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Lynne Cheney: Terrorist Attacks Worldwide Don’t Affect ‘American Interests’»

A frequent Bush administration talking point in defense of the “war on terror” is claiming that United States has not been attacked since 9/11.

Yesterday, Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Cheney, reiterated this point on The Daily Show, claiming that terrorists regularly struck between 1993 and 2001 but not since 9/11. “It’s been more than six years. And that is not an accident. … There were many attacks between 1993 and the World Trade Centers coming down in 2001,” Cheney said.

Stewart rebutted Cheney’s claim by listing off the many terrorist attacks around the world since 9/11:

I mean, there was the anthrax thing. … [Terrorists] have been doing that all these past six years. The Spanish bombings, the English bombings, and then all the bombs in Iraq.

Cheney replied that attacks on other countries were not relevant to the discussion: “Yes, yes. But we’re talking about American interests.” The audience booed Cheney’s remarks. An incredulous Stewart responded, “Aren’t we interested in [attacks on those countries]? I’d assumed they were our allies.” Watch it:

Screenshot

Worldwide terror attacks are rising as a result of the policies Cheney supports. A State Department terrorism report released this year showed a nearly 30 percent increase in worldwide terror attacks in 2006. Prior to an attempted terrorist attack in London in June, British experts warned that the war in Iraq had increased the threat of terror attacks on their country.

A White House report released this week also stated that al Qaeda remains the “most serious and dangerous” terrorist threat and “is expected to intensify attempts to place agents inside the United States.”

Evidently, according to Cheney’s logic, even though almost 170,000 U.S. troops are in Iraq, bombings and terrorist attacks there don’t have anything to do with our nation’s “interests.”




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72 Responses to “Lynne Cheney: Terrorist Attacks Worldwide Don’t Affect ‘American Interests’”

  1. NoOneYouKnow Says:

    “U.S. interests” = GOP profits.


  2. Race Condition Says:

    Are you kidding? Terrorism is a world-wide pandemic right now, and the US is fanning the fire by being so militantly involved in the middle east. Just because the US hasn’t been attacked again (yet) doesn’t mean we won’t be, and it definitely does not make up for the terror-related deaths the world ’round since then. Bali, the UK… The world is NOT SAFE, despite Darth Cheney’s dried-up old cooch saying so.


  3. OxyCon Says:

    I’m glad you posted this because when I saw Lynne Cheney on the Daily Show putting forth this myth that America has not suffered another terrorist attack since 9-11 I knew better and wanted a way in which I could educate people otherwise.
    The fact is, America and American interests have been attacked 9 times by terrorists since 9-11 (including the still unsolved Anthrax murders).

    2002
    June 14, Karachi, Pakistan: bomb exploded outside American consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 12. Linked to al-Qaeda.

    2003
    May 12, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: suicide bombers killed 34, including 8 Americans, at housing compounds for Westerners. Al-Qaeda suspected.

    2004
    May 29–31, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: terrorists attack the offices of a Saudi oil company in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, take foreign oil workers hostage in a nearby residential compound, leaving 22 people dead including one American.

    June 11–19, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: terrorists kidnap and execute Paul Johnson Jr., an American, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 2 other Americans and BBC cameraman killed by gun attacks.

    Dec. 6, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: terrorists storm the U.S. consulate, killing 5 consulate employees. 4 terrorists were killed by Saudi security.

    2005
    Nov. 9, Amman, Jordan: Suicide bombers hit 3 American hotels, Radisson, Grand Hyatt, and Days Inn, in Amman, Jordan, killing 57. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility.

    2006
    Sept. 13, Damascus, Syria: an attack by four gunman on the American embassy was foiled.

    2007
    Jan. 12, Athens, Greece: the U.S. embassy was fired on by an anti-tank missile causing damage but no injuries.

    http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001454.html


  4. eve Says:

    This witch is a perfect example of GOP morality.


  5. Candyce Says:

    2003
    May 12, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: suicide bombers killed 34, including 8 Americans, at housing compounds for Westerners.

    2004
    May 29–31, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: terrorists attack the offices of a Saudi oil company in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, leaving 22 people dead including one American.

    June 11–19, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: terrorists kidnap and execute Paul Johnson Jr., an American, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 2 other Americans and BBC cameraman killed by gun attacks.

