Think Progress

Cheney’s last visit to Iraq: ‘We’ve turned the corner.’

Today was Vice President Cheney’s second trip to Baghdad. Dan Froomkin reminds us of his first, in December 2005, when a Marine corporal told Cheney during a Q&A session: “From our perspective, we don’t see much as far as gains. I was wondering what it looks like from the big side of the mountain — how Iraq’s looking.”

“‘Well, Iraq’s looking good,’ Cheney responded. ‘It’s hard sometimes, if you look at just the news, to have the good stories burn through. Part of it is that what we’re doing here, obviously, takes time. From our perspective, looking back, as I say, to a year and a half ago, I think it’s remarkable progress. I think we’ve turned the corner, if you will. I think when we look back from 10 years hence, we’ll see that the year ‘05 was in fact a watershed year here in Iraq.

“Cheney…also discussed the possibility of American forces eventually withdrawing ‘to a few locations’ in Iraq, which would ‘reduce the total number of personnel we need here.’

“‘I think you will see changes in our deployment patterns probably within this next year,’ he said.”

cheney121805.gif


54 Responses to “Cheney’s last visit to Iraq: ‘We’ve turned the corner.’”

  1. And You Thought REAGAN Was Stupid says:

    The Republicans turned a corner in 2006 to the back burner of American politics. Their days of fighting against civil rights and aid for the poorest Americans while funneling money into their own pockets is over. Buh-bye, purveyors of 18th century ideals.


  2. oldtree says:

    note he can’t even come down the plane’s ramp without wearing body armor himself? what a coward and liar. it is very nice when his statements and pictures are so clearly opposite. even stupid people might scratch their cretinous protrusion in disbelief


  3. stopthecons says:

    the propaganda is endless from these people. They lie, lie about lying and then lie again.

    I don’t believe they’re stupid – they just know that an apathetic public will believe lies if their repeated often enough. well, at least a portion of the population will.

    Some reading on this issue:

    “Politicians Lie? Say it Ain’t So!”
    http://www.populistamerica.com/politicians_lie___say_it_ain_t_so


  4. Evil Spaniard says:

    But the rightist pundit Dick
    Morris said (yesterday) that “It’s ‘Convenient’ To Keep U.S. Troops In Iraq So Terrorists Can Kill Them ‘Around The Corner’ » ”

    That means that the troops have turned the corner and are exposed to increased shootings?


  5. profmarcus says:

    the REAL reason cheney dropped in to the green zone was to push the oil law and to express how pissed of he is about the two-month parliament recess… but, of course, the media aren’t going to put those two together for us… as usual, it’s something we have to figure out on our own…

    from the wsj

    U.S. officials have been livid since discovering that Iraq’s fledgling parliament – hardly a hive of activity in the first place – was planning to take a two-month summer recess, postponing work on a bill spelling out how oil money would be shared among Iraq’s ethnic and sectarian groups or a law authorizing new regional elections.

    And, yes, I DO take it personally


  6. Badmoodman says:

    Cheney: “‘I think you will see changes in our deployment patterns probably within this next year,’ he said.” – - Well, he got that right.


  7. JTitor says:

    How many time do the Republicans have to turn the corner before they realize they are right where they started? Congress needs to know that we want action and not cave on the issue of bringing the troops home.


  8. RUCerious says:

    Not watershed, you idiot, I meant BLOODshed!


  9. stuart eugene thiel says:

    Turn enough corners, and you wind up back where you started.


  10. glutalgia says:

    It’s not so much that Iraq has turned the corner; it’s rather that Cheney is around the bend.


  11. Tobey Tall says:

    Iraqi Union Set to Strike over Oil Law

    Yes expect oil to go up in price

    Iraq’s largest oil workers’ trade union will strike tomorrow, in protest at the controversial oil law currently being considered by the Iraqi parliament. The move threatens to stop all oil exports from Iraq.

    The oil law proposes giving multinational companies the primary role in developing Iraq’s huge untapped oilfields, under contracts lasting up to 30 years. Oil production in Iraq, like in most of the Middle East, has been in the public sector since the 1970s. Continue reading ‘Iraqi Union Set to Strike over Oil Law’


  12. Geoff says:

    If you will? No, I won’t.


  13. Tobey Tall says:

    Iraqi Union Set to Strike over Oil Law

    http://www.priceofoil.org/


  14. Retardlicans for Pres. says:

    What a complete joke. I guess this is what 9% approval buys you these days.


  15. Jeb says:

    Quick! Someone tell Cheney that turning two corners just sends you in the opposite direction!

    “Two wrongs don’t make a right; but three rights makes a left.”


