Did Dick Cheney want to start a war with Russia?

[drummer]

February 19, 2010 5:30pm

Yesterday morning I went to a journalists’ breakfast in London with Mikheil Saakashvili, the president of Georgia. The last time I spoke to Saakashvili was for a “lunch with the FT” in April, 2008. A few months later, in August 2008, his country was briefly invaded by Russia - and something like 20% of Georgian territory remains under Russian occupation. So it was understandable that the Georgian president seemed a little more careworn and less ebullient than when I last met him.

Still, Saakashvili was bullishly insistent that the Georgian economy is bouncing back. He remains convinced, however, that the Russians are determined to overthrow his government, one way or another. As far as he is concerned, a further attack remains entirely possible. So the Georgians are extremely concerned by the proposed French sale of tanks and warships to Russia. Saakashvili said that the new armaments would make any future Russian invasion of Georgia much faster and more dangerous.

Exactly what happened in August, 2008, remains a subject of bitter dispute. So I have greatly enjoyed reading the painstaking reconstruction of events, by Ron Asmus, in a recently published book called, “A Little War that Shook the World” (Palgrave Macmillan). Asmus’s sympathies clearly lie strongly with the Georgian side. But his research seems to be impeccable.

For me, the most fascinating revelation in the book comes on p.186, where Asmus appears to reveal that Vice-President Dick Cheney was pressing for the US to bomb Russia’s invading troops in Georgia.

Asmus doesn’t quite spell it out. But the key passages clearly point in that direction. He writes that the White House considered “limited military options to stem the Russian advance”, including “the possibility of bombardment and the sealing of the Roki Tunnel as well as other surgical strikes to reduce Russian military pressure.”

He also writes that there was a disagreement between Steve Hadley, George W. Bush’s National Security Adviser and Dick Cheney, the vice-president. Hadley “thought Russia was focused only on Georgia”, while “Cheney had a different and harder-edged view of Moscow’s goals.” Asmus adds - “Both Hadley and Cheney’s staff had also considered the question of considering limited military options. Hadley had pushed them to think hard about the consequences of any proposed military steps…He was convinced they would lead quickly to a US-Russia military confrontation. But he concluded that is was necessary for Bush to know what his closest advisers, Cheney in particular, thought and for the president to have an open discussion with his key cabinet members …on whether the United States should consider using its military power to help the Georgians.”

That discussion took place on August 11th, 2009. But Asmus records that - “There was a clear sense around the table that almost any military steps, could lead to a confrontation with Moscow, the outcome of which no one could predict …The United States had taken a considered look at the military option and decided against it.”

So there it is. Asmus doesn’t explicitly say that Cheney was in favour of bombing - but that seems to be the implication to me. And certainly, when I discussed Asmus’s book with President Saakashvili yesterday, that is also how he read the account of the White House’s deliberations.

Good old Dick Cheney. Thank goodness, he’s now confined to Fox News.

http://blogs.ft.com/rachmanblog/2010/02/...ussia/?utm