cheney lobbying

Here's Cheney giving a speech at Cato in 1998, demonstrating that he knows exactly how closely arms deals are related to lobbying efforts.

When I went to work for President Ford back in the summer of 1974, our first foreign policy crisis had to do with a dust up between the Greeks and the Turks, who had gone to war over the fate of Cyprus. The response of the Congress at that point was to impose an arms embargo on Turkey. Now that was particularly interesting because Turkey was a NATO ally. We had solemn treaty obligations with the Turks. To be sure, we had almost exactly the same kind of relationship with the Greeks. They were also NATO allies. But we placed sanctions on Turkey and not on Greece. Why? It was not because it made sense from the standpoint of what was going on Cyprus, or made sense from the standpoint of overall U.S. foreign policy. We sanctioned Turkey because the Greek-American lobby was significantly bigger and more effective than the Turkish-American lobby here at home. That's the sum total of why we did it. Ultimately, we were able to get it reversed. But it took numerous votes in Congress before we were able to turn it around.

That was an example from 24 years ago, but it continues to happen. Right now there are sanctions on Azerbaijan. We're not allowed to spend any U.S. government dollars in that country. That's not a response to what we perceive to be sound foreign policy in that part of the world. It's more specifically a reflection of a desire by Congress to respond to the concerns voiced by the Armenian-American community, which is bigger than the Azerbaijani-American community. As a result we currently have a prohibition against U.S. government money being spent in Azerbaijan. "

Of course, he was lobbying for Azerbaijan at the time.

* in case you were wondering, the full list of Honorary Council of Advisors for the US-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce is as follows:
"James Addison Baker III, Lloyd Bentsen, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Richard Bruce Dick Cheney (resigned November 2000), Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft, John Sununu."

Perle and Armitage and a few others are involved as well. hows that for some heavy hitting? The ATC is a member, as is the ATAA.

is that common for lobbying groups to be members of lobbying groups for other countries? i guess it probably is - altho it looks weird to see the ATC and ATAA alongside Boeing and AIG et al.