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CAUGHT ON TAPE: Cheney ‘Can’t Buy’ Idea That Iraq War Is Creating More Terrorists»

President Bush isn’t the only one who ignored the findings of the NIE that “the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism.” Vice President Cheney did too.

On the September 10, 2006 broadcast of Meet the Press, Tim Russert presented Cheney with a CBS/New York Times poll that said the majority of Americans agree with the intelligence community’s assessment that our actions overseas are creating more terrorists. “I can’t buy that,” Cheney responded. Watch it.

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Transcript:

RUSSERT: Here’s what the American people said in a recent poll. Is the U.S. involvement in Iraq or Afghanistan creating more terrorists or eliminating terrorists? And look at that. Overwhelmingly, 54 percent, clear majority, believe we are creating more terrorists.

TEXT:

U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

CREATING MORE TERRORISTS 54%

ELIMINATING TERRORISTS 15%

The New York Times CBS/Poll

CHENEY: I, I, I can’t buy that.




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41 Responses to “CAUGHT ON TAPE: Cheney ‘Can’t Buy’ Idea That Iraq War Is Creating More Terrorists”

  1. JW Says:

    What the Administration “believes” is not necessarily backed up by any evidence.

    Or if there is evidence, it is manufactured or cherry picked.

    This is not news.


  2. Ajay Says:

    Someone: 2 + 2 = 4

    Cheney: I, I, I can’t buy that. I dont like facts. Facts have a liberal bias.


  3. Wordsmith Says:

    Of course not, it doesn’t jive with his “truth.”

    I live out west in a state no one had yet’discovered’, especially my city. Well those damned Californians kept coming and then the floodgates opened. Now I can deny it all I want, but my city’s population has doubled, and they’re still coming.


  4. Mary Poplins Says:

    Cheney is a fool. He is living in a dream world. 54% of the American people say it is creating more terrorist.


  5. EvilCornbread Says:

    To be fair, he’s disagreeing with the poll results, not with the assertion that our involvement in Iraq is creating more terrorists.


  6. Ronin_Tetsuro Says:

    “To be fair, he’s disagreeing with the poll results, not with the assertion that our involvement in Iraq is creating more terrorists.”

    Are you dizzy yet?


  7. Geoff Says:

    I cant buy that? What exactly does that phrase mean? Does it mean flat out I dont believe it? Clearly he doesnt want to believe it. This kind of sums up the whole administration’s view of reality anymore. I cant buy that, so I’ll buy something else, namely, propaganda and disinformation and throw that out there.

    Dont you think these people should be reading the NIEs back to front, or at least have a staffer give them good cliffnotes? I mean, this stuff is sort of important, innit?

    If they arent reading, they are negligent in their duties, and if they are, they are willfully misleading the public, well, at least trying, since we aint buying it. Ha.

    Idiots. No wonder they are working so hard on their legal defenses for when the Republicans are booted out of office.


  8. Random Rightie Says:

    Dick and Tim are next-door neighbours. (IIRC)


  9. Payson Says:

    #5: If you look at the transcript, Cheney does not question the poll’s results or its methodology. Instead, he argues the administration’s policy has made America safer. He says, “I, I, I can’t buy that. I mean, I think you’ve got to look what’s happening in Afghanistan and Iraq in terms of the - where we were five years ago and where we are today.” And where we are five years later was nicely summed up by the NIE.


  10. Republicans are the fear and smear party Says:

    Cheney is disagreeing with both. If he agreed that our involvement in Iraq is creating more terrorists then he would have to admit that the Republican invasion and occupation of Iraq has been a miserable failure. Has he done that?


  11. profmarcus Says:

    it’s all boilerplate from rove’s latest talking points…

    The conclusion of U.S. intelligence analysts that the Iraq war has increased the threat from terrorism is only “a fraction of judgments” in a newly disclosed National Intelligence Estimate, Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte said yesterday.

    johnny-boy, YOU are the director of national intelligence… it even says so, right there in black and white, in that organ of truth and intrepid reporting, the washington post… those 16 intelligence agencies that agree the iraq war is INCREASING terror are ostensibly under YOU… what can we conclude from your quote and that very well-spun wapo headline but that INCREASING terror qualifies as a SUCCESS…?

