Rand Paul: "Cheney used 9/11 as excuse to invade Iraq for the benefit of Halliburton"

[kpete]

Rand Paul: Dick Cheney used 9/11 as excuse to invade Iraq for the benefit of Halliburton

In the video, discovered by David Corn at Mother Jones, Paul can be seen standing at a lectern describing Cheney’s opinion in 1995, when he said that invading Iraq would be, “a disaster, it would be vastly expensive, it’d be civil war, we would have no exit strategy.”

Paul said:

There’s a great YouTube of Dick Cheney in 1995 defending (President) Bush Number One (and the decision not to invade Baghdad in the first Gulf war), and he goes on for about five minutes. He’s being interviewed, I think, by the American Enterprise Institute, and and he says it would be a disaster, it would be vastly expensive, it’d be civil war, we would have no exit strategy. He goes on and on for five minutes. Dick Cheney saying it would be a bad idea. And that’s why the first Bush didn’t go into Baghdad. Dick Cheney then goes to work for Halliburton. Makes hundreds of millions of dollars, their CEO. Next thing you know, he’s back in government and it’s a good idea to go into Iraq.

..................................

In a videotaped 2008 Montana speech, also uncovered by Corn, Paul directly linked Cheney ‘s Halliburton “millions” to the 2001 Iraq war:

It’s Dick Cheney in 1995 being interviewed on why they didn’t go into Baghdad the first time under the first (President) George Bush. And his arguments are exactly mirroring my dad’s arguments for why we shouldn’t have gone in this time. It would be chaos. There’d be a civil war. There’d be no exit strategy. And cost a blue bloody fortune in both lives and treasure. And this is Dick Cheney saying this. But, you know, a couple hundred million dollars later Dick Cheney earns from Halliburton, he comes back into government. Now Halliburton’s got a billion-dollar no-bid contract in Iraq. You know, you hate to be so cynical that you think some of these corporations are able to influence policy, but I think sometimes they are. Most of the people on these (congressional) committees have a million dollars in their bank account all from different military industrial contractors. We don’t want our defense to be defined by people who make money off of the weapons.

............

yes, there is more info plus video:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/04/07/rand-paul-dick-cheney-used-911-as-excuse-to-invade-iraq-for-the-benefit-of-halliburton/

[hobbit709]

1. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

And Rand is a broken cuckoo clock.

[warrior1]

2. duh, Rand Paul

[sabrina 1]

29. So you disagree that Cheney profited hugely from the illegal Iraq Invasion which was based on lies?

Paul is absolutely correct on this. It is sad when the truth is dismissed because of politics. And THAT is what the War Criminals, the Wall St. criminals count on. The 'little people' fighting among themselves while they reap the benefits.

But a change is occurring thankfully, and people are learning that the truth is the truth having now had more than a decade to witness the lies close up and the horrific consequences.

And that is what they fear most, that the people will unite against them rather than continue to fall for the 'bait' which worked for so long. But more and more it is not working.

Cheney is a liar and a war criminal and no matter who says it, it is still a fact.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

30. He's not disagreeing on any of that. A "duh" statement tends to follow the plainly obvious, i.e.

water is wet.

Speaking of wet, the Hillary 2016 crowd now needs a collective change of underwear.

[sabrina 1]

31. Okay, 'duh' would have sufficed then. Adding the name of the politician to the 'duh'

can be misleading.

As for the Hillary crowd, I couldn't agree more.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

32. My immediate take on this comment --

If he becomes the nominee, Paul will carry the GOP vote in the general election because they hate big government and/or he's simply the GOP nominee and they're voting for their color jersey.

However, among the indies and purplish dems Paul's comment will create a schism from which the Democratic party may not recover in 2016. A significant part of Obama's win in 2008 was war fatigue. Much to our dismay Obama has not capitalized on this sentiment as strongly as he could have. Yes, we left Iraq and are drawing down in Afghanistan but after Libya and a close shave in Syria as well as the on-going drone war and NSA mess Obama appears to be little more than a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do moralist.

Hillary cannot claim she is the anti-war candidate, nor can Biden or Kerry for that matter. Paul just pulled some of the war fatigue electorate to his side and has depressed a sufficient number of others to put a dent in Democratic voter turnout. He received a war reception in Berkley of all places.

To all the accommodationists out there: THIS is why purity matters. Go-along-to-get-along-ism may seem like a way lasso votes in the near term but in the long term it invariably becomes the rope by which the opponent hangs you.

