CHUD.com Community › Forums › POLITICS & RELIGION › Political Discourse › Dick Cheney Calls Iraq War a 'Major Success'
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Dick Cheney Calls Iraq War a 'Major Success'

post #1 of 42
3/19/08 at 4:23pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Five years after the start of the war in Iraq, Vice President Dick Cheney offered a positive assessment of the war today and called last year's troop surge a "major success."

"On the security front, I think there's a general consensus that we've made major progress, that the surge has worked. That's been a major success," Cheney told ABC News' Martha Raddatz.

When asked about how that jibes with recent polls that show about two-thirds of Americans say the fight in Iraq is not worth it, Cheney replied, "So?"

"You don't care what the American people think?" Raddatz asked the vice president.

"You can't be blown off course by polls," said Cheney, who is currently on a tour of the Middle East. "This president is very courageous and determined to go the course. There has been a huge fundamental change and transformation for the better. That's a huge accomplishment."

Since the war began, nearly 4,000 U.S. troops have been killed and more than 29,000 have been injured in the war, which has so far cost the United States roughly $600 billion, according to the Pentagon.

By some estimates, the war will end up costing Americans anywhere between $2 trillion and $4 trillion.

'Rough Patch' in Economy

Cheney also touched on the current state of the economy, admitting, "we're clearly going through a rough patch." But the Bush administration has not said the United States is experiencing a recession.

Cheney said that the downturn can, in part, be blamed on natural economic cycles.

"We've had, prior to that, 52 months of uninterrupted economic growth," he said. "Now, of course, we've got problems in the housing industry, mortgage-backed securities and so forth that have created problems that we're having to deal with."
http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/Vote20...4479462&page=1
Reply
post #2 of 42
3/19/08 at 4:24pm
Someone is going to infuse that speech with a laugh track. Just you watch.
Reply
post #3 of 42
3/19/08 at 4:29pm
Well, he's made plenty of money off of it, so of course it's been successful.
Reply
post #4 of 42
3/19/08 at 4:32pm
United States Government: We do what we must, because we can.
Reply
post #5 of 42
3/19/08 at 4:35pm
Also:

Cheney again links Iraq invasion to 9/11 attacks as bombing victims are buried

Quote:
But Vice President Dick Cheney gave an upbeat view of conditions in Iraq as he concluded his unannounced trip to mark the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion. Cheney also defended the toppling of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein as part of the struggle against terrorism following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

This month, an exhaustive Pentagon-sponsored review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents captured during the 2003 U.S. invasion found no evidence that Saddam's regime had any operational links with the al Qaida terrorist network.

But Cheney, who spent the night at a sprawling U.S. base in the northern town of Balad, told soldiers they were defending future generations of Americans from a global terror threat.

"This long-term struggle became urgent on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001 . That day we clearly saw that dangers can gather far from our own shores and find us right there at home," said Cheney, who was accompanied by his wife, Lynne, and their daughter, Elizabeth.

"So the United States made a decision: to hunt down the evil of terrorism and kill it where it grows, to hold the supporters of terror to account and to confront regimes that harbor terrorists and threaten the peace," Cheney said. "Understanding all the dangers of this new era, we have no intention of abandoning our friends or allowing this country of 170,000 square miles to become a staging area for further attacks against Americans."
Reply
post #6 of 42
3/19/08 at 4:36pm
This is my car air freshener:

He lives up to it every day he continues to suck air. Also makes for a charming conversation piece when I'm at Nellis AFB.
Reply
post #7 of 42
3/19/08 at 7:06pm
If you're not in a bad mood, I found an article which may fix that. This is an article from five years ago that detailed what may or may not happen in post-war Iraq. It's an interesting read, particularly since it appears to be dead on. Of course, no one could have ever predicted what happened after we "won."
Reply
post #8 of 42
3/19/08 at 7:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Devildoubt View Post
If you're not in a bad mood, I found an article which may fix that. This is an article from five years ago that detailed what may or may not happen in post-war Iraq. It's an interesting read, particularly since it appears to be dead on. Of course, no one could have ever predicted what happened after we "won."
Thanks for the link. I'm not all the way through this yet, but I can see why Fallows won the National Magazine Award for this article.

