Chemical, Nuclear Arms Still 'Major Threat,' Cheney Says

["Gerry Blackwood" <gpblackwood@justice.com>]

Chemical, Nuclear Arms Still 'Major Threat,' Cheney Says



December 17, 2003

By Mike Allen

Washington Post Staff Writer



Vice President Cheney warned this week that "the major

threat" facing the nation is the possibility that

terrorists could detonate a biological or nuclear

weapon in a U.S. city. 



Cheney told commentator Armstrong Williams that the war

on terrorism is "going to go on for a long time" and

that U.S. soil remains vulnerable to al Qaeda, the

network behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The vice

president said one of his biggest worries is "the

possibility of that group of terrorists acquiring

deadlier weapons to use against us -- a biological

weapon of some kind, or even a nuclear weapon." 



"To contemplate the possibility of them unleashing that

kind of capability -- of that kind of weapon, if you

will, in the midst of one of our cities -- that's a

scary proposition," he said. "It's one of the most

important problems we face today, because I think that

is the major threat." 



Cheney also criticized what he considers a

proliferation of "cheap shot journalism" about the

administration. "People don't check the facts," he

said. 



Cheney's language about threats was similar to previous

admonitions. He made the remarks in response to a

question about what scares him as vice president. He

said part of his job is "contemplating sort of

worst-case scenarios for attacks on the United States." 



Cheney said in the 35-minute interview, taped Monday

and made available to The Washington Post yesterday,

that he believes "we're winning now" in the war on

terrorism. 



"We've seen, just recently, of course, the wrap-up of

Saddam Hussein, one of the worst offenders in the 20th

century," Cheney said. "We've wrapped up a large part

of the al Qaeda organization, but there are still a lot

of folks out there." He cited an estimate that training

camps in Afghanistan in the late 1990s produced at

least 20,000 terrorists. 



Cheney has often been the subject of critical news

coverage, including his prewar allegations about the

arsenal of unconventional weapons that Hussein might

possess, his refusal to release records of his energy

policy task force, and his connection to the

Halliburton Co., which has been paid $5 billion on

government contracts for rebuilding Iraq and has been

accused by a Pentagon audit of overbilling the Army by

$61 million for gasoline. 



Cheney called the free press "a vital part of society,"

but added: "On occasion, it drives me nuts." When

Williams asked what drives him nuts, Cheney said, "When

I see stories that are fundamentally inaccurate." 



"It's the hypocrisy that sometimes arises when some in

the press portray themselves as objective observers of

the passing scene, when they obviously are not

objective," he said. "Cheap shot journalism. Not

everybody is guilty of it, but it happens." 



He said coverage has changed over the years, asserting

that there is "such an emphasis now on getting there

fast with a story that oftentimes accuracy goes out the

window." 



Cheney did not give examples. But he said many

journalists have not tried to find out "the real facts"

when writing about Halliburton, a Houston-based energy

conglomerate of which he was chairman before becoming

Bush's running mate. 



"There are an awful lot of people in the press who

don't understand the business community," Cheney said.

"I think our political opponents have spent a lot of

time hammering away on trying to find some allegation

that Halliburton got favoritism on contracts, or trying

to make some kind of connection they've never been able

to make. There's no evidence to support anything like

that, but if you repeat it often enough, it becomes

sort of an article of faith." 



Portions of the interview will air this week on

television stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group.

Locally, that includes WBFF, Channel 45, in Baltimore.

The conversation will be shown later on Williams's

cable show, "The Right Side," which is on Comcast

Channel 6 in the District. 



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6345-2003Dec16.html



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