  16. Chimpeachment Looms says:

    look at the guy next to him, he looks like he lost his appetite.

    who could eat sitting next to a festering dick?


  17. trueblue says:

    How many damned corners are there?


  18. Democrat Soldier says:

    We’ve turned so many “corners” in Iraq that the current administration is getting dizzy!

    Well, make that ‘dizzier’.

    How many ‘corners’ are they going to turn before they wake up to the failure that is the occupation?


  19. buzzbomb says:

    “‘I think you will see changes in our deployment patterns probably within this next year,’ he said.”

    Yeah, but instead of less troops, we now have more!! When o when will nature cull this man from the herd?


  20. Elvis says:

    Also note: In the picture from 2005 he was not wearing a flak/bullet proof jacket. Today he is.


  21. Rebel in CA says:

  22. kasinca says:

    The GOP is so over! And that will be a great thing for the next century. Dubya and his crime family have guaranteed a defeat of the troglodytes for the next hundred years.


  23. Tobey Tall says:

    Iraq’s largest oil workers’ trade union will strike tomorrow, in protest at the controversial oil law currently being considered by the Iraqi parliament. The move threatens to stop all oil exports from Iraq.

    The oil law proposes giving multinational companies the primary role in developing Iraq’s huge untapped oilfields, under contracts lasting up to 30 years. Oil production in Iraq, like in most of the Middle East, has been in the public sector since the 1970s. Continue reading ‘Iraqi Union Set to Strike over Oil Law’


  24. speedtats says:

    I don’t understand why anyone pays any mind to these cats anymore. They’re obviously so far detached from reality that they ought to be involuntarily committed indefinitely as immediate dangers to themselves and/or others. I can’t wait until grownups are back in charge and clean up the People’s Playhouse. Sheesh.


  25. Republicans are the Fear and Smear Party says:

    “I’ll let you know how many corners are in my polygon as soon as I add them up, if you will.” – Darth Cheney


  26. Willy says:

    Dick Cheney: “Death is good. Destruction is good. Turning corners is good. F**k the press.”


  27. null says:

    withdrawing ‘to a few locations’

    yea, the oil fields and oil inftrastructure which will NEVER be left as long as Corp. Amerika has a say.


  28. nanlichi says:

    Iraq has as many coners as an Escher drawing.


  29. chris says:

    Speaking of Dick Cheyney and oil….read this email my friend sent me– it might just work if we got enough people behind it…

    NEW GAS WAR – a new idea that WILL work

    This was originally sent by a retired Coca Cola executive. It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. It’ s worth your consideration.

    Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to hit close to $4.00 a gallon by the end of this summer and it might go higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea.

    This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the “don’t buy gas on a certain day” campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn’t continue to “hurt” ourselves by refusing to buy gas. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them.

    BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read on and join with us! By now you’re probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $2.99 for regular unleaded in my town (May 1, 2007). Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50 – $1.75, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace….. not sellers. With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can’t just stop buying gas. But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price war.

    Here’s the idea:

    For the rest of this year, DON’T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.

    But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers. It’s really simple to do! Now, don’t wimp out at this point…. keep reading and I’ll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people.

    I am sending this note to about 80 people. If each of us sends it to just ten more (80 x 10 = 800) … and those 800 send it to at least ten more (800 x 10 = 8,000)…and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth group of people, we will have reached over EIGHT MILLION consumers. If those eight million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 80 million people will have been contacted! And so on.
    Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That’s all.

    How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people in the US could conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!!

    I’ll bet you didn’t think you and I had that much potential, did you?

    Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.75 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. Think about the record profit they reported again in April and this might get you incentive. Remember, profit is the difference between their cost and their income. Their income is driven by the inflated gas and oil prices.


  30. james k. sayre says:

    “Turning a corner” or “turning the corner” in an Iraqi quagmire: a bit of a sticky wicket, one might say… Actually, the Bush crime family is in its last throes… The End is Near… Redeploy Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Connie, Alberto and the rest of these worthless lying traitors directly to Jail.


  31. Mitch says:

    Actually, ‘05 was a watershed year for New Orleans. Dick gets confused now and then from the heard meds.


  32. Buck Fush says:

    When you turn 4 corners you are right back to where you started, war criminal dick.
    Normally I think killing and violence are just wrong, but you know I would not feel bad at all if a rocket hit ole’ dick between the eyes.

    Hating the Repukian War Criminals daily


  33. Spo_K_Calb says:

    ‘Well, Iraq’s looking good, …’

    Sounds like the same thing Ken Lay said back in 2001 when Enron was sinking. Like in September of 2001 when Lay told Enron’s employees he was a buyer of Enron stock when in fact he was an active seller.