And to be fair regarding the article title, Cheney did not say that the Iraq War has been a "Major Success." He said that about the surge in relation to the improving security situation.
Reply
post #9 of 42
3/19/08 at 7:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jonvoight's car View Post
He said that about the surge in relation to the improving security situation.
True, but reasonable minds can differ on that point.
Reply
post #10 of 42
3/19/08 at 7:52pm
Yes, yes, but what does he think about the Iraq occupation (the war ended years ago)? That doesn't seem to have gone nearly as well.
Reply
post #11 of 42
3/19/08 at 7:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Overlord View Post
Yes, yes, but what does he think about the Iraq occupation (the war ended years ago)? That doesn't seem to have gone nearly as well.
What are you, some kind of pussy liberal defeat-o-crat?
Reply
post #12 of 42
3/19/08 at 7:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Devildoubt View Post
What are you, some kind of pussy liberal defeat-o-crat?
Hey, there were good reasons to remove Saddam and dismantle his wehrmacht. Trying to occupy an entire nation ... as might be expected, that hasn't gone as well.
Reply
post #13 of 42
3/19/08 at 8:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Overlord View Post
Hey, there were good reasons to remove Saddam and dismantle his wehrmacht. Trying to occupy an entire nation ... as might be expected, that hasn't gone as well.
Well, sure, there are lots of people around the world that should be benched from the game. To expect any war and occupation to be easy, quick and cheap (as was the argument five years ago), was hopelessly naive or intentionally obtuse. If the goal of the occupation was to make us safer, it failed. We are no safer now then we were five years ago, and in some cases we're worse off.

The whole Iraq war was ill-conceived from the outset.
Reply
post #14 of 42
3/19/08 at 10:23pm
If Iraq ends up a stable democracy, the war will ultimately be a success, but never a "major success". There was too many mistakes made after Saddam's overthrow.

I was expecting a rough transition as the different ethnic groups and sects had to learn to govern together once Saddam was gone, but the amount of violence the extemists were willing to inflict on the general Iraqi population to stop a new democratic government was sickeningly impressive.

Seeing pictures of thugs pulling Iraqi election workers from their car and shooting them on the street made me feel sick to my stomach. I can't believe people actually want to withdraw and give in to these type of sick fucks. I guess people around the world would rather complain about the "real" problem in Iraq, America trying to "impose democracy".

I am also not surprised about the overt twisting of the meaning of this thread's title from the article's actual statement. It's just as pathetic as other misleading slogans like, "Bush Lied, People Died."
Reply
post #15 of 42
3/19/08 at 11:33pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoahtheStud View Post
I am also not surprised about the overt twisting of the meaning of this thread's title from the article's actual statement.
It's the title of the article. I didn't come up with it, just so that's clear.

Quote:
It's just as pathetic as other misleading slogans like, "Bush Lied, People Died."
How is that misleading?
Reply
post #16 of 42
3/19/08 at 11:52pm
Expletive deleted.
Reply
post #17 of 42
3/20/08 at 12:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoahtheStud View Post
Seeing pictures of thugs pulling Iraqi election workers from their car and shooting them on the street made me feel sick to my stomach. I can't believe people actually want to withdraw and give in to these type of sick fucks.
But if it's happening anyway, what difference does withdrawal make? Other than prolonging the inevitable?
Reply
post #18 of 42
3/20/08 at 1:10am
It isn't 'giving in'. It's leaving, not surrender. Who cares what you look like to the religious factions in a brewing civil war? The US doesn't, otherwise it wouldn't have, you know, attacked their home.

It would mean a victory for the insurgency, sure, but I'm all for that. It would mean an end to innocent Iraqis ending up as collateral damage in their attempts to drive you from their home, for one thing. It would remove all these soldiers Bushies claim to hold in such high regard from danger (and allow a few to go do something ostensibly worthwhile in Afghanistan after they recover). And it would mean a failure of Bush Administration policies geared towards turning Iraq into a combination cash cow and military base; the military won't be there to help install the government preferred by the rapidly-decaying Bush Administration.

I want all of these things. That you would leave a civil war in your wake is an awful tragedy, but it's inevitable. It's already underway. It's insulting to insinuate that those who oppose the occupation like myself wanted this to happen. If we'd wanted it to happen we'd have supported the damned invasion in the first place, like you did.
Reply
post #19 of 42
3/20/08 at 1:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoahtheStud View Post
If Iraq ends up a stable democracy, the war will ultimately be a success, but never a "major success". There was too many mistakes made after Saddam's overthrow.
Yeah, cause the original intent of the war was to create a democracy in Iraq. Here I thought it was to make us safer. Silly me.

