VIEW: A prayer for Dick Cheney —Syed Mansoor Hussain

Hopefully Mr Cheney will stay in good health and continue in office. However, there is a possibility that some sort of change in the present policy in Iraq will become necessary. In that case it is remotely possible that Mr. Cheney might have to take the fall

On days that the need for such things comes upon me, I often among pray for the continued good health of Dick Cheney, Vice President of the United States. I do, however, want to make it clear at the outset that I oppose almost everything that Mr. Cheney stands for.

No, I will not go as far as some of my Democrat compatriots might for I do not believe that he is actually a reincarnation of the devil in human form. Moreover, I also believe that some of the blame for what this government is doing in the US and the rest of the world rests on the shoulders of the born-again Christian that chose him as his VP.

The reason why I worry about the continued good health of Mr Cheney includes the fact that he has had bypass surgery on his heart twice, that he has had a stent put in one of the arteries of his heart since then and has a box inside his body called an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) that will shock his heart if it develops an irregular heart beat that could otherwise cause his death.

Most people of his age who have accumulated as much wealth as he has and have gone through such procedures prefer to spend their remaining days gazing at sunsets in some seaside villa. He, however, prefers to run the world and find new countries he can make the US invade or attack. Even though I admire him for his willingness to ignore his medical history, I would have hoped that he had chosen to stay out of public life.

His medical problems aside, recently the plane carrying Mr Cheney developed a malfunction that caused an ‘unscheduled landing’. Soon after that the airbase he was staying at in Afghanistan became the target of a suicide bombing attack. After these brushes with danger, I hope that Mr Cheney will go back and stay safely put in his undisclosed residence somewhere deep in the bowels of Washington DC.

There are a couple of important reasons why I would want him to live out his natural life and be around for quite a few more years. The first of course is as a famous Punjabi verse says: “Be not happy if your enemy dies for one day so will your beloved.” So, I hope that Mr Cheney continues as vice president through the present term of President George Bush. The other reason has more to do with politics. If the office of vice president becomes open this far ahead of the general elections that will create problems for the Democrats.

There has been some muted talk in the US media that it would be better for the present administration if Mr Cheney leaves his job at this time. Many believe that he is one of the architects of the failed US policy in Iraq. Like his friend the former secretary of defence, Donald Rumsfeld, Mr Cheney has become too closely identified with the Iraqi misadventure and is now the major force standing in the way of decisions that this administration must make to extricate the US from Iraq.

Considering the beating the Republican party took on the Iraq issue in the midterm elections last year, it is quite likely that many within the Republican party would like to see some early conclusion to the campaign. Perhaps, in time for the general election to be held next year. However most Republicans realise that as long as Mr Cheney is in the picture, nothing of the sort is likely. Therefore I have a sneaking suspicion that some of them might be hoping that Mr. Cheney’s health problems force him to resign as vice president.

However, if Mr Cheney leaves office for any reason whatsoever, he will have to be replaced as vice president. The person who replaces him will then become a contender for the Republican nomination for president next year and possibly even a favourite to win it. Therefore the leading Republican candidates would all prefer to have Mr Cheney continue in his position. Unless of course one of them gets that position.

Senator John McCain would be a natural for that position since he essentially agrees with the Iraq policy of this administration. But his ascendancy to the vice presidency would vacate a safe Republican seat and allow the Democratic governor of Arizona to appoint a Democrat to fill the vacancy. Of the other candidates, former mayor of NYC, Rudy Giuliani would be an unlikely choice and so would Mitt Romney the former governor of Massachusetts. Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House of Representatives might be an interesting alternative.

All this is conjecture and hopefully Mr Cheney will stay in good health and continue in office. However, there is a possibility that some sort of change in the present policy in Iraq will become necessary. In that case it is remotely possible that Mr. Cheney might have to take the fall. Unfortunately, it is most likely that American boys and girls fighting in Iraq and the Iraqis will be the ones taking the fall for the well-known obstinacy that has marked the policies of this administration.

It was widely reported in the US press that Mr Cheney was sent to Pakistan by President Bush to impress upon President General Pervez Musharraf the need to do more about the Taliban. The need to ‘do more’ has become the mantra of the Bush administration.

All you hear from the minions of this administration is that the reason why things are not getting better in Iraq is because the Iraqis need to do more and Afghanistan is not doing well because the Pakistanis need to do more. If it was always up to the Iraqis and the Pakistanis to get things better then what indeed are the US and its allies doing in these countries?

Syed Mansoor Hussain has practised and taught medicine in the US. He can be reached at [email protected]