In this essay, I’m offering a possible explanation for Bushco’s insane behavior relating to Iran and nuclear weapons. I can’t prove this; I’m just reading between the lines and trying to find some motivation for all the recent U.S. manuvering that makes an iota of sense.
To be clear: I am not ADVOCATING this, for goodness’ sake; and I doubt it will even work. I am just trying to think of what might be in Cheney’s head.
My idea is that Cheney is reviving the old “Madman Theory” which Nixon — Cheney’s first political swami — used to intimidate the world. (I’m calling it the “Madman Gambit” because it is a gambit.) Cheney is doing this in order to influence trade talks with China.
The Madman Theory , Wikipedia:
The Madman theory was the defining characteristic of the foreign policy conducted by Richard Nixon’s presidential administration.
The administration attempted to make the leaders of other countries think Richard Nixon was mad, and that his behavior was irrational and volatile. Fearing an unpredictable American response, leaders of hostile Communist Bloc nations would avoid provoking the United States.
“I call it the Madman Theory, Bob. I want the North Vietnamese to believe I’ve reached the point where I might do anything to stop the war. We’ll just slip the word to them that, ‘for God’s sake, you know Nixon is obsessed about Communism. We can’t restrain him when he’s angry — and he has his hand on the nuclear button’ — and Ho Chi Minh himself will be in Paris in two days begging for peace.” — H. R. Haldeman, The Ends of Power
The administration employed this strategy to force the North Vietnamese government to negotiate a peace to end the Vietnam War. Along the same lines, American diplomats (Henry Kissinger in particular) portrayed 1970 incursion into Cambodia as a symptom of Nixon’s supposed instability.
Now look at some stuff about Cheney, also from Wikipedia :
Dick Cheney’s political career began in 1969, during the Nixon administration. He held a number of positions in the years that followed: special assistant to the Director of the OEO, White House staff assistant, assistant director of the Cost of Living Council, and Deputy Assistant to the President. Under President Gerald Ford, Cheney became Assistant to the President and then the youngest White House Chief of Staff in history. Many have pointed to this time as the point where both he and Donald Rumsfeld began consolidating political power. An article in Rolling Stone said, “Having turned Ford into their instrument, Rumsfeld and Cheney staged a palace coup. They pushed Ford to fire Defense Secretary James Schlesinger, tell Vice President Nelson Rockefeller to look for another job and remove Henry Kissinger from his post as national security adviser. Rumsfeld was named secretary of defense, and Cheney became chief of staff to the president.
He was campaign manager for Ford’s 1976 presidential campaign, while James Baker served as campaign chairman.
And here :
Secretary of Defense
Cheney served as the Secretary of Defense from March 1989 to January 1993 under President George H. W. Bush. He directed Operation Just Cause in Panama and Operation Desert Storm in the Middle East. In 1991 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for “preserving America’s defenses at a time of great change around the world.”
Private sector career
With Democrats returning to the White House in January 1993, Cheney left the Department of Defense and joined the American Enterprise Institute. From 1995 until 2000, he served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Halliburton, a Fortune 500 company and market leader in the energy sector. Under Cheney’s tenure, the number of Halliburton subsidiaries in offshore tax havens increased from 9 to 44. Meanwhile, Halliburton went from paying $302 million in company taxes in 1998 to overpaying taxes by $85 million and getting a refund of that amount in 1999. As CEO of Halliburton, Cheney lobbied to lift U.S. sanctions against Iran and Libya, saying they hurt business and failed to stop terrorism. [Think about THAT] He also sat on the Board of Directors of Procter & Gamble, Union Pacific, and EDS.
In 1997, he, along with Donald Rumsfeld and others, founded the “Project for the New American Century,” a think tank whose self-stated goal is to “promote American global leadership”.
So . . . why would Cheney revive the Madman Gambit now, in relation to Iran and nuclear war? Well, here’s one possibility: to put pressure on China:
Washington Post today:
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 11, 2006; 6:13 PMWASHINGTON — China has agreed to crack down on copyright piracy of American computer programs and lift a ban on U.S. beef as part of an effort to reduce a record $202 billion trade gap, the Bush administration said Tuesday.
The agreements were two of several made by China during a high-level meeting designed to reduce trade tensions in advance of next week’s U.S. visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao.
— snip —
Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi said that China, at the direction of top country officials, has been working earnestly to increase imports from the United States.
Wu noted that she is traveling with a delegation of more than 200 Chinese business executives with the expectation that they will sign 107 contracts to buy $16.2 billion in U.S. products.
Included in that is a deal to purchase 80 commercial airlines from Boeing Corp., at a list price of $4.6 billion.
— snip —
The Gambit would — in theory — be used to scare the bejesus out of Iran. This would scare China — which needs Iranian oil; and Iran would also shout at China to give these nuclear nutcases in the White House what they want. According to the gambit.