Quote:
Originally Posted by NoahtheStud
I was expecting a rough transition as the different ethnic groups and sects had to learn to govern together once Saddam was gone, but the amount of violence the extemists were willing to inflict on the general Iraqi population to stop a new democratic government was sickeningly impressive.
If you knew there would be a rough transition, you probably should've briefed the White House. They apparently didn't think any of this was going to be a problem.


Quote:
Originally Posted by NoahtheStud
Seeing pictures of thugs pulling Iraqi election workers from their car and shooting them on the street made me feel sick to my stomach. I can't believe people actually want to withdraw and give in to these type of sick fucks. I guess people around the world would rather complain about the "real" problem in Iraq, America trying to "impose democracy".
Yeah, we should just stay in there forever and make sure different ethnic groups play nice together. Since we have that shit licked here in the states.


Quote:
Originally Posted by NoahtheStud
I am also not surprised about the overt twisting of the meaning of this thread's title from the article's actual statement. It's just as pathetic as other misleading slogans like, "Bush Lied, People Died."
Of course, that slogan isn't nearly as pathetic as "Mission Accomplished", "Stay the course", "Cut-n-run", "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud", and my personal favorite, "The insurgency is in its last throes." That one was like the Administration's Smells Like Teen Spirit. Every time some administration official showed up, they had to say it, like it was their hit single or some shit.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan is slowly falling into chaos. Bang up job, Bush. I'm glad the grown-ups are in charge.
Reply
post #20 of 42
3/20/08 at 3:54am
I am not a fan of Cheney's, but at least it looks like he pulled off one "major success" with his trip to Iraq in convincing the Presidential Council to accept the Provincial Elections Law.

Iraq approves provincial election law after Cheney visit

Quote:
Iraq's three-member presidency council on Wednesday approved a draft law to hold provincial elections, after lifting objections which it had raised last month, the council said.

"The presidency council has withdrawn its objections to the provincial elections law," it said in a statement, without explaining the apparent change of heart.

Washington sees the law as a cornerstone to promoting Iraqi national reconciliation.

It is expected to boost the powers of Iraq's 18 provinces to launch their own economic projects with funds allocated by the central government.

The presidency council said the approved draft would be returned to the justice ministry and then published in newspapers across Iraq.

The breakthrough came a day after US Vice President Dick Cheney left Iraq following a surprise visit during which he was reported to have pressed the council to approve the law.

It was approved in parliament last month and submitted to the presidency as part of a package of legislation seen as crucial to reconciliation efforts but which had been held up for months amid sectarian feuding between MPs.

The presidency had objected to the provincial elections law on the grounds that some aspects of the legislation were in contradiction with the Iraqi constitution.
I was so happy when this law was recently passed by the Parliament, but just as equally bummed when the Presidential Council rejected it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainZahn
It's the title of the article. I didn't come up with it, just so that's clear.
I apologize to you then, but I think that it may be worse that a national network like ABC would stoop that low. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they twist words so people reading the headline thinks it has a completely different meaning. I think one the biggest reasons for false information in America is people passing around information from headlines they glanced at.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Devildoubt
Yeah, cause the original intent of the war was to create a democracy in Iraq. Here I thought it was to make us safer. Silly me.
There were many reasons, but bringing Democracy to Iraq was mentioned many times by the Administration before the invasion as a major reason. Their reasoning was that authoritarian regimes in the Middle East created a breeding ground for terrorists. I guess you just were not paying attention at the time.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Devildoubt
Of course, that slogan isn't nearly as pathetic as "Mission Accomplished", "Stay the course", "Cut-n-run", "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud", and my personal favorite, "The insurgency is in its last throes." That one was like the Administration's Smells Like Teen Spirit. Every time some administration official showed up, they had to say it, like it was their hit single or some shit.
It sounds like you are saying that is okay to mislead people as long as long as it leads people in the direction you approve of. Personally, I hate it when people try to support my side of the issue with bogus facts. The whole "Saddam was involved with 9/11" reason pissed me off every time I heard it.