I'll probably be flamed for this post but I'm just making an observation on what I think I see. I am not giving an endorsement of Paul.

[sabrina 1]

33. Good comment. I don't think you need to qualify it at all. The reality is, as you stated,

Democrats won the significant anti Bush war vote in 2008 and should have capitalized on that over the past number of years.

One thing I don't think will ever happen, and that is anyone on either side who is committed to changing our foreign policies, either of the Pauls eg, will ever get the presidential nomination. US foreign policy requires candidates willing to continue our current policies of intervention wherever we have 'interests'. They might allow anti war candidates to run in the early stages (see Kucinich eg) but those candidates will be sidelined in the end.

I couldn't agree with you more on this:

THIS is why purity matters. Go-along-to-get-along-ism may seem like a way lasso votes in the near term but in the long term it invariably becomes the rope by which the opponent hangs you.

[Capt. Obvious]

3. Today, we are all pro-Iraq war

That's how it works here, right?

[Javaman]

4. ?

[IDemo]

7. Because one of The Others called it a bad idea n/t

[Capt. Obvious]

11. Was it Jacob?

[Skidmore]

24. No. It doesn't mean that we don't need to keep an eye on Rand Paul who

is trying to tee up for 2016. One can be anti-Iraq war and anti-Rand Paul at the same time.

[Autumn]

5. Yes he did. And it sucks that this fucking fool is the one to say it.

[BrotherIvan]

8. There it is.

[Autumn]

12. If only our current Democrats could speak about this.

But obviously that just wouldn't be the proper thing to do. Much easier for them to use the broom and rug. Oh look ..... squirrel.

[BrotherIvan]

13. We must be polite and keep the powder dry

Because it's most important to get along for social gatherings & press club dinners. Watch that and it tells you everything you need to know about how our "leaders" view the plebs.

I do wonder why these war criminals think their latest parade is a good idea. Like OJ, they should just be happy they got away with it and slink off under the floorboards. But they just can't help themselves.

[Autumn]

15. BrotherIvan, they are fucking proud of what they did.

It's really disgusting what they get away with.

[BrotherIvan]

27. You're absolutely correct

And it makes me question the idea of justice in the universe. It may all be magical thinking. But I do believe in my heart those evil fucks know what they did and I hope their guilty consciences keep them up every night with horrible nightmares. They may appear to be ok, but I guarantee, somewhere in their shriveled hearts/minds, they know. They did it for the money and power, but I do believe baby bush is somewhat of a believer, so it's got to be haunting him. Cheney might just be a true psychopath on the level of Stalin or Pol Pot, so with him you never know.

[SevenSixtyTwo]

6. I've always felt that Chaney is a very reckless,

very intelligent and self serving man. Dangerous combination to be in a position of political power. Very interesting read. Thanks for posting.

[Blue_Tires]

9. Hey Rand: Welcome to 2002...(Don't bet on the Giants in the World Series)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/02/06/07_cheney.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x87750

[bullwinkle428]

10. Here comes Jeb to save the day...

...you know that mighty Bush - is on his way!

[BrotherIvan]

14. Ayup

I've been screaming for a long time, it's gonna be Jeb. It was ALWAYS meant to be Jeb. The rest were just decoys to keep the heat off him. Why on earth was he teabagging Adelson if he's not gonna run?

[Blue Owl]

16. Maybe there is a little something under that rug...

n/t

[sakabatou]

17. No shit. We've known that for YEARS

[jwirr]

18. Not a Paul supporter but here I agree with him totally. Cheney is nothing but a privateer.

[AgingAmerican]

19. "Some of these corporations are able to influence policy"

Says the guy whose ideology dictates that companies REPLACE the government.

[G_j]

20. sucks that the others let somebody like Rand Paul say it

when they ALL know it's true.

[TwilightGardener]

21. He's a heretic, and will be disposed of.

He's also a dipshit, so I'm not sorry.

[Berlum]

22. There you have it

Degenerate Republican family values. As usual

[Hayduke Bomgarte]

23. Cheney used 9/11 as excuse to invade Iraq for the benefit of Halliburton

Many of us knew that in real time and were told we were crazy...

[ForgoTheConsequence]

26. Yep.

Millions of us knew, and somehow Hillary Clinton did not......

[grasswire]

25. Did he say anything about Bush and the Carlyle Group? nt

[Tom Ripley]

28. Well, he did.