Fact Check

Cheney's Daughter as Human Shield

Did the daughter of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney go to Iraq to become a human shield?

Published March 29, 2003

Claim:

Claim:   The daughter of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney went to Iraq to become a human shield.

Status:   False.

Example:   [Collected on the Internet, 2003]




The London based Arabic daily Al Quds Al Arabi reported on Tuesday, March 25 that the American vice president, Dick Cheney, would soon head to the Jordanian capital, Amman.

The newspaper claimed that the visit would be an attempt by Cheney to convince his daughter, who was in the Jordanian capital, to back down her decision to go to Baghdad within a group of volunteers who want to form human shields against the US led attacks on Iraq.

Al Quds Al Arabi cited news reports it claimed circulating in Amman as saying that Cheney would arrive in the Jordanian capital soon on a special visit it described as having a "social mission." "News agencies cited
sources as saying that Cheney will arrive in Amman next Friday. He will try to convince his daughter who is currently staying at a hotel in Amman not to go to Baghdad along with a group of volunteers who want to go to Iraq and form human shields against the Anglo American attacks," said the report.



Origins:   On 25 March 2003, the London-based Arabic daily Al Quds Al Arabi reported that the American vice president, Dick Cheney, would soon head to the Jordanian capital, Amman, to attempt to convince his daughter to back down from her decision to go to Baghdad to serve as a human shield. (The shields are civilians, usually foreigners, who place themselves around hospitals, schools and other installations in an effort to keep opposing military forces from targeting

them.)

Dick Cheney has two daughters: 38-year-old Mary, manager of gay and lesbian corporate relations for Coors Brewing Company, and 40-year-old Elizabeth, a deputy assistant secretary for Near-East affairs at the State Department in Washington and a mother of three. The press office of the U.S. Vice President has flatly denied the conjectures that one of the V.P.'s daughters went to Jordan to become part of the "human shield" against attacks on Iraq. "Neither of his daughters is over there, not in Jordan, not in Iraq. Neither has any intention to travel to that area," a press office official said. The report by one of the Arab media outlets that Cheney is planning to go there and retrieve the daughter is hilarious, she added.

As for a possible trip by the Vice President to Jordan, a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Amman denied Cheney was on his way to that country: "The embassy has no information that the U.S. Vice President will arrive in Jordan Tuesday to convince one of his daughters not to travel to Iraq to join human shields opposed to war," he said.

Barbara "When war is declared, truth is the first casualty" Mikkelson

Last updated:   16 October 2007





  Sources Sources:

    Harper, Jennifer.   "Cheney's Daughters Not Going to Baghdad."

    The Washington Times.   26 March 2003.

    Krylov, German.   "US Vice-President Daughter Arrives in Amman, May Go to Baghdad."

    TASS.   22 March 2003.

    Sitov, Andrei.   "US Denies Conjectures About Cheney's Daughter in Iraq."

    TASS.   25 March 2003.

    Al Bawaba.   "Cheney Daughter -
Human Shield in Baghdad?"

    25 March 2003.

    United Press International.   "Cheney: No Daughters As Human Shields."

    25 March 2003.


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