Letter: Cheney disregards democratic principles

Tuesday, June 12, 2007 | 6:59 a.m.

I often think about how the world would be different if Dick Cheney had not been George Bush's choice for vice president. President Bush seems to wonder what his legacy will be. I cannot see the history of this presidency being written without ample reference to how Cheney intimidated the president's advisers into seeing things Cheney's way.

He was able to bulldoze Colin Powell, a four-star general who later served as secretary of state, into retirement. He continues to frustrate Powell's replacement, Condoleezza Rice, with his warmongering ways, and evidence continues to trickle out about how he intimidated the CIA with his Iraq-9/11 fantasies and mushroom-cloud scenarios.

You would have to be blind to look at this man's record and not notice his disregard for democratic principles. He manipulated faulty intelligence into phony facts about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and he promoted bogus ties between Iraq and al-Qaida.

His reluctance to rescind his never-ending erroneous statements or to admit mistakes provides a scary look at how a loose cannon can defraud an entire nation. Cheney's disregard for national security was unveiled when he decided to expose an undercover CIA agent as retribution for her husband's opposition to his policies of disinformation.

More than 1,900 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Cheney reassured the country two years ago that the "insurgency was in its last throes," and yet the president continues to allow Cheney to spew his scare tactics and tired rhetoric. Bush's legacy may be that of "A Puppet President and His Apocalyptic Vice President."

Phil Ventura, Las Vegas