"Mission Accomplished" was pathetic because it was premature, but it wasn't misleading because the Administration truely believed that they had finished the mission just by overthrowing Saddam. I personally thought it was unneccessary grandstanding at the time.
Reply
post #21 of 42
3/20/08 at 11:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoahtheStud View Post


There were many reasons, but bringing Democracy to Iraq was mentioned many times by the Administration before the invasion as a major reason. Their reasoning was that authoritarian regimes in the Middle East created a breeding ground for terrorists. I guess you just were not paying attention at the time.
No I was paying attention. The reason we had to invade RIGHT FUCKING NOW was because of WMDs. Democracy building was an after-thought. Saddam presented a clear and present danger that needed to be dealt with, regardless of the consequences. After no WMD were found, the rational for being there shifted more times than the fat in Rosanne Barr's pants.


Quote:
Originally Posted by NoahtheStud
It sounds like you are saying that is okay to mislead people as long as long as it leads people in the direction you approve of. Personally, I hate it when people try to support my side of the issue with bogus facts. The whole "Saddam was involved with 9/11" reason pissed me off every time I heard it.
No I'm not saying that, and it sounds like you're being intentionally obtuse. The Bush Lied-People Died slogan may lack subtlety, but considering the numerous mis-statements, obfuscations, red herring, and outright bullshit the administration perpetuated during the run up to war in 2002-2003, it's based in some truth. The same cannot be said for most of the slogans the GOP repeated like some half-assed mantras in the last five years.
Reply
post #22 of 42
3/20/08 at 11:37am
"So?"

That quote explains why you shouldn't vote for a candidate with a vice president running mate that has no intentions of ever running for office.
Reply
post #23 of 42
3/20/08 at 12:14pm
Would you prefer a BS answer?
Reply
post #24 of 42
3/20/08 at 12:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Snaieke View Post
Would you prefer a BS answer?
No. I'd prefer not having a jackass VP whose honest answer wouldn't make me want to move to Europe.
Reply
post #25 of 42
3/20/08 at 12:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoahtheStud View Post
There were many reasons, but bringing Democracy to Iraq was mentioned many times by the Administration before the invasion as a major reason. Their reasoning was that authoritarian regimes in the Middle East created a breeding ground for terrorists. I guess you just were not paying attention at the time.
IT IS NOT OUR FUCKING JOB TO "BRING" DEMOCRACY TO ANYBODY. PERIOD. Especially when we cherry-pick the particular country we're going to lavish our precious democracy on, "breeding ground for terrorists" or not.
Reply
post #26 of 42
3/20/08 at 12:48pm
Noah -

You are here in San Diego, are you in the Navy?
Reply
post #27 of 42
3/20/08 at 12:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jay f View Post
Noah -

You are here in San Diego, are you in the Navy?
Because if you are, you can 1) swim the seven seas, 2) put your mind at ease, and 3)protect the mother-land. So did you Noah, did you join your fellow man?
Reply
post #28 of 42
3/20/08 at 12:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MissZooey View Post
No. I'd prefer not having a jackass VP whose honest answer wouldn't make me want to move to Europe.
That's not what his comment implied, his comment implied he wanted a BS answer from a politician placating the people.

Since the Republican nominee has said we're going to stay in Iraq, do you think if Cheney had future political ambitions, he would have responded to the question more favorably to your view on Iraq??

I suppose he could have answered that we are going to withdraw from Iraq within a year but really mean that we'll stay in the green zone, airport and guarding our citizens who are contractors over there indefinitely. I mean, after all that's what the Democrats running for office are saying.
Reply
post #29 of 42
3/20/08 at 12:57pm
MMMM...Cheney...Hey if you guys are going to the store can you pick me up some dip?
Reply
post #30 of 42
3/20/08 at 1:23pm
Well, that pretty much sums everything up.
Reply
post #31 of 42
3/20/08 at 1:43pm
I knew that Noah was an unapologetic ass-kiss for the Bush Admin., but I didn't know that it was this bad. I really hope that Cheney doesn't decide to stop on a dime lest Stud's head get firmly lodged up Dick's bulbous white rump.
Reply
post #32 of 42
3/20/08 at 1:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Snaieke View Post
That's not what his comment implied, his comment implied he wanted a BS answer from a politician placating the people.
I wasn't answering on his behalf.
Reply
post #33 of 42
3/20/08 at 2:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin Clark View Post
United States Government: We do what we must, because we can.
Perfect. You know you're in trouble when you start having trouble differentiating your leaders from video game villains.
Reply
post #34 of 42
3/20/08 at 2:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MissZooey View Post
I wasn't answering on his behalf.
Fair Enough.

