In My Time

Though he is a man of few words, Dick Cheney has actually written a book! It is entitled In My Time. I am almost done reading it, and I have enjoyed it. I am so thankful that George W. Bush chose him as his running mate, and gave him a significant role in decision-making, after the American electorate voted for the team. Cheney's deep respect for the courage shown by President Bush, especially in the earlier years of his presidency, is clear. The same for Cheney's appraisal of Don Rumsfeld, with whom Cheney remained close for four decades.

Cheney's disappointment in Colin Powell, with whom he had worked closely in the first Gulf War, is reflected in several examples in the book. Powell had been told by Richard Armitage that Armitage had been the one who had leaked classified CIA information, yet when Bush was asked if he knew who the leaker was, with Powell sitting silently beside him, Powell said nothing, while Bush said he would like to know who the leaker was. Like Rumsfeld wrote in his own book, Cheney also expresses disappointment in Condi Rice, especially for her naivety regarding the North Koreans.

While admitting that the intelligence reports by intelligence agencies in America and other countries was wrong regarding Saddam Hussein possessing weapons of mass destruction, Cheney has much praise for the difficult work done by intelligence officers. He points out the hypocrisy of people like John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, who based their initial votes on the Iraq war after reading the same intelligence reports as the Bush team, then whined that they had been betrayed. Cheney shows how intelligence activities saved many lives in the decade following 9-11.

Cheney's wife, Lynne, has been chosen Citizen of the West at this year's National Western Stock Show, which began today in Denver. She is a tremendous individual in her own right, as are the two Cheney daughters. They are a wonderful family, who have served America well.
Read about Lynne here: http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_18996068