At the Nationals' opening game at RFK stadium, Dick Cheney was roundly booed as he threw out the first pitch. However, the Washington Post reporter pretended that the crowd booed the bad pitch. It didn't. They booed Cheney. Just as a reminder to the Post, there are many good reasons why a crowd might boo Mr. Cheney. Here's just one line of thinking: the man has taken the art of prevarication to new heights--or lows. Following are eight of his more frightening deceptions:
1. "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction." August 26, 2002, Veterans of Foreign Wars National Convention
Truth: Despite years of searching since the invasion Dick Cheney advocated, no weapons of mass destruction have ever been found in Iraq.
2. "[Iraq is] the geographic base for the terrorists who have had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11." September 14, 2003, Meet the Press
Truth: The CIA's September 21, 2001 "President's Daily Briefing," which Dick Cheney received, said there was no link between the Iraqi government and the 9/11 attacks, a finding confirmed by every major investigation of the attacks since.
3. "I continue to believe--I think there's overwhelming evidence that there was a connection between al-Qaeda and the Iraqi government... I'm very confident that there was an established relationship there." January 22, 2004, NPR Morning Edition
Truth: The same September 21, 2001 CIA "President's Daily Briefing" said there was no Iraqi link to al-Qaeda, a finding also confirmed by every major investigation since.
4. "My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators." March 16, 2003 Meet the Press
Truth: The U.S. military who entered Iraq have not been greeted as liberators. Instead, they have been the victims of an increasingly mortal insurgency that has already killed 2,300 U.S. soldiers and wounded an additional 17,000.
5. "I can say that we, in fact, are consistent with the commitments of the United States that we don't engage in torture. And we don't." December 18, 2005 ABC News Nightline
Truth: Retired U.S. Army Col. Larry Wilkerson, who served as former Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff, told CNN on November 20, 2005, "There's no question in my mind that we did [torture]. There's no question in my mind that we may be still doing it. There's no question in my mind where the philosophical guidance and the flexibility in order to do so originated -- in the vice president of the United States' office. His implementer in this case was Donald Rumsfeld and the Defense Department."
6. "I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven't had, now, for over three years." September 21, 2003 NBC Meet the Press
Truth: Throughout his time as vice president, Dick Cheney has been receiving deferred compensation of $150,000 annually from Halliburton and holds company stock options worth over $18,000,000. These ties lead the Congressional Research Service to label the vice president's Halliburton ties as a "potential conflict of interest."
7. "I don't have anything to do with the contracting process, and I wouldn't know how to manipulate the process if I wanted to." Fox News Radio January 2004
Truth: On June 14th 2004 the Los Angeles Times reported that the vice president's office helped overrule a Army lawyer's blocking of a $7-billion no-bid contract to Halliburton in March 2003. Regarding a $1.9-billion contract in 2002, The New York Times wrote on July 14, 2004: "The Pentagon sought and received the assent of senior Bush administration officials, including the vice president's chief of staff, before hiring the Halliburton Company to develop secret plans for restoring Iraq's oil facilities."
8. "The amount of land affected by oil production [in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve] would be two thousand acres, less than one-fifth the size of Dulles International Airport." April 30, 2001 Annual Meeting of the Associated Press
Truth: Drilling for oil isn't a surgical activity that damages only the land upon which drilling takes place. Dick Cheney ignores the fact that most of the damage comes from creating the miles of roads and pipelines that will run through the protected lands to serve the drilling. The vice president is also deceptive in assuming that all of the drilling will take place in one, concentrated spot. In fact, the U.S. Geological Survey predicts the ANWR drilling is "expected to occur as several accumulations rather than a single large accumulation."