Travels with Cheney
HAYES, STEPHEN F.
Travels with Cheney The vice president visits the front lines of the war on terror BY STEPHEN F. HAYES Baghdad On a cool December morning, Vice President Dick Cheney and U.S. ambassador to Iraq...
...The embassy official, shouting now, explained that the Cheney staffers had sensitive information in their bags and would not submit to a search...
...Musharraf thanked Cheney and the American people for providing assistance, both financial and operational, to the difficult relief effort in the aftermath of the October earthquake in Pakistan that killed over 73,000 people and left hundreds of thousands without homes...
...Speaking through a translator, the Iraqi prime minister revealed that he had not been told Cheney was coming...
...After a laugh, he stood behind the group and summoned up a look of mock disappointment for a photo taken by the staff nurse...
...The guards were impassive...
...The diminutive spokesman told me that Pakistani authorities are responsible for the capture or killing of more than 700 al Qaeda terrorists since the fall of 2001...
...The schedule called for a brief photo opportunity at the beginning of the session...
...troops in a tent outside an outbuilding at the base...
...Cheney reminded the Afghan president that he, Cheney, had served in Congress for 10 years and was thus quite used to long speeches...
...The overstuffed three-ring binder on his desk—perhaps six inches thick—suggested he wasn't kidding...
...Every American serving in this war can be absolutely certain the people of the United States are behind you...
...Each member of parliament was given a bound book recounting the accomplishments of the Afghan government since the end of the war in late 2001...
...embassy in Kabul tried in vain to explain to the Afghan guards that they had made a mistake by excluding government officials traveling with Cheney...
...Cheney and Khalilzad had waved to the departing vehicle and walked back inside...
...ambassador to Pakistan, underscores what Ali Khan told me about Pakistani coverage of the U.S...
...You've heard some prominent voices advocating a sudden withdrawal of our forces from Iraq...
...Al-Jaafari would not be so brief...
...Bashar's cheeks were ruddy...
...An eager press corps—with cameras and microphones, pens and pads at the ready—waited to capture the handshake between Cheney and Iraqi prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari on Cheney's first trip to liberated Iraq...
...The embassy official continued to make his case to the Afghan guards, all of whom were wearing sleek sunglasses and Western-style casual clothes...
...The press gathered in the makeshift filing center at 5:15 a.m...
...A White House official later confirmed that Vice President Cheney, who was wearing an earpiece to receive the translation of the speech, also got to hear this rambling self-critique...
...It describes him as a former member of the Iraqi army who was recruited by the Taliban in Baghdad in 1994...
...The easels displayed Today-like charts and graphs explaining various aspects of the progress made in standing up the Iraqi army...
...He enthusiastically shook Cheney's hand as he explained that the Iraqi soldiers under his supervision were responsible for providing regional security for the recent elections...
...General Bashar, like Talabani and al-Jaafari, made a point of offering his thanks...
...There has been concern among conservative activists and Republicans in Congress that this new campaign would be short-lived, that the administration would return to its defensive crouch of last summer as soon as the poll numbers rebounded...
...Cheney glanced up with a smile, shook his head, and held his finger to his lips...
...Ali Khan added that the U.S...
...Moments later, it was down to four...
...Our country will never go back to the false comforts of the world before September 11, 2001...
...It's not just random conversations...
...Cheney's staff sat in three rows of airplane seats across the front of the plane...
...The traveling press watched most of the speech in the comfortable holding room, with each reporter given an opportunity to rotate into the parliament chamber for a portion of the address...
...The Iraqi prime minister called 2005 "one of the most important years in Iraqi history" and noted the increase in turnout with each of the three elections this year...
...Either we believe that there are individuals out there doing everything they can to try to launch more attacks, to try to get ever deadlier weapons to use against [us], or we don't...
...But they are wrong...
...The flight and arrival at Bagram were uneventful—not something we would be able to say about anything else that day...
...Just as we settled in, there were shouts from the hallway...
...we have the right to declare all those who aspire [to] the destruction of our soil, that this country will never vanquish...
...And that our obligation and responsibility, given our job, is to do everything in our power to defeat the terrorists...
...Some have suggested this war is not winnable...
...He joined al Qaeda, lived at an al Qaeda camp, and received payments from Osama bin Laden...