    And, yes, I DO take it personally


  12. Bearpaw Says:

    EvilVornbread, I’m not sure how much it matters. If the poll numbers were closer, he might be able to shrug ‘em off like that. But 54-15? At that point it ain’t a matter of “buying”. This is fingers-in-his-ears-la-la-la posturing.

    (They don’t give the MOE, but really, with a spread like that they don’t really need to.)


  13. Unholy+Moses Says:

    He can’t “buy” it?

    One would think that, with all the $$$$ he’s made from Haliburton’s war profiteering, he could buy damn near anything he wants.

    Well, except for a clue. That seems to be out of his price range …


  14. Ardath Says:

    We’re fed different info. THis site details the differences in media coverage of the intelligence report linking the US occupation of Iraq to the creation of new terrorists. Interestingly, Red State markets cover the issue with less prominance or not at all.

    http://www.miserywatch.com/2006/09/to_us_this_was_.html


  15. normalasf Says:

    #11 …only “a fraction of judgements” …

    Isn’t 9/10 a fraction?


  16. tablogloid Says:

    You don’t have to buy it, Dick. You already own it.


  17. CyraBrown Says:

    And if he is asked about the new NIE report, he will just say that he hasn’t seen it, or read it…yet.


  18. Drew+Mackenzie Says:

    This is the surest sign of failed management: The hiring of a well-funded, qualified, professional, and largely impartial staff to provide clear answers — that are then ignored in favor of previous assumptions.

    Neocons should separate their politics from their professional philosophy at this point; copying their methods will sink your ship.


  19. Unholy+Moses Says:

    what can we conclude from your quote and that very well-spun wapo headline but that INCREASING terror qualifies as a SUCCESS…?

    I think you nailed it, profmarcus — they see it as a success because they only know how to govern using the politics of fear. Thus, the more terrorism they create, the more they can reassure us that they’re keeping us safe.

    It’s a viscious cycle …


  20. BigCynic.com Says:

    Cheney has been working for the oil and defense industries for decades. How could anyone expect him to serve our interests in the White House? He’s got the permanent bases in Iraq now to guard all that oil. Even if the fighting in Iraq drags on for years, the American taxpayer and the U.S. military will keep the oil flowing. Cheney’s first allegiance is to oil and defense, and he’s serving their interests admirably.


  21. Loonie Says:

    This is a good development. Never was there clearer evidence of complete dissociation from reality. Remove that man from any position of power and/or responsibility.


  22. james+k.+sayre Says:

    Mr. Cheney “can’t buy that”? Earth to Cheney: reality ain’t for sale. This pathetic administration is obviously in its last throes… Six short weeks till Election Day and a little feedback from us citizens in the peanut gallery…
    Cheers.


  23. oldtree Says:

    when “his dog dick” says he can’t buy it, it means he can’t profit from it.

    when the war crimes trials are over, we the people, can take all their money back to benefit the people of this country. 300 billion and counting in iraq that we will get back from the people that profited on the war, for they are the war criminals too.


  24. pablo Says:

    well put, tablogloid, well put. every democrat in this fall’s election should put this clip on the air. just shows how out of touch the administration is. like when w says things like “i reject your assertion” (actually he would only say “i reject that” - what was i thinking assuming he’d use words like ‘assertion’) when the truth is pointed out to him. itmfa!!!


  25. big+papa Says:

    Mary Poplins # 4

    Cheney is NO fool…

    …his supporters are the fools…

    …ad those of us honest, patriotic, tax paying working poor and middle class American citizens are fools…

    …but Cheney is NO fool…

    …he’s getting paid (along with ALL of the Bush cronies) to “NOT BUY” the NIE…

    …obfuscation, misinformation and redirection is the criminal Bushite junta’s modus operandi…

    …the $300 billion dollar question remains…

    …do they get away with it?


  26. Willy Says:

    The Bush administration continues living in its own fantasy world, ignoring reality. It takes a special kind of idiot to support this administration.


