Dick Cheney, Mr. No Regrets.

Our last vice president, Dick Cheney, recently came out of hiding and gave a rare interview, including his analysis of his 8 year tenure as second in command of the Bush administration.  The interviewer gave him numerous opportunities to express some degree of regret over something, anything, that had transpired during those years, something he or the administration might feel a twinge of regret over.  He stuck steadfastly to the line "No Regret".  Really! The man who selected himself to be Bush's running mate, was the leading force in the early years of the administration, and brought all his neoconservative friends with him to determine administration policy, rebuild the US's image in the world with a show of military power, and open the floodgates of democracy in the Middle East with this show of force, No Regrets?  To bolster the desire to shift our fight against the 9/11 terrorists from bin Laden and al Qaeda to Hussein and Iraq, manufactured false evidence of connections that didn't exist and imminent threats from Iraq that were nonexistent to justify the mistaken war against Iraq, No Regrets?  Saw his close advisor and friend Scotter Libby  convicted and spend time in prison for perjury, concealing evidence, and false statements committed while trying to conceal facts related to the war's lack of justification, No Regrets?  If an effective International Court of Justice existed, Cheney could be considered a prime candidate for war criminal charges, based on his deceitful efforts to start the war as well as his defense of waterboarding and other means of torture, No Regrets?   Held secret meetings with energy company officials to devise a national energy strategy, refused to reveal what was discussed in the meeting, claiming priviledged communication, deregulation led to volatile prices and soaring energy company profits, followed by the collapse of Enron Corp., chaired by a Cheney confidant, and a scandal involving price rigging that robbed many states' energy grids and lowered the value of many pension funds through Enron's bankrupcy, No Regrets?  The company that Cheney previously chaired, Halliburton, being a major contractor in Iraq and found responsible for doing poor quality work and charging excessive fees, but still receiving more government contracts, No Regrets?  The man who reportedly ordered that TV sets in his rooms be set to only receive Fox News, so his mind wouldn't be exposed to opposing views, consistent with reports he spent most of his time either in a bunker or in a bubble, No Regrets?   President Bush finally may have had some unspoken regrets himself, as Cheney became much less a decision-influencing factor in the later years of his administration, but Cheney himself, No Regrets?  Much of the media, typically intimidated by and respectful of power, may remain silient, but to many of us who have witnessed his callous, sanctimonious behavior, suffered through the ill effects of many of his self-serving decisions, paid the price for a war that needn't have been fought, we do have regrets--we regret that we ever had the misfortune to have had him as our vice president.