    Meanwhile, he was telling the employees that he thought Enron’s stock was “a bargain” …

    Dick Cheney, Ken Lay … these guys really do operate from the same exact play book …

    Incredible …


  34. Shane says:

    How many corners are there in a great big circle jerk?


  35. lw says:

    “DON’T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL.”

    I have not bought gas from Exxon since the Valdez oil spill. Just my own little personal boycott. Judging by their record profits recently, it doesn’t seem to have bothered them much. Maybe if more of us… (???)


  36. rrose selavy says:

    We’ve turned more corners then an origami convention.
    Watershed? Did he mean bloodshed?


  37. * Hater says:

    I wish my brother were still around to chat with me online about Shooty McBadheart’s odious presence in Iraq.

    We’d have a good laugh about it. Andy always had more than a few choice words for Shooty, Chimpy, Gap-teeth, and Rummy The Dummy, among others. He always saw the folly of being there, what a farce it all was.

    We can’t laugh about it any longer, though. Andy was killed by an IED in Western Baghdad last Thursday.


  38. tubino says:

    It’s not a war anymore, it’s an occupation.

    You don’t LOSE an occupation, you just recognize that you can never WIN.

    If surveys started asking people if they support the continued forced occupation of Iraq, at the real expense of lives etc., you would get even lower % of YES answers.


  39. Kyle says:

    How about instead of when opposing Cheney and Bush’s illegal “war”, we say anti-crime instead of anti-war. I’m anti-crime are you?


  40. Juan C says:

    I think we’ve turned the corner, if you will. I think when we look back from 10 years hence, we’ll see that the year ‘05 was in fact a watershed year here in Iraq.‘

    Copied. Registered. Assimilated.

    Hey, Liberals, you know that we´ve turned the corner? /trollish


  41. nanlichi says:

    *Hater,

    My sincere condolences for your loss.


  42. Ahmad Chalabi says:

    Even I think the guy is a rotten liar. And that is really saying something.

    -


  43. Uncle Ho says:

    “We’ve turned the corner”….exactly what Custer said at the Little Big Horn.


  44. helenahandbasket says:

    We’ve turned a corner four times – to become a box.


  45. NoOneYouKnow says:

    My condolences, Hater.

    I think Cheney thinks he’s in the home stretch. He started this war for the oil, and if he can get that oil law passed — the one that basically screws the Iraqis out of their own oil — he doesn’t care what happens after that, except that the law can’t be overturned, so we’ll need to keep the troops there for 30 years to enforce our theft of their oil.
    There’s the rub. They have to keep the troops there to keep their filthy claws on the oil, and that’s not gonna happen.


  46. Redneck by birth/liberal by choice says:

    Yeah… we turned a corner and ran into a wall. Smooth move Cheney. You suck!


  47. TheHeathen says:

    Wonder how much gold, money, jewels and street drugs was in dead-eye-dick’s baggage when he returned from that place?
    Also wonder how many times he had to change underwear.
    Looked like an armoured vest under that sweater.


  48. croatoan says:

    “If you will” is one of his tells when he’s lying.


  49. Later... says:

    I hope Cheney lives to 100. Think about it, he’ll have all that time to see the fruits of his tenure. His epitaph could read ” And I Just turned the corner”. Funny man, that Dick though he would probably only last a week if he had to eat that Haliburton cafeteria food at the base in Iraq for a week. Like I said, funny man…


  50. HeckuvahJob Brownie says:

    The picture of Cheney is priceless!


  51. Choclate Jesus loves anulingus says:

    > and if he can get that oil law passed

    I’m completely confused as to why these people are so obsessed with Oil laws? Last I checked, guns and IED’s are the law in iraq these days. As much as some of these chumps would love to think the iraqis are going to kill each other off until none are left, they are wrong. they will kill each other, sure, but there will be plenty left to make sure that western interests never get thier hands on signifigant amounts of oil without getting bloodied in the process. if these idiots think that laws mean anything without a stable government to enforce them, they are sadly mistaken. I predict in 10 years, if anyone is getting the oil contracts in iraq, it will be the russians and the chinese.


  52. WC says:

    “Cheney…also discussed the possibility of American forces eventually withdrawing ‘to a few locations’ in Iraq, which would ‘reduce the total number of personnel we need here.’

    “‘I think you will see changes in our deployment patterns probably within this next year,’ he said.”

    Ahhh…disclosing our plans to the enemy, eh Cheney? For shame!


  53. Fedup says:

    *Hater,

    I AM SO DEEPLY, DEEPLY SORRY!


  54. Joe Mammy says:

    My condolences on losing your good friend hater.

    I’ve only got one thing to say: GET THE FUCK OUT OF IRAQ!!! NOW!!!!



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