The Dark Side

This video was about the great power of Dick Cheney. He had more of an influence on President Bush’s decisions with the conflict in the Middle East than the American people realized. Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld have a strong relationship which goes back to the Ford administration. With the two of them agreeing on the issues of foreign affairs, they were an unstoppable power. After 9/11 Cheney told bush that soon after attacking Afghanistan, they needed to seize the opportunity, and put Iraq on the table. However, the Director of Central Intelligence, George Tenet, knew that we had no justifiable reason to go into Iraq. This was the start of another war inside the Bush administration. Tenet and Bush also had a strong personal relationship. So Tenet had personal meetings with the president, in which he explained Afghanistan and Iraq were two very separate issues. With Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld hearing about Tenet’s differences, they came up with a reason in why we needed to be in Iraq. Their reason was that Iraq could have weapons of mass destruction and the terrorists could get their hands on them. Finally, there was a long battle George Tenet/CIA and Dick Cheney/allies in which ultimately, under pressure, Tenet resigned.