Head Start education program. Cheney has constantly sided with weapons manufacturers, oppressive governments, war-profiteering companies and the extreme right throughout his career.

Cheney, an impassioned backer of aid to the Contra paramilitary death squads in Nicaragua, has consistently backed anti-democratic quasi-fascist groups. Cheney blocked any possibility of an impeachment of Ronald Reagan for the Iran Contra scandal, in which proceeds from the sale of U.S. arms to Iran had been diverted to the Contras. The Contras were responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people; they assassinated religious workers, teachers, health workers, elected officers and government administrators.

After leaving Congress, Dick Cheney served as the CEO of Halliburton from 1995-2000, the world's largest provider of products and services to the oil & gas industry. Under Cheney, a Halliburton subsidiary ignored the U.S. embargo by doing business with Saddam Hussein throughout the 1990's, selling $73 million in oil production equipment to the Baathist Regime.

Cheney's cronyism ensured Halliburton's litany of single-bid contracts during the current war in Iraq, even after Halliburton was found to have overcharged and stolen millions of dollars from U.S. taxpayers.

By the mid 1960s a Halliburton subsidiary known as Brown & Root won a $380 million contract to build military bases, hospitals, prisons and other facilities in South Vietnam for the U.S. Navy. In 1967, the General Accounting Office faulted Brown & Root for massive accounting lapses and theft.

The Cheney-Halliburton link shows the revolving door between the Bush Administration and corporate America's drive to profit from war and gain control of untapped oil reserves. Cheney continues to receive up to $200,000 a year from Halliburton, while receiving $198,000 as his salary for Vice President. The Congressional Research Service calls this a “conflict of interest.”

Jeb Sprague is a graduate student in History and a member of the CSULB Campus Progressive Collective.