    Dec. 6, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: terrorists storm the U.S. consulate, killing 5 consulate employees.

    2005
    Nov. 9, Amman, Jordan: Suicide bombers hit 3 American hotels, Radisson, Grand Hyatt, and Days Inn, in Amman, Jordan, killing 57.

    2006
    Sept. 13, Damascus, Syria: an attack by four gunman on the American embassy.

    2007
    Jan. 12, Athens, Greece: the U.S. embassy was fired on by an anti-tank missile.

    Just a few non-American interest targets and non-American American deaths over the past few years.


  6. Candyce Says:

    Oxy! Sorry, you beat me to it!


  7. Long Tooth Says:

    The eyes of that woman are dead pools.

    That’s it. A gratuitous, spiteful attack, pure and simple.


  8. Max-1 Says:

    .

    Why does Lynn Cheney hate Amreica?

    .


  9. missmolly Says:

    I am amused by the GOP’s wild mood swings on this subject. They just LOVE to point out that “there have been no terrorist attacks on U.S. soil since 9/11″ whenever they want to tout how well the “war on terror” is going. Of course, they conveniently leave out anthrax attacks, the Washington snipers, etc. — or claim they aren’t “terrorist attacks”. And, like Lynne Cheney, they discount terrorist attacks in other countries as being unimportant from an American standpoint. In this mode, we have Al Qaeda on the run, the surge is working, etc.

    However, they bring out the entire laundry list of worldwide terror attacks whenever they need to paint Al Qaeda as a boogeyman. This is their tool of choice whenever they need support for a military surge, or to invade another country, or whatever. In this mode, we must be afraid…very afraid, because the terrorists will come marching down Main Street USA any day now.

    Is it any wonder why an ever-growing number of us no longer give any weight to anything the neocons say?


  10. dim wit Says:

    The whole Cheney family is out of touch with reality.

    I give her credit for going on TDS, certainly not friendly territory, but she didn’t win any over any friends.


  11. Buckie Boy Says:

    Black is White - War is Peace - Ignorance is Security - GOP is Good

    1984 speak in a nut shell - more propaganda

    Buck Fush


  12. Veritas Says:

    Lynne Cheney, card-carrying member of PNAC, spewing drivel.


  13. Veritas Says:

    Guess with The Dick is persona non grata and Dumbya can’t complete a sentence, they send out their “gals”?? Nice try, but no one cares what you have to say, complicit Lynne.


  14. Veritas Says:

    She will rot in hell (if there is such a place) for the lies and twisted rhetoric she continues to spew. Maybe an appearance by the Swiss Miss - Pamela Willeford - will shut this buffoon up?? Wonder what ever happened to Cheney’s main squeeze who was on the hunting trip with him instead of Lynne anyway? Pamela Willeford was sitting shotgun with Deadeye Dick - Funny he didn’t shoot her in the face?


  15. Veritas Says:

    He who volunteers to tell lies often comes out with rotten tomatoes on face! Confucius says…


  16. raynman Says:

    oh, veritas… if there was ever a straight line that begs to be answered…..


  17. Veritas Says:

    As the haunting refrain from the hit song “stand by your man” plays solemnly in the background, camera fades to Deadeye riding off into the sunset with Swiss Miss Willeford. Does this woman have absolutely NO self-respect? Or is she enjoying the ill-gotten profits from Dick’s war machine too much to sever herself from it and acknowledge his womanizing ways?? She’s committing personal suicide going out there to try to clean up her hubby’s shattered image. It’s impossible and she’s besmerching her own rep in allowing herself to be prostituted in this way.


  18. Veritas Says:

    Now america will see Lynne for what she truly is: Another Neo-fascist pimp!


  19. Zimzone Says:

    But America has experienced frequent, no - daily - attacks on our freedom

    by Lynne’s Husband & his boss, haven’t we? The most recent attack is on

    a 12 yr. old boy in need of medical insurance.

    Lynne, terrorist attacks come in all colors & sizes; ask your Husband.


  20. Veritas Says:

    On the more material side of things, it appears that a life of corruption is also catching up with Lynne from the looks of her….yikes! She won’t need a mask this halloween. She should have learned that difficult lesson from Little scotty, Snowflake, and PerinoHalfWit.