...He says, "Just about every day there is some article or photograph that highlights the work we do here...
...There are two requirements, and that's one of them...
...And they waited...
...Cheney ended with what may be the most forceful on-the-record defense of Bush administration national security policy yet...
...The room had large leather office chairs as well as several comfortable armchairs...
...Tens of thousands of houses are carved into the side of these mountains, even at the highest of elevations, and hundreds of footpaths cut back and forth across the face of the range...
...Then six...
...That's still a possibility, but if Cheney's language this week is any indication, it appears the Bush administration will continue to make the case aggressively that Americans are better off because of its conduct of national security policy, including the Iraq war...
...Not unlike overzealous mall cops, the Afghans were thrilled to be exercising what little power they had, and so insisted that the Cheney staffers have their bags and bodies searched along with the traveling press...
...On the return trip to Oman, a senior administration official confirms a report that has been circulating among the reporters on Air Force II...
...They waited some more...
...But from our perspective, from the standpoint of the president, we spend a lot of time on it between us...
...An ABC News/Washington Post poll released while Cheney was still in the region showed marked improvement in President Bush's overall approval (up 8 points to 47 percent) as well as his conduct of the war on terror (up 8 points to 56 percent) and its crucial battle in Iraq (up 10 points to 46 percent...
...We discussed the role of Pakistan in the war on terror...
...You not get a search, you stay here," he said, motioning to the ground outside the tall gate...
...May God bless you all...
...A dark blanket of smog hovered over the city...
...Some of the tanks, a sandy yellow in color, were reconstructed from parts of tanks leftover from the old Iraqi army...
...The vice president appeared relaxed, wearing a lightweight black U.S...
...After the Gulf war, he ran afoul of the government and was sentenced to five years in prison...
...A white Chevy Suburban equipped with a rooftop device to scramble remotely controlled bombs had pulled up just as the men completed their final handshakes...
...He looked like the Iraqi army officers who stood by Saddam Hussein's side in so many photographs of the former dictator...
...The press remained outside...
...The president and I believe very deeply that there's a hell of a threat, that it's there for anybody who wants to look at it...
...Even the religious extremists are going to the U.S...
...Audio...
...The vice president said it is this pol-icy—not luck or fate—that explains why the United States has not been attacked in the last four years...
...One curiosity from the speech: Karzai said that the people of Afghanistan "appreciate the support of Iran with regard to reconstruction and the fight against terrorism...
...After his morning meetings in Baghdad, Cheney helicoptered to Taji Air Base just north of Baghdad...
...They began pushing and shoving the guards and one another, randomly flashing their media credentials as if that might solve the problem...
...Under Saddam Hussein, Taji was the base of the Hammurabi division of the Iraqi army...
...Upon landing, we were shown to a gravelly patch of the base, where we were introduced to a man named Ayoub Bashar...
...These brief exchanges usually produce little substantive news, but they are important for TV coverage...
...At each seat was a large green and gold copy of the Koran and a small plate of sweets, covered with clear plastic wrap and adorned with a red bow...
...4,325 new "health posts" have been established...
...Another Afghan official was jawing, manager-to-umpire-style, with the U.S...
...Here is the rest of that exchange: CHENEY: What private conversations...
...Sir, they were so, so, so proud to do this mission, the election," he said loudly, unable to conceal his own pride...
...soldiers...
...I thought only the ambassador was going to be here," he said, smiling...
...Talabani had said all of the right things in a brief statement before the press was removed from the 20-minute private meeting with the Americans...
...He served one of those years and was released...
...Shortly before 3 p.m., several hundred soldiers gathered in a large hangar for Cheney's speech...
...Army jacket, a blue button-down shirt, gray flannels, and brown hiking boots...
...A strong wave of musk cologne wafted over the press corps as al-Jaafari and a top adviser emerged from the vehicle and greeted the Americans...
...He offered his guests a beer, but didn't have one himself, saying he had lots of work to do on the flight back to Washington...
...Cheney-approved diet...
...The press was escorted from the room, and presumably the real work began...
...Two Afghan guards in Western-style business suits blocked the journalists' exit and had no apparent interest in whatever it was the journalists were shouting...
...Three of them did not...
