1989
MARCH: Cheney becomes Secretary of Defense when President George H.W. Bush’s
first choice, John Tower, is rejected by the Senate for personal misconduct.
Cheney, when asked why he sought
draft deferments during the Vietnam war said "I
had other priorities in the '60s than military
service."
Reporter Jean Heller presented
Soviet satellite photos which did not
show Iraqi troops amassed on the Saudi
border to the Pentagon.
"It's
what it (the photos)
didn't show that's more important. What
you expected to see were tanks on the
border. There was none that we could
see.
I said, look, if you can prove to me that our story isn't true, we won't
run it. And they just ignored it.
They have never shown those (U.S.
satellite images) photos. Not then
and not since."
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1990
AUGUST 1: Cheney gets briefing from General Norman Schwarzkopf about Iraqi threats
against Kuwait.
AUGUST 2: Iraq invades Kuwait.
AUGUST: Cheney flies to Saudi Arabia to convince King Fahd to
allow US troops into his country.
SEPTEMBER: The Pentagon says that 250,000 Iraqi troops with 1500
tanks are massed on the Saudi border. The photos are never made public.
Soviet satellite imagery taken that day shows no troops near the border. (see
the photos) 
1991
Journalist Jean Heller learns about the Soviet satellite imagery and presents
them to Dick Cheney's office at the Pentagon. They ignore the story.
JANUARY: Operation Desert Storm begins.
In the wake of Desert Storm, Cheney hires Halliburton to put
out 320 well-head fires and engage Halliburton subsidiary Brown and Root to
rebuild courthouses, schools, utilities, police stations, and computer systems
in Kuwait.
JUNE 10: Cheney and the troops who fought in Desert Storm are
honored with a ticker tape parade up Broadway in New York.
JULY 3: Secretary Cheney is awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom by President George H.W. Bush for his work on the Gulf War.
1992
Cheney pays Halliburton, Brown and Root $8.9 million for two studies on how to
downsize the military.
AUGUST: Halliburton is selected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
to do all the work needed to support the military for five years. This is the
same plan it had itself drawn up.
NOVEMBER: Bill Clinton elected president. Cheney's term
as Secretary of Defense is over.
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