Like a "soldier" of the underworld, Cheney has repeatedly proven his unwavering loyalty to the Republican right, a quality that both former president George Bush and his son, George W. regard as a litmus test.

The elder Bush played a central role in the selection of Cheney, who served as Defense Secretary in his cabinet and developed a crony connection which reached a peak during the Persian Gulf War.

Both viewed that war as the centerpiece of continued U.S. control of the oil-rich Middle East, a strategic prize central to both Big Oil and their own personal fortunes. Since the war, Cheney has served as Chief Executive Officer of the Halliburton Corporation, the world’s largest supplier of oil well drilling equipment with annual revenues of nearly $15 billion last year.

Cheney’s selection means that both the presidential and vice presidential nominee of the GOP will be oil millionaires with close ties and tens of millions in contributions from the oil monopolies. The recent surge in gasoline prices suggests what is in store if the Bush-Cheney ticket prevails Nov. 7.

Cheney served 10 years as Wyoming’s at-large member of Congress, rising to the position of Whip to GOP Minority Leader Gerald Ford (R-Mich.). He was a fanatical supporter of Reagan’s covert war against Nicaragua and joined in the intense maneuvering to defend Reagan when the criminal Iran-contra conspiracy was exposed.

He supported Reagan’s veto of the Clean Water Act and was a hard-line foe of women’s reproductive rights, endearing him to the ultra-right anti-abortion circles. He was such a diehard supporter of the gun lobby that he voted to oppose a legislation to ban armor piercing bullets and terrorist assault weapons.

He opposed the sanctions on South Africa that helped bring down the apartheid regime. Cheney led the campaign to open federal lands in the west to strip-mining, oil drilling and clear-cut logging. He helped block efforts to force wealthy mining, oil and timber interests to pay higher royalties to the federal government. Under the infamous 1872 Mining Act, these monopolies pay absurdly low royalties for resources they plunder from federal lands.

Cheney brushed aside the concerns of Wyoming ranchers and forced through deployment of the MX missile on range land needed for cattle grazing.

He was a fanatical supporter of Ronald Reagan’s plans for a massive Star Wars weapons-in-space system. His selection is another sign that a Bush Administration would abrogate the 1972 anti-ballistic missile system and deploy a full-blown Star Wars. It is the top priority of the military industrial complex that would reap hundreds of billions in weapons contracts.

Cheney’s first promotion came in 1969 when he was appointed deputy director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, part of the War on Poverty. President Nixon had ordered it sabotaged from within and Cheney and his boss, Donald Rumsfeld, did such a good job that Leon Panetta, then a young OEO staffer, resigned and convened a news conference to blast their vicious "dirty tricks" on the poor.

Cheney was a hard-line defender of Nixon as calls for his impeachment for Watergate crimes crashed around the White House. When Nixon was forced to resign and Gerald Ford became president, Cheney served as deputy and later White House Chief of Staff. He was by Ford’s side when he granted Nixon an unconditional pardon.

Cheney suffers from heart disease so serious he has suffered several heart attacks and has undergone quadruple bypass surgery. He also suffers from gout and a metabolic disorder. These acute medical problems are kept under control with "a long list of medications," his doctor disclosed.

He is so trusted by George W. Bush and his father, that Cheney was put in charge of the search for a GOP running mate. Surprisingly, his search led him to himself.