...Today it is home to both American and Iraqi soldiers, in one of the success stories of U.S...
...If you're calling Aunt Sadie in Paris, we're probably not really interested...
...I asked Ali Khan whether the U.S...
...That's no accident...
...embassy official...
...The doorway was a collection of flailing arms and legs and hands with notepads, as local Afghan journalists tried to escape...
...I know most of you have heard the political debates that have been going on back home...
...Bashar spoke with a heavy accent, but his English is good...
...The U.S...
...his belly was round...
...There's a temptation for people to sit around and say, well, gee, [9/11] was just a one-off affair, they didn't really mean it...
...From our perspective, we don't see much as far as gains...
...He is the former chief of armor for the army of the ousted regime...
...In the past week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made appearances on several Sunday talk shows...
...Well, I'm not Jessica Simpson...
...According to the Pentagon document: From 1997 to 1998, the detainee acted as a trusted agent for Usama Bin Ladin, executing three separate reconnaissance missions for the al Qaeda leader in Oman, Iraq, and Afghanistan...
...local time, after a half-hour drive past local shops interspersed with the occasional Hardees, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Baskin Robbins...
...The only way to lose this fight is to quit...
...Cheney phoned Tueni's father Thursday to express condolences for the murder of his son...
...for the trip to Pakistan...
...Just tell them to back the f— off...
...It's probably the most rugged swath of land I've ever seen in my life," says Rear Admiral Michael LeFever, commander of the Disaster Assistance Center in Pakistan, as he briefs Cheney...
...The American officers who work with him describe Bashar as a demanding and effective leader...
...It must," he said, "especially in those areas...
...Turning to Cheney, al-Jaafari continued: "I'm very happy for your presence and for the presence of American soldiers...
...Sultan said he vaguely remembered the capture, and promised to provide additional details in the coming days...
...CHENEY: It's important that you be clear that we're talking about individuals who are al Qaeda or have an association with al Qaeda, who we have reason to believe are part of that terrorist network...
...Cheney did, in fact, cast the deciding vote...
...He quickly turned serious, using the occasion to thank the troops for their service and to challenge critics back home...
...The corpulent Kurd had offered kind words for the "American brave Army" and told Cheney that Iraqis regarded him and George W. Bush as "great heroes of Iraq...
...Louis and San Diego vs...
...A tall, bespectacled staff member from the U.S...
...EST, which meant that we had been traveling—and awake— for 30 hours...
...Said Cheney: Well, Iraq's looking good...
...and senior national security officials were made available for rare on-the-record press briefings...
...Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld also traveled to Iraq and the region...
...Most of Cheney's staff made it inside the heavily guarded complex without incident...
...Late that afternoon we left for Oman...
...Stephen F. Hayes is a senior writer at THE WEEKLY STANDARD...
...Back inside, Cheney had given a three-sentence statement to the press explaining that he was delighted to be in Baghdad...
...After the press was dismissed, Karzai opened the meeting by apologizing that his address had taken an hour, according to a White House official...
...Through public and private contributions, the United States is providing more than $500 million in relief funds...
...Thank you for giving us democracy and prosperity...
...Today, Major General Bashar is commander of the 9th Mechanized Division of the Iraqi army...
...As he conducts a made-for-TV tour, Bashar stopped in front of each group of soldiers to explain their background and their duties...
...Americans will not support a policy of submission, resignation, or defeatism in the face of terror...
...Come...
...Bottom line is, we've been very active and very aggressive defending the nation and using the tools at our disposal to do that...
...Come...
...I returned to my conversation with Sohail Ali Khan, who also promised to help...
...The next stop for Cheney was a meeting with Karzai at the presidential palace...
...Cheney's trip took him to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Oman, but the most important stop was his surprise visit to Iraq, three days after successful parliamentary elections there...
...The ceremony began with a reading from the Koran...
...a total of 300 U.S...
...We would once again leave the roomy 757 often designated as Air Force II on the tarmac in Oman in favor of the inconspicuous C-17 transport for the three-hour flight to Bagram Air Base...
...Currently 23 physicians, both American and Pakistani, are staffing the hospital...
...Most of the traveling press was escorted out of the tent, leaving only a pool reporter, who apparently didn't inhibit anyone...