  21. Veritas Says:

    Lynne is showing her terrorist ways by agreeing to pimp for the fascists.


  22. Zimzone Says:

    Veritas,
    Life is tough when you have to drag around a Big Dick behind you.

    Lynne’s mileage is definitely showing…


  23. Leftside Annie Says:

    Dayum!

    She’s Darth’s perfect wife, as soulless and heartless as he is.

    I’m scared.


  24. Winski Says:

    Just another cog in the Cheeney WH wingnut core….


  25. Shayne Says:

    I hope her book rots on the shelf.


  26. DaveRywall Says:

    Ignorant. Clueless. Misinformed.

    She’s a TRIPLE THREAT!


  27. bob h Says:

    why, oh why did they trot this hag out?


  28. raynman Says:

    Now you know what’s going to happen… some right wing bloggers are going to look through this thread and use it to cry how abusive the left wing is… and totally ignore the drivel she was spewing.


  29. Shayne Says:

    While Lynn is out promoting her book she says that Jimmy Carter is saying evil things about her husband just to sell more books. Oh, the irony.


  30. Keith H. Says:

    Good grief . . . . . now I know why Devil Dick is always traveling and staying in his ‘undisclosed location(s)’.

    If I had to look at her in my house I’d slit my wrists.



  31. Xisithrus Says:

    Wow, the second lady surely knows about the other attacks, listed above, that have occured. And she also leaves out the fact thay their have been no attacks for 8 years and almost 7 months before 9.11 [2-6-1993 WTC attack] on America either.


  32. kirkaracha Says:

    President George W. Bush, November 3, 2001 (emphasis added):

    As all Americans know, recent weeks have brought a second wave of terrorist attacks upon our country: deadly anthrax spores sent through the U.S. Mail…Four Americans have died as a result of these acts of terrorism…The Postal Service and the FBI have offered a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to the arrest and the conviction of the anthrax terrorists…We do not yet know who sent the anthrax — whether it was the same terrorists who committed the attacks on September the 11th, or whether it was the — other international or domestic terrorists. We do know that anyone who would try to infect other people with anthrax is guilty of an act of terror…I’m proud of our citizens’ calm and reasoned response to this ongoing terrorist attack.


  33. grover nerdkissed Says:

    even better than the audience groans was the TOTAL SILENCE on what she obviously thought was gonna be an applause line!


  34. Xisithrus Says:

    Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995 was a terrorist attack on America, BUT is twas by an evangelical fundamentalist American and not Al Qaeda, even so that was 6 years and 5 months from the second WTC attack.


  35. Pete Bogs Says:

    she may have to backtrack on this… she just basically told our allies that they don’t matter…


  36. bs Says:

    i just watched that video are you f. kidding me.
    let em keep opening up there mouths because the truth of their imperialistic, dictatorship, nwo, zionist rule, nazi practices are shining bright for the ones that are slow in catching on.


  37. bs Says:

    whether it was the same terrorists who committed the attacks on September the 11th,

    wtf? sure was the same ones. weapons grade……who stores it……us, yes us at our industrial complexes. the terrorists are sitting in our whitehouse now. all of this shit just lights me on fire.


  38. Buckie Boy Says:

    deadly anthrax spores sent through the U.S. Mail…a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to the arrest and the conviction of the anthrax terrorists…

    Geez GW666 you and Darth could of just turned each other in for the million. But of course you already know that don’t you?

    Buck Fush


  39. Wordsmith Says:

    Godddddd!!! I can’t stand her voice. Her voice even sounds like she’s a horrific person

    I totally loved how there was ABSOLUTELY no response. No murmur, no applause when she proferrd her ‘no attack’ bullshit.

    And I’ll lay down real money to bet, oh, Lynn baby, thinks she’s real brave for coming on Jon’s show. She showed us didn’t she? She and ole’ Dick 5-deferment, I’ve got-better-things-to-do Cheney. Real heroes those two pieces of pond scum.


  40. hellinabucket Says:

    Off topic but interesting. Just pulled this from RedState:

    Did you know.. by Abdul P.W. Wolf…
    Maybe everyone knows this already but Moveon.org allows anyone to sign up as a volunteer and use any contact information that they’d care to submit. I mean, if one were so inclined, one could sign up their friends as volunteers using their friends’ email and phone numbers and just wait for the laughs to ensue. From what I’ve learned about Telemarketers, it takes weeks to get taken off one of their call lists!

