Excellent post, but once again, we have a mainstream media piece that fails to get to the root of the issue. He's presented the problem, but hasn't revealed the source of the problem or made any positive statement on how Americans can work to correct it. I'll fill in the gaps.
Cheney is one of the founding members of the PNAC. The following is taken from page 26 of the 2000 PNAC report Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century:
While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.
The Bush Admininistration and it's PNAC leadership had every intention of occupying Iraq, despite Saddam, WMD's, or any other excuse they've presented for the invasion. The PNAC statement immediately prior to the above quote reads as follows:
Though the immediate mission of those forces is to enforce the no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq, they represent the long-term commitment of the United States and its major allies to a region of vital importance. Indeed, the United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security.
American forces will be in the region for a very long time and the government usurpers in the White House will use every possible excuse and pretext to gain continued support form the American people.
And make no mistake. This is not only a GOP issue. As the second quote clearly states, the enforcement of no-fly zones prior to the Iraqi invasion - conducted throughout the Clinton Administration - was part of the strategy of establishing and maintaining a permanent US presence in the region. Madeline Albright is on record stating that the inhumane policies that resulted in 500,000 dead Iraqi children were good.
There will be no change and no Constitutional leadership in the US until both the Dems and the GOP are removed from Washington politics, along with their common financial supporters who create their shared globalist foreign policy objectives.
For those who wish to correct this problem, the only solution is to set aside partisan bickering, to set aside political leanings, and to unite in support of honest Constitutional leadership. We're a nation who has been divided by an increasingly controlled media. If we can't look past our media induced division and unite under the common theme of just government, we may never recover. It's time to start that process in earnest before it's too late.