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In "Destiny and
Power: The American Odyssey Of George Herbert Walker Bush,"
author Jon Meacham quotes Bush as saying that Cheney and
Rumsfeld were too hawkish and that their harsh stance damaged
the reputation of the United States, the cable news network
said.
Speaking of Cheney, who was vice president under President
George W. Bush, the senior Bush said: "I don't know, he just
became very hard-line and very different from the Dick Cheney I
knew and worked with," according to the report.
Cheney served as defense secretary during George H.W. Bush's
1989-1993 presidency.
"The reaction (to Sept. 11), what to do about the Middle East.
Just iron-ass. His seeming knuckling under to the real
hard-charging guys who want to fight about everything, use force
to get our way in the Middle East," Bush told Meacham in the
book to be published next Tuesday.
Bush believes Cheney acted too independently of his son by
creating a national security team in his own office, and may
have been influenced to become more conservative by his wife and
daughter, Lynne and Liz Cheney, the report cites the biography
as saying.
On Rumsfeld, secretary of defense for most of the two terms
served by his son, Bush is even more critical. He is quoted as
saying: "I don't like what he did, and I think it hurt the
President," referring to his son.
"I've never been that close to him anyway. There's a lack of
humility, a lack of seeing what the other guy thinks. He's more
kick ass and take names, take numbers. I think he paid a price
for that. Rumsfeld was an arrogant fellow," he was quoted as
saying in the biography.
Fox News quoted Cheney as denying his family had influenced his
views, saying: "It's his view, perhaps, of what happened, but my
family was not conspiring to somehow turn me into a tougher,
more hardnosed individual. I got there all by myself."
Bush's spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
Rumsfeld declined to comment on the book, Fox News said.
(Reporting by Eric Walsh; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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