  27. big+papa Says:

    oldtree #23

    I’m with you…

    …I hope we impeach, arrest, prosecute, confiscate all of their assets (and their families’), then ship them to the Hague tribunal for war crimes…

    …I’d also like to use the Patriot Act to hunt down all right wing racist, confederate, war profiteering, corporate traitors…

    …THEN the rest of us can get on with the business of making an America our forefathers…

    …(NOT necessarily the racist slave holding “FOUNDING” fathers)…

    …would be proud of…


  28. the+fly-man Says:

    HERE IS WHAT HE DID BUY: THE NUCLEAR CARD: The Aluminum Tube Story — A special report.; How White House Embraced Suspect Iraq Arms Intelligence

    *Please Note: Archive articles do not include photos, charts or graphics. More information.
    October 3, 2004, Sunday
    THIS ARTICLE WAS REPORTED BY DAVID BARSTOW, WILLIAM J. BROAD AND JEFF GERTH, AND WAS WRITTEN BY MR. BARSTOW. (NYT); National Desk
    Late Edition - Final, Section 1, Page 1, Column 1, 11160 words
    DISPLAYING ABSTRACT - Bush administration brushed aside doubts of its foremost nuclear experts in leadup to war with Iraq when it embraced theory that high-strength aluminum tubes being acquired by Iraq were part of Saddam Hussein’s program to develop nuclear weapons; Vice Pres Dick Cheney would go on to argue ‘with absolute certainty’ that tubes were intended for uranium centrifuge despite considerable evidence supporting alternative theory that they were in fact rocket parts; centrifuge idea was first championed by junior CIA analyst in April 2001, and momentum gathered behind it built on pattern of haste, secrecy, ambiguity, bureaucratic maneuver and persistent failure in Bush administration and in Congress to ask hard questions; tube episode is case study of intersection between politics of pre-emption and inherent ambiguity of intelligence; drawings

    To read this archive article, upgrade to TimesSelect or purchase as a single article.


  29. DieNowForPeace Says:

    Next time Mr. Russert interviews dirty, old stinky Dick, he should pull out a microwave oven and offer to “warm-up” his coffee… yes, kids, it’s time for “fun with pacemakers”!


  30. theswan Says:

    It only goes to show you, just how informed the leaders of the American goverment really are.
    They listen to NO ONE. And they never will…


  31. Jake Says:

    30 -

    Right. It doesn’t matter what the PEOPLE say or what they want.

    How the hell are they going to make Dick and pals billions?

    If it doesn’t have a dollar sign on it, Dick ain’t interested.


  32. PatrioticLiberalChristian(PLC) Says:

    Interesting how he says “I don’t buy it” , not that he doesn’t accept it or believe it or that there are any factual distortions. It’s about “buying” power.


  33. budpaul Says:

    And far be it from Cheney to actually read stuff since to do so would mean that he might actually be confronted with the fact that he’s been dead wrong for six years.
    America’s Least Wanted


  34. Marie Says:

    Darth Cheney can’t speak without lying.
    With all that acid he has for blood, why hasn’t his battery rusted yet?
    Even Tweety Matthews said earlier that Cheney hasn’t been right once in 6 years, yet he is given deference. Anyone else would be a laughing stock.


  35. wisedup Says:

    dickie…the truth can’t be bought. The truth is the truth.



  36. Dave+von+Ebers Says:

    Dick, Dick, Dick. You don’t have to buy it, you just have to read it. It’s right there in black ‘n white - the Pres’dent’s favorite colors.


  37. Nathan Gillett » Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them Says:

    […] On September 10, in an appearance on MSNBC’s Meet the Press, Cheney told the public that wasn’t true. - Think Progress […]


  38. DOYOUSEE Says:

    WAR CRIMINAL,LIAR,PROFITEER,TRAITOR,THIEF,TORTURE, and many other things that KARMA will see to….If americans don’t take care of the obscene mess EL DIABLOCO are responsble for.


  39. Xenon Says:

    Then buy this, Dick: The world despises you, your tactics, your arrogance and idiocy, and moreover, what you’re selling you polyploid, senile jackass, the world is not buying.

    How many can I put you down for, Dickles? Somebody sweep this turd off the face of the Earth.


  40. BuzzTracker.com Says:

    Featured on BuzzTracker…



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