Timeframe: A strike-out for Dick Cheney in the UAE

I n the second week of March 2002, US Vice President Dick Cheney embarked on a tour of 11 countries in the Middle East, including a visit to the UAE to meet Sheikh Zayed, the Founding Father. It was just over six months after the September 11 attacks, and Cheney was attempting to rally Arab leaders, to get them to stand behind the United States’ decision to use military force in Iraq, as well as remove Saddam Hussein. Sheikh Zayed told Cheney that he was against a strike on Iraq, and reminded the Bush administration of its responsibility to bring an end to Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people.