http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/cheney-tried-to-persuade-president-bush-to-bomb-syria-2344112.htmlIn a combative and score-settling new book, former vice-president Dick Cheney reveals how he unsuccessfully tried to persuade his boss George W Bush to bomb a suspected Syrian nuclear site, and takes sharp aim at his "moderate" rivals of the time, Condoleezza Rice and in particular her predecessor as Secretary of State, Colin Powell.
In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir, to be published next week, has long been keenly awaited, and the man regarded as the arch-conservative in the Bush inner circle does not disappoint. "There will be heads exploding all over Washington," Mr Cheney told NBC in an interview of which excerpts were released yesterday. For once, the hype may not be far off the mark.
For the most part the book confirms the public perception of Mr Cheney when he held office between 2001 and 2009 – of one of the most influential vice-presidents in US history, secretive and sibylline, whose already conservative views were only hardened by the trauma of 9/11.
But the Syrian episode also bears out the widespread evidence that his sway diminished in Mr Bush's second term, as the administration adopted a more multilateral approach to global issues, and the problems left by the 2003 Iraq invasion, of which MrCheney was arguably the most fervent advocate in the administration, became all but intractable.