Cheney is a scary dude and generally got his way when he was at the top. He seems like one of those guys who would personally strangle you on the way to the car if you went against him in a meeting.

When I read Bush's book I got the sense that Cheney effectively bullied him and his administration into doing a lot of things they were uncomfortable with. Take Scooter Libby for example.... They had several heated exchanges over the issue before Cheney flat out accused Bush of leaving a man behind on the battle field. Bush spoke of that situation like Cheney was his high school principal and he was in trouble for going against him.

You see a lot of that same behavior from him during the rapid escalation of the NSA's abilities and scope shortly after 9/11. They went from an honorable law abiding government agency that had been around since Pearl Harbor to straight up out of control Big Brother in a matter of 5 years.

Maybe Dick Cheney is a lizard alien or something.



As far as Iran goes, the American populace needs a boogie man. Conservatives rally behind Israel so Iran is used as an effective boogie man by proxy.