New Defense Secretary Seeks Balanced Mideast Policy

By Scott Farris

Dick Cheney seems to play by his own rules.

He was the youngest White House chief of staff in history at the age of 34 under Gerald Ford.

As Wyoming's only member of the House of Representatives, he joined the House Republican leadership in only his second term, eventually rising to become assistant Republican leader.

And in March of this year, Cheney, 48, became only the fourth secretary of defense who had never served in the military.

Equally remarkable is the fact that, throughout his decade-long congressional career, Cheney has been unafraid to criticize Israeli policies he deemed detrimental to US interests, yet has continued to receive substantial sums of money from pro-Israel political action committees for his reelection bids.

A hawk on defense issues, Cheney pushed for development of the MX missile (now deployed in Wyoming) and for military aid to the contra rebels in Nicaragua, and praised the Reagan administration's invasion of Grenada and bombing of Libya. Yet, because of his low-key, likeable manner and reputation as a thoughtful historian, Cheney was labeled a moderate.

Cheney, who once said his "burning ambition" was to teach political science, earned a masters degree in that field from the University of Wyoming and a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin.

Cheney Served Under Nixon and Ford Administrations

He arrived in Washington in 1966 having won a fellowship to serve as an assistant to former Rep. William Steiger (R-WI). After that, Cheney served in a number of Nixon administration positions, including deputy to White House counselor Donald Rumsfeld, who later became secretary of defense.

After a brief hiatus from government, Cheney served on the Ford transition team. He then served as deputy assistant to the president, before his promotion to White House chief of staff in November 1975. After Ford's loss to Jimmy Carter in 1976, Cheney returned to Wyoming and worked as an investment adviser before running for Congress in 1978.

After his initial victory, Cheney never received less than 68 percent of the vote in five reelection bids.

His meteoric rise in the Republican House leadership was not even stalled by three heart attacks in 1978, 1984 and 1988. Cheney says his doctors at present have given him a clean bill of health.

Now, rejoining old friends from the Ford White House, Secretary of State James Baker III and National Security Adviser Gen. Brent Scroweroft, Cheney seems determined to maintain the reputation for balance he developed in Congress even in Pentagon dealings with the Middle East, where being evenhanded can be a politically risky venture for US officials.

In a recent interview back in his home state, Cheney noted that he has tried to listen to all sides involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict. During a month's time this spring, he met with Israeli Foreign Minister Arens, lunched with Jordan's King Hussein, entertained Egyptian President Mubarak and dined with Israeli Defense Minister Rabin.

Cheney vows to "argue as persuasively as I know how" with his former colleagues on Capitol Hill to adopt a "more balanced policy" in terms of improving relations with Arab nations.

Cheney agreed with his predecessor, Frank Carlucci, that congressional opposition to US arms sales to friendly Arab states has hurt American interests in the region.

"I think the United States does have a role to play in the area that does involve providing our Arab friends as well as our Israeli friends with the equipment they need in order to provide for their defense," Cheney said.

Such Arab nations as Saudi Arabia have been "loyal friends" of the United States, Cheney said, adding that he understood how frustration with Congress led the Saudis to purchase vast quantities of weapons from Great Britain.

"That's not in anybody's interest," Cheney said. "So I think we need to have a balanced policy that works to advance our interests with all parties, at least."

Although Cheney was raised in and represented a state in the Rocky Mountain west, his unique experience as White House chief of staff qualified him to take a leading role in Congress on issues relating to foreign policy

Cheney vows to "argue as persuasively as I know how" with his former colleagues on Capitol Hill to adopt a "more balanced policy" in terms of improving relations with Arab nations.

As vice chairman of the House committee investigating the Iran-contra scandal, Cheney fervently defended the Reagan administration, saying it made a mistake but broke no laws in selling arms to Iran and using proceeds from the sale to equip the contras. Cheney candidly admits that his main concern in the hearings was that the scandal not derail efforts to aid the contras.

Cheney supported the Reagan administration's bombing of Libya in 1986, saying at the time that he hoped Colonel Qaddafi "has learned his lesson" about the danger of sponsoring terrorist acts.

But Cheney has also been willing to criticize Reagan administration foreign policy initiatives—or the lack of them—in the region.

Following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Cheney said he was "disappointed that the administration has not been somewhat tougher on Israel... I think we should have expressed our displeasure in no uncertain terms. " He argued then that Israel had faced no security danger that would have provoked such an attack.

"Literally thousands of innocent people have been killed or injured. I find that difficult to accept," he said then.

As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Cheney expressed outrage at the Jonathan Pollard spy case, saying it demonstrated that Israel had waged a deliberate and successful spy campaign against the United States.

"I consider it an unfriendly act," Cheney said in March 1987, adding that Israel had betrayed its unique bond with the United States.

"They, on the one hand, plead for a special relationship with the United States—a special relationship that has existed for nearly 40 years now. On the other hand, [they] run a major intelligence operation against us,! Cheney said.

On the question of an independent Palestinian state, in recent interviews Cheney has supported the Bush administration line that the United States should leave that question to be negotiated between the major parties involved.

In July 1982, however, Cheney said, "Any resolution in this conflict which has lasted for more than 30 years must include the formation of a Palestinian state. But I am frankly not optimistic about any resolution in the near future. "

Cheney, whose prognosis then has proven to be correct, is scarcely less pessimistic about the Middle East seven years later.

"You're talking about animosities that go back centuries," Cheney said recently in Wyoming. "It's not an area where you can anticipate that overnight there's going to be some solution and everybody's going to say, 'Great, peace has arrived.'

"This requires tough, hard, day-to-day efforts to maintain momentum for peaceful resolution of the conflicts in that part of the world. You cannot expect, given the track record, any quick and easy results."

Scott Farris, a reporter for the Casper, Wyoming Star-Tribune, lived as a child in Amman, Jordan, where his father was a consultant to the US government's Agency for International Development.