Time To Beat Bush Up With Cheney's Words: IRAQ = QUAGMIRE

[ulTRAX]

Back in 1991 Cheney was defending Bush1's decision NOT to go on to Baghdad during Desert Storm. Maybe Kerry is the wrong person to launch this attack... but others could.

From: http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/pubs/soref/cheney.htm

"I think that the proposition of going to Baghdad is also fallacious. I think if we were going to remove Saddam Hussein we would have had to go all the way to Baghdad, we would have to commit a lot of force because I do not believe he would wait in the Presidential Palace for us to arrive. I think we'd have had to hunt him down. And once we'd done that and we'd gotten rid of Saddam Hussein and his government, then we'd have had to put another government in its place.

What kind of government? Should it be a Sunni government or Shi'i government or a Kurdish government or Ba'athist regime? Or maybe we want to bring in some of the Islamic fundamentalists? How long would we have had to stay in Baghdad to keep that government in place? What would happen to the government once U.S. forces withdrew? How many casualties should the United States accept in that effort to try to create clarity and stability in a situation that is inherently unstable?

I think it is vitally important for a President to know when to use military force. I think it is also very important for him to know when not to commit U.S. military force. And it's my view that the President got it right both times, that it would have been a mistake for us to get bogged down in the quagmire inside Iraq."

[acmavm]

1. My, my, ,my. Didn't Mr. Dickhead Cheney have quite the change of heart

(please excuse the exaggeration, maybe I should have said pacemaker).

[Javamancer]

2. But, it's not a quagmire...

It's a long, hard slog. :)

[caledesi]

3. ROTFLMAO! Rummy calling it a "slog." It's so pathetic. nt

[ulTRAX]

4. too early to tell

Welcome to DU. You seem to imply the US will be successful. I think all predictions about a peaceful and democratic Iraq are foolhardy. It's bad enough the invasion was as arrogant, ill-conceived, and illegal. This can only be made worst Bush desperately trying get Iraq off the table as an election issue by rushing the turnover of power. It would be ironic if 5 years from now Iraq becomes another Islamic nation like Iran.

EDIT NOTE: OK... I get it.... you were just quoting Rumsfeld. ;-)

[Javamancer]

5. Yeah, I debated attributing the quote to Unkie Rummy

but I didn't think it'd be as pithy.

Thanks for the welcome! :toast: