Dick Cheney Gives Early Warning – Asserts Presidential Power in Iran-Contra Report
The Iran-Contra Scandal (October 5, 1986; November 19, 1986) involved a number of violations of law by President Ronald Reagan’s administration. Congress investigated and issued the Joint Congressional Committee Report on the affair.
The report is most important for the Minority Report written by Rep. Dick Cheney (R–Wyoming), released on this day, which was an aggressive defense of presidential power in the area of foreign affairs, and the need to reverse the post-Watergate restrictions on that power.
Cheney’s statement was a very important preview of his actions as Vice President under President George W. Bush in the war on terrorism. See especially Cheney’s warning on September 16, 2001, just five days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., that the Bush administration would work “the dark side” in its war on terrorism.
Read the Minority Report of the Iran-Contra Report: http://archive.org/details/reportofcongress287unit
Learn more about Dick Cheney: Barton Gellman, Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency (2008)
Read the article “Remembering Why Americans Loathe Dick Cheney” here
Read more about Cheney: James Mann, Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush’s War Cabinet (2004)
Watch a commentary on Dick Cheney: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCumv1zKV_w