Kenneth F. Erickson – 11/24/09

This page was last updated on December 7, 2009.

Cheney legacy haunts the nation; Kenneth F. Erickson; Beaver County Times; November 24, 2009.

A previous Erickson letter was entitled “Obama right to take time on Afghanistan.”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“President George H.W. Bush opened up all the recent problems with U.S. military with his decision to place American troops in Saudi Arabia.

“That land is considered holy land according to the Islam faith, and we have no right establishing a foothold on holy ground. It doesn’t matter that we were there to prevent a ruler from taking over land that was not his. We should have done it without setting up camp where we weren’t wanted.”

[RWC] Mr. Erickson’s grasp of historical facts is off. The stationing of U.S. military personnel in Saudi Arabia dates back to at least 1980 during the Carter administration. The “foothold” to which Mr. Erickson apparently refers is the stationing of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia in 1990 – at the request of the Saudi government – after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and threatened to invade Saudi Arabia. We did not force ourselves on Saudi Arabia. With the exception of trainers, U.S. military personnel left Saudi Arabia in 2003.

“He also created a clandestine link between the CIA and the legislative branch of government, along with Dick Cheney’s never ending desire to control the CIA and all the information gathered by it.”

[RWC] I have no clue what Mr. Erickson is writing about.

“President Jimmy Carter one time made an inquiry about information and was told, ‘That information is distributed on a need to know basis, and you don’t have a need to know.’

“The man was president of the United States.”

[RWC] I could be mistaken, but Mr. Erickson appears to imply Mr. Bush was CIA Director for Mr. Carter. Adm. Stansfield Turner was CIA Director during the Carter administration, not Mr. Bush. Mr. Bush was CIA Director during the Ford administration for one year. Yet another apparent history error by Mr. Erickson. Does Mr. Erickson make up his facts?

“The Bush/Cheney conspiracy has gone on long enough. I have recently heard rumors circulating that Cheney could possibly make a bid for candidacy in the 2012 presidential election.”

[RWC] The “Bush/Cheney conspiracy” exists only in the mind of Mr. Erickson. Since he wrote about President Obama in his last letter, I assume Mr. Erickson knows Messrs. Bush and Cheney have been out of office for 10 months. If the Bush in “Bush/Cheney” is H.W., Mr. Erickson is really out of touch.

As for the rumors Mr. Erickson claims to have heard, I’d sure like to know his sources. Anything is possible, but Mr. Cheney has said repeatedly he has no desire to run for office again.

“If the American public has any hope in regaining control of our destiny, that will not occur.”