“Help is on the way” for military leadership & morale

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)

Would invade Kuwait even if Congress voted against it

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.

Warned in 1990 of nuclear & chemical proliferation