    I’m tempted to sign up my good friend, Charles Schumer (D-NY) (charles.schumer@senatenews.net), as a Moveon.org volunteer! I’m sure he’ll appreciate the phone calls and emails, no?

    this was in ref. to Google pulling an add.


  41. tom Says:

    Little Lynnie is the poster-girl for the self-absorbed, ethnocentric, jingoistic GDumbya administration.

    And she sure looks like she’s been rode hard and put away wet too many times.


  42. Veritas Says:

    I guess the GOP is pressuring the wives and children of the criminals-in-chief to be seen in public since the men have become totally radioactive.


  43. Veritas Says:

    tom: In short, Lynne is a haggard, over-the-hill, addled-brained “elder” who’s trying her damnest to polish a turd. It’s definitely not her forte, that’s certain. How can one turd polish another turd?? It’s like putting lipstick on a pig - it’s still a pig regardless.


  44. Veritas Says:

    Lynne Cheney is “nails on a blackboard ugly”.


  45. Veritas Says:

    Zimzone: You are too funny. I’m sure it’s quite the contrary though because most overblown egomaniacs are that way due to personal and sexual impotency. So maybe she’s haggard from dragging along a Lil Dick. It’s still a losing proposition for her.


  46. Veritas Says:

    Actually, the phrase I’ve been looking for which so aptly describes Lynne Cheney is: LONG IN THE TOOTH. lol.


  47. Badger Says:

    When todays republican candidates are pressed to say something good about the Bush Presidency, they invariably haul out the “he’s kept us safe from attack for 6 years since Sept. 11th” talking point.

    Apart from the fact that they don’t have that much to work with….and apart from the fact that the anthrax attack makes this statement incorrect….

    Bush and his so called national security adviser Condi Rice were responsible for America’s safety during the Greatest National Security Failure in American History!


  48. Erroll Says:

    As Race Condition @#2 correctly infers, the largest group of terrorists in the world is operating in Iraq and it is not al-Qaida but rather the largest superpower in the world, the United States. As long as the United States stupidly and foolishly remains in Iraq, al-Qaida will have no trouble enlisting recruits for their cause. As another commenter pointed out, it is the height of hubris for this wife of the one of the leading neocons to be be totally indifferent about terrorist attacks happening to America’s allies. In order for peace to reign in the Middle East, it is long past the point for the United States to withdraw its troops and to return them to this country post haste, before more of them end up dying and maimed and crippled and disfigured and dismembered, all for absolutely no justification whatsoever.


  49. lefty Says:

    It was a disappointing interview. He should have just declined to do it. I disgreed with him when he says he couldn’t take her to task for her husband’s disgusting policies. She’s every bit the partisan he is and she has her own horrible views which deserve beating on. It was a disservice to his viewers. He was far more aggressive with Chris Matthews than this “woman”.


  50. gummitch Says:

    After all the horrible (but true) things Jon Stewarts said about her husband, you’d think she’d have the class to not come on his show.

    But there she was, yacking about her crappy book and waving like a prom queen

    Comment by BARTLEBEE — October 11, 2007 @ 5:33 pm

    The Daily Show numbers are huge, so it’s a coup to have an opportunity to pitch a book. No one ever accused a Republican of passing up a chance to make a couple more pennies — which is probably how many copies she’ll sell to TDS viewers.

    She’s got an ego the size of Montana, anyway, so she’s not going to turn down an opportunity to infest the airwaves.


  51. Shayne Says:

    Actually I thought Stewart was pretty tough on her. He didn’t roll over an play dead any way.


  52. celtic cynic Says:

    I hate to think it, but all the attacks worldwide might just be practice and training for something more sinister. The Cheneys’ views are very shortsighted, always have been. This is not a question of “American interests”, but the health, sanity, and peace on the entire planet.


  53. eve Says:

    Does this book have lesbian sex in it?

    Oh wait. Lynne said THAT book didn’t have lesbians in it.

    So, does this book have women who like sex with women but aren’t lesbians?


  54. upside99 Says:

    I have often felt that if there is a Hell, Lynne and Darth are living their collective lives in it on this earth, as they have to look at each other every morning and every night.