I am curious however, if McCain and whomever his VP is wins the November election, are you moving to Europe? Someone I know is selling a fabulous apartment in Poland if you're interested.
Reply
post #35 of 42
3/20/08 at 3:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoahtheStud View Post
I am not a fan of Cheney's, but at least it looks like he pulled off one "major success" with his trip to Iraq in convincing the Presidential Council to accept the Provincial Elections Law.
I guess somebody wasn't paying attention the first time.
Reply
post #36 of 42
3/20/08 at 3:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Snaieke View Post
I am curious however, if McCain and whomever his VP is wins the November election, are you moving to Europe?
No.
Reply
post #37 of 42
3/24/08 at 8:07am
4000 troops killed.
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsO...23186320080324
Reply
post #38 of 42
3/24/08 at 9:59pm
And Cheney's response? "They volunteered."
Reply
post #39 of 42
3/24/08 at 10:39pm
Dick Cheney: Still ridiculously evil.
Reply
post #40 of 42
3/30/08 at 4:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jay f View Post
Noah -

You are here in San Diego, are you in the Navy?
Nope, I was in the Army Reserves for awhile though.

Quote:
I knew that Noah was an unapologetic ass-kiss for the Bush Admin., but I didn't know that it was this bad. I really hope that Cheney doesn't decide to stop on a dime lest Stud's head get firmly lodged up Dick's bulbous white rump.
I think Cheney is an asshole and his brand of diplomacy is probably one of the main reasons why we don't have more support from our allies in Iraq. I can agree with someone on a topic even though I don't like them or if I have different motives for agreeing with them.

As a Democrat, I disapprove of almost all of the Republican's other non-Iraq issues. Immigration, Environment, etc.

Just like I voted for and supported Clinton's domestic policies and agreed with his intervening is Bosnia and Kosovo to stop ethnic cleansing, I disagreed when he pulled out of Somalia too soon which lead to us being afraid to intervene in Rawanda to stop the genocide there.
Reply
post #41 of 42
4/1/08 at 7:53pm
The last couple of weeks of increasing violence in Iraq (bordering to civil war) is a clear indicator of what's going to happen in the future once the US starts pulling out troops for real. It is going to be an ugly mess.

I predict a full blown civil war and once the dust settles a new dictator will be installed.
Reply
post #42 of 42
4/3/08 at 10:33pm

Dick Cheney wasn't Kidding

Quote:
Originally Posted by Halliburton
We also recognize that the volatility of the price of natural gas impacts our customer's activities, although many of our customers have favorable hedging programs in place. We believe that any weather related impact and the price of natural gas will be short lived, and if this situation occurs, will be self-correcting, as activities would slow temporarily allowing gas inventories to normalize.

In the event that some of our current customers experienced a decline in activity, we believe that our personnel and equipment will remain highly utilized, as we can expand our customer base by redeploying equipment to more active areas.

In looking at some of our most recent contract wins with major customers in the US, we have been awarded an excess of $200 million in incremental work above and over the amount of work that we performed for them in 2006. And pricing continues to improve. We also continue to experience strong demand for our services in the Eastern Hemisphere; and would consider moving equipment to markets outside of the US if necessary.

On pricing, we negotiate pricing throughout the year, either through call-out work or when contracts rollover. Call-out work continues to be favorably impacted by our July 2006 price book increases. Even in the midst of the gas price uncertainty, our recent contract negotiations have resulted in good price increases, and I emphasize "increases". Although, of course they are not as high as we've seen in the previous two years. We will continue to focus on pricing, including negotiating lower discounts, and we believe we can increase pricing in excess of the inflationary costs we expect incur in 2007, because of this we do not expect our US margins to decline in 2007.

Now I would like to take this time to emphasize the performance measures we set out for ourselves last June during the Investor Day. We said we intended to grow revenue over the course of the next three years at a compound rate of at least 20%. Our ESG revenues grew 28% from 2005 to 2006. We said we would double operating income and EPS within three years. In 2006 we increased our operating income by 48% from the prior year and we wanted to post industry leading margins already over 26% in 2006 and high returns on equity.

You can expect a lot of this growth to come from the Eastern Hemisphere, for example, contract wins in the Middle East will likely make this, one of our fastest growing markets.
Guess they got those contracts.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/2525...all-transcript
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Political Discourse
CHUD.com Community › Forums › POLITICS & RELIGION › Political Discourse › Dick Cheney Calls Iraq War a 'Major Success'