To the Editor:

Vice President Dick Cheney defends a war that he started without Iraqi provocation and that continues without the possibility of American victory not because he is “delusional,” as Maureen Dowd says (“Daffy Does Doom,” column, Jan. 27), but because the war itself serves his interests and the interests of his constituents.

Dick Cheney has spent his life working for military suppliers, American energy corporations and the Republican Party. The war has earned billions of dollars for his former employer, Halliburton, disrupted the supplies of foreign oil and allowed his party to rise to unprecedented power.

During this time the power of the executive branch of government grew, and Mr. Cheney, at the center, exercised more influence over the nation than any vice president in United States history.

This is not “perversity.” It is the work of a mercilessly effective politician.

Gabriel Brownstein
Brooklyn, Jan. 27, 2007

Note from KBJ: This person has CDS—Cheney Derangement Syndrome.