Cheney: Congress must not interfere with the president's Iran policy

Congress must not interfere with the president's Iran policy.    Yes, that was Dick Cheney's stated position -- in 1986 -- when he was a congressman from Wyoming, the president was Ronald Reagen, and the issue was the Iran-Contra scandal that almost brought down the Reagen presidency.

For those too young to know what this was about, President Reagen got caught trading arms to Iran for money that was then secretly and  illegally diverted to aid the Nicaraguan rebels.   He could not openly support them, so this was a covert way to get money to them.   The truth came out and there was a congressional investigation, which Cheney denounced, saying, in effect, congress cannot interfere with the president's dealings with Iran.

Cheney wrote at the time:

"[T]hroughout the Nation's history, Congress has accepted substantial exercises of Presidential power -- in the conduct of diplomacy, the use of force and covert action . . . . "

Then, in 1989, speaking to the American Enterprise Institute, Cheney made it clear that his opposition to congressional interference in the president's power to conduct foreign policy and diplomacy applied, "whomever the President and whatever the policy."
 
In light of such a strong position on this in the past, what has Cheney said about the latest flap concerning Iran?     

So far, not a word.    I guess he wouldn't want to appear to be siding with Barack Obama after such dismissive comments he has made about him as commander-in-chief.

Ralph