    AWWW, Karma can be a wonderful thing!


  55. Chocolate Jesus Says:

    Ah yes, and how exactly does mister dick and cheney and dumbya get the credit for the passengers subduing the shoebomber in mid flight? if he would have successfully lit up his shoes, these idiots wouldnt be able to scream about how there had been no attacks on american interests.

    Other than that, I cant think of a single attack since 2001 inside america that was disrupted that was actually planned by anything but posers and wannabees with no logistical ability to do what they were fantazising about or who had ties to anything but FBI informants. lets see, there was the guy that was going to cut down the brooklyn bridge with a blowtorch, the people who were egged into plotting to blow up the sears tower by an fbi informant posing as al-queda, although they had no access to explosives.. did i miss anythingelse?

    and there have been a few islamic types arrested for lying to the fbi or for attending the wrong kind of summer camp, but did i miss any actual PLOTS that people went to jail for?


  56. Chocolate Jesus Says:

    and please explain to me how there is supposedly a terrorist out there somewhere named Teddy Kennedy that causes the senator of the same name to get hassled every time hes tries to take a plane, but a guy who almost successfully blows up a plane with a shoe bomb gets on no problem? yeah, thanks for keeping us safe dick!


  57. ltbpoe Says:

    Last night when Lynn Cheney said that is was no accident that there have been no terrorist attacks against us since 9/11, I wish that Stewart had replied as follows: “If the administration wants to take credit for preventing another 9/11, isn’t it fair that the administration should take at least some portion of the blame for allowing 9/11 to happen in the first place.”


  58. wisedup Says:

    …and the last hold out to the chaneyizum was jailed, and the ‘Republican America’ lived happier ever after….dream on neo-cons.


  59. republicans hate facts Says:

    Loon Cheney, the requisite self loathing lesbian wife of Darth Cheney. What an embarrassment to the country she is!


  60. Bad Eye Says:

    So we are only fighting the “war” on terror for American interests? Funny…I could have sworn that we provided intelligence to the British before they arrested the 24 people plotting the water bottle attacks, in the form of legal wiretapping.

    What an ignorant B.


  61. Sean Says:

    Nice logic, Mrs. Cheney.

    *facepalm*

    Stewart Colbert 2008. He cut through that bullsh!t instantly.

    ~Sean


  62. Fools on the Hill Says:

    Lynne Cheney has it correct. We write the history books and you’ll note there is little written concerning the genocide of Native Americans. So in 50 yrs Bush will be just another wonderful President with all the failures forgotten.

    Of course other countries’ history books will be filled with a maniacal monster from America called GW.


  63. katy Says:

    I give her credit for going on TDS, certainly not friendly territory, but she didn’t win any over any friends.
    Comment by dim wit — October 11, 2007 @ 4:20 pm

    she wasn’t half bad until that “american interests” comment…
    blew it… big time…

    even better than the audience groans was the TOTAL SILENCE on what she obviously thought was gonna be an applause line!
    Comment by grover nerdkissed — October 11, 2007 @ 4:53 pm

    yep… even her entourage was quiet…
    surprised me… but i grinned too… glad for that silence…


  64. Bad Eye Says:

    So does she think that we shouldn’t have gone to the aid of our allies in Europe and defended them from Germany and the Axis powers in WWII? After all, following her logic, what interest would we have had in Europe during that war?


  65. Keith Says:

    We haven’t lost any major cities since we lost New Orleans, either. But that hasn’t been thanks to the wonderful work of this administration.

    I haven’t been attacked by a tiger since Bush became president, but it hasn’t been thanks to him!


  66. phaedrus1313 Says:

    I’m glad to see that I’m not the only person who was stunned by this exchange. I wrote my summary and a short bit on my take (nothing earthshattering) on my blog:

    Lynne Cheney: “We’re talking about American Interests”


  67. barfly Says:

    Comment by phaedrus1313 —

    That has to be the most transparent plea for blog-hits ever posted on TP.

    C’mon dude; we’re a little more astute than that.


  68. nitish Says:

    who knew john stewart was a neocolonialist?

    I think Stewart confused himself during the interview.

    when essentially saying that the United States had not been attacked during the 1990s, he didn’t count times when the United States was actually attacked.

    but a few moments later, after being rebutted by