...According to officials familiar with their contents, the documents provide an unfiltered look inside a criminal regime that brutalized its own citizens, bought off numerous European politicians, and provided significant support to transregional terrorists...
...With him came a well-dressed Afghan official...
...The session ended some 30 minutes later, and Cheney, his staff, and the traveling press returned to the cavernous gray C-17 military transport that had brought us to Baghdad 10 hours before...
...We are heading back to Washington a day early...
...CHENEY: Which people overseas...
...Of the three battalions in the division, two "control their own battle space...
...It may not do any good, but I can make sure that it happens...
...We were led to a holding room about 30 feet down the hallway...
...personnel are involved in the project...
...soldiers' efforts to train their Iraqi counterparts...
...Cheney then turned his attention from the Iraqi soldiers to the Americans...
...Come...
...Cheney traveled in the "silver bullet," a portable stand-alone unit bolted to the floor of the airplane that looks like one of those throwback replicas of 1950s diners that are popping up across the United States...
...The first question, from Marine Corporal Bradley Warren, was openly skeptical of the mission...
...They were not told in advance who, exactly, would appear on stage...
...At 3:30 a.m., about midway through the 3rd quarter of the late football games, the traveling press gathered in the Regency Club to prepare for our departure to Afghanistan...
...relief effort had received extensive coverage in the Pakistani press...
...He had lunch with a group of U.S...
...Q: You tell me...
...relief effort...
...Al-Jaafari took the hint and stopped short...
...Bashar, a Sunni Arab like Saddam, was one of those officers...
...President Musharraf mentions U.S...
...In recent weeks, senior Bush administration and intelligence officials have been discussing several plans to expedite the public release of those materials...
...It appears that these efforts are paying dividends...
...American helicopters were on the ground providing assistance within 48 hours of the catastrophe, and that immediate effort resulted in the establishment of a more permanent presence in the remote town of Muzaffarabad...
...Ryan Crocker, U.S...
...That ranges from everything to going into Afghanistan and closing down the terrorist camps, rounding up al Qaeda wherever we can find them in the world, to an active robust intelligence program, putting out rewards, the capture of bad guys, and the Patriot Act...
...the acrid smell of burning trash, familiar to those who have spent time in the Iraqi capital, was particularly strong this day...
...tents for treatment...
...That effort will likely include the release of documents and other materials captured in postwar Iraq...
...Nedra Pickler, a reporter with the Associated Press, asked Cheney: "Do you not understand, though, that some Americans are concerned to hear that their government is eavesdropping on these private conversations...
...Thank God for providing our nation the opportunity to be in control of its own destiny...
...Journalists and secret service personnel were relegated to canvas and steel seats that folded down from the sides of the plane...
...I asked him about Pakistani perceptions of the United States and its leadership, pointing to a Pew Global Attitudes Survey from June 2005 that found only 23 percent of Pakistanis have a favorable view of the United States, and only 10 percent approve of George W. Bush...
...An Afghan guard began to respond, but was shouted down...
...As Cheney and Musharraf met privately, I struck up a conversation with Sohail Ali Khan, a spokesman for Musharraf...
...We were led through a chaotic hallway adjacent to the parliament chamber and shown into a holding room for the press...
...We're looking at small picture stuff, not many gains...
...monetary reform policy has produced a single, stable currency...
...He is currently working on a biography of Vice President Dick Cheney...
...He also missed a meeting in Riyadh with the father of slain Lebanese journalist Gebran Tueni...
...Part of it is that what we're doing here, obviously, takes time...
...Karzai reviewed several of these in his speech: Some 6,620 kilometers of highway have been graveled...
...Cheney picked up a tray and went through the food line...
...So Cheney skipped meetings with King Abdullah in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Hosni Mubarak, in Cairo, Egypt...
...The brief flight to Taji took us over the court house where Saddam Hussein's trial is being held, over buildings worn down from years of war, and over the vast stretches of sandy nothingness that make up much of Iraq...
...His large smile was partially obscured by the bushy black mustache across his upper lip...
...Tell the guys with the big guns to get the f— away from our journalists," barked a Secret Service official...
...He added, with a slight smile: "If you've got any complaints, I can take them straight to the top...
...We arrived at our hotel in Muscat, Oman, the Grand Hyatt, at about 10:30 p.m...
