More headlines: Dick Cheney on Defense
(Following are older quotations. Click here for main quotations.)
“Help is on the way” for military leadership & morale
For eight years, Clinton and Gore have extended our military commitments while depleting our military power. Rarely has so much been demanded of our armed forces, and so little given to them in return. George W. Bush and I are going to change that. I
have seen our military at its finest. And I can promise them now, help is on the way. Soon, our men and women in uniform will once again have a commander in chief they can respect, one who understands their mission and restores their morale.
Source: Speech accepting nomination for Vice Presidency
Aug 2, 2000
1980s: Against nuclear freeze; for draft registration
Cheney’s votes on key defense bills in Congress:- Voted NO to block chemical weapons production (1986)
- Voted YES to produce MX missiles (1985)
- Voted NO to adopt nuclear freeze (1983)
- Voted NO to delete MX funding (1982)
- Voted IN FAVOR of sale of AWACs planes to Saudi Arabia (1981)
- Voted YES to approve military draft registration (1980)
- Voted YES to aid Sandanistas in Nicaragua (1980)
Source: Congressional Record, in Poltics in America, Alan Ehrenhalt
Jan 1, 1986
Would invade Kuwait even if Congress voted against it
Q: But if you’d lost the vote [in Congress authorizing force in Kuwait]?A: I would certainly have recommended we go forward anyway. Again, you don’t go back having deployed forces over there and decided it
was of strategically vital interest. The worst thing you could do in terms of the situation in that part of the world once you’ve got 500,000 troops out there in the desert is you can’t leave them there indefinitely, you cannot
sustain that kind of deployment over time. Then you’re in real trouble if you decide you’re gonna bring them home.
Q: The President would have accepted that recommendation do you think?
A: It’s my conviction, that he would in fact have gone forward whether Congress had supported the effort or not.
Source: PBS FrontLine interview
Jan 9, 1996
Warned in 1990 of nuclear & chemical proliferation
By the year 2000, we estimate that at least fifteen developing nations will have the ability to build and deploy ballistic missiles. Eight of those nations either have or are near to acquiring nuclear capabilities.
Thirty countries will have chemical weapons, as well, and ten, we estimate, will be able to deploy biological weapons.
Source: Congressional testimony cited by Center for Defense Info.
Jan 1, 1992