...We opted not to join them...
...We're going to kick the press out in a minute so they don't inhibit anybody...
...Which explains why we were there...
...The airfield was the second largest in Iraq under Saddam Hussein and was home to most of the Iraqi air force...
...As we waited outside the palace for Cheney's arrival, one of Karzai's press handlers informed us that he would allow no more than nine American journalists in the room...
...I was wondering what it looks like from the big side of the mountain—how Iraq's looking...
...According to figures provided by U.S...
...The meeting had concluded and the four men had walked briskly outside to the front of the ambassador's residence...
...After five minutes the Shiite leader arrived in another white Chevy Suburban...
...Moments earlier, after a meeting that to all outward appearances had run precisely as planned, Cheney and Khalilzad had bid farewell to President Jalal Talabani and Minister of Planning Barham Saleh, two leading Kurdish politicians...
...James Rosen, a Fox News Channel White House correspondent, peered through a mesh window in front of Cheney's line of sight and asked the vice president whether the lamb kebabs were on a Mrs...
...4 million Afghan refugees have come home...
...The members of parliament were arrayed before him in a semicircle, many dressed for the cold weather outside...
...Fearing that we risked missing some of the ceremony, we consented to searches of our bags and our bodies...
...And that's exactly what we're doing...
...The Americans grew increasingly agitated, speaking into their sleeves and plotting their next move...
...I want to hear from you," Cheney told the soldiers...
...Although the response from the crowd was enthusiastic when they learned that their honored guest was the vice president of the United States, Cheney began his remarks with an acknowledgment that he was a disappointment to some...
...In August 1998, the detainee traveled to Pakistan with a member of Iraqi Intelligence for the purpose of blowing up the Pakistan, United States and British embassies with chemical mortars...
...Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has requested that the vice president return immediately to break an anticipated 50-50 tie on the deficit reduction package...
...It's hard sometimes, if you look at just the news, to have the good stories burn through...
...ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad waited for their distinguished guests on the sidewalk outside of the ambassador's residence in the heart of the fortified Green Zone in downtown Baghdad...
...The Afghan journalists penned in the other holding room had been freed and were charging—some of them in a full sprint—in the direction of a promised audio feed of the proceedings...
...After a delicious lunch of chicken kebabs and saffron rice, we board four Chinook helicopters to Muzaf-farabad, six miles from the epicenter of the earthquake...
...Asked later about the reference, a senior Bush administration official refused to comment, saying he had not heard the line...
...The same poll found that only 9 percent of Pakistanis surveyed thought the world was a safer place with Saddam Hussein out of power (53 percent thought his removal made the world more dangerous) and only 22 percent approved of the U.S...
...On the wall above the door was a large, wall-mounted plasma television with a live feed from inside the parliament chamber...
...Arrayed before the two men, over an area approximately the size of a football field, were several small groups of Iraqi soldiers standing before their tanks...
...We landed at Chaklala Air Base shortly before noon, and after a short helicopter ride arrived at the presidential palace in Islamabad, where Cheney met with President Pervez Musharraf...
...Some 71 percent of Pakistanis interviewed were very or somewhat worried that the United States presented a military threat to their country...
...assistance in virtually every speech he gives, and often speaks of the fact that U.S...
...After lunch, Cheney and his entourage boarded helicopters for Al Asad Air Base, approximately 180 kilometers west of Baghdad...
...It's hard, tough, day-in, day-out kind of work that all of you are involved in...
...To you and to the American people, we like to thank them for the help they are giving us," he said...
...The division has captured or killed 40 high value targets from the insurgency this year...
...The debate soon escalated...
...As Afghan schoolchildren assembled for a patriotic song, the translator, unaware that his microphone was still on, began assessing his own performance and otherwise commenting on the ceremony...
...military has set up a MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) unit in Muzaffarabad that continues to treat residents, including many with lingering injuries from the earthquake two months ago...
...As al-Jaafari provided additional details— "from 59 percent in January, to 63 percent in October, to 70 percent on December 15"—Khalilzad grew impatient...
...Karzai delivered parts of the speech in Dari and parts in Pashto, Afghanistan's two official languages, and it wasn't until 40 minutes into the speech that the audio feed in the holding room was switched to the English translation...
...soldiers helped unload a transport plane sent by the Iranian regime in the days immediately following the disaster...
...On the first leg of the flight from Oman to Andrews Air Force Base, Cheney called the seven reporters traveling with him back to his cabin for a chat...
...His combat experience dates back to the Iran-Iraq war...
...A Musharraf spokesman put me on the phone with Major General Shaukat Sultan, a spokesman for the Pakistani army...
...After the speech, Cheney met with 30 U.S...
...The day marked the opening of the democratically elected parliament in Afghanistan, a milestone for the new Afghan government and for Bush administration foreign policy...
...Then President Hamid Karzai rose to deliver a speech marking the opening of parliament...
...Several others, these light gray, were donated to the new Iraqi army by Hungary and Greece...
...Cheney shook hands with each man...
...Vice President Cheney and his wife Lynne were seated in the front row...
...Although much of the session was a playful back-and-forth between Cheney and the reporters, the vice president turned serious when he was asked about a recent N^'w Yo^k Times story that exposed a National Security Agency surveillance program instituted after September 11...
...When the meeting was over, we returned to Bagram Air Base, where Cheney addressed a rally for the troops and met with General Karl Eikenberry for a briefing on military operations in Afghanistan...
...On consecutive days, President Bush delivered a particularly meaty version of his weekly radio address, gave a prime time address to the nation from the Oval Office, and held a nationally televised press conference in the East Room...
...The television in each room carried two of the early NFL games live—Philadelphia vs...
...A bystander explained that the journalists had just been told they might not be allowed in the parliament chamber for the opening ceremony...
...This gathering represents the assumption of full sovereignty by the great people of Afghanistan and Almighty God's blessing...
...And that is not an option...
...Moments later, as the chaos continued, a burly White House official emerged from inside the compound...
...Inside, Cheney's room features a desk with two chairs, a sofa and coffee table, a flat-screen plasma television, and a private bathroom...
...And a few seem almost eager to conclude that the struggle is already over...
...Indianapolis...
...I had been trying to obtain additional information about this detainee since March, when the Pentagon released a provocative "Summary of Evidence" describing his activities...
...He widened his eyes, dipped his chin, and sliced his left hand through the air palm down as if to say, "Enough...
...After the White House staffer pointed to the three Cheney staffers, his Afghan counterpart shouted instructions to his subordinates, who allowed the three American officials to walk through the gate unmolested...
...I asked specifically about an al Qaeda member detained in Khuzdar, Pakistan, in July 2002...
...Ten seconds later, they had reemerged before the cameras to greet al-Jaafari...
...Moments passed, but no one came...
...officials, the First Brigade of the 9th Mechanized Infantry Division has 2,494 trained soldiers and 146 combat vehicles...
...More commotion...
...relief effort could affect those attitudes...
...Cheney's trip comes as part of a coordinated—and long overdue—Bush administration public relations offensive on Iraq and the war on terror...
...Once again, we opted not to join them...
...With hopes for a prosperous future for the people of Afghanistan, I am opening the first session and the legislative period of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan...
...On the flight, Cheney emerged from the Silver Bullet to find most of his staff sprawled asleep over their three rows of seats...
...After a short helicopter ride, we landed on a street in downtown Kabul just outside the presidential palace...
...Those games started at 1 p.m...
...In front of every third tank stood carefully placed easels weighted to the ground with sandbags...
...Either we're serious about fighting the war on terror or we're not...
...Karzai strained to control his emotions as he concluded his remarks, rendered thus by the interpreter: We Afghans have the right to stand with full dignity and self-confidence in front of the people of the world and say that this immortal phoenix, this beloved Afghanistan, once again rose from the ashes of invasion and subjugation...
...The entire group sat on folding chairs around a large rectangular table...
...The 30-minute flight takes us between 12,000-foot mountain peaks stretching high into the clouds...
...Q: The private conversations between Americans and people overseas...
...It's probably the single most important problem on our platter that we have to deal with—and we do every day...
...As Khalilzad chattered in Cheney's ear, the vice president stood looking at the cloudless blue sky with his hands clasped behind his back, sporadically shuffling his right foot back and forth...
...He also acknowledged Cheney and thanked the United States for its help...
Vol. 11 • January 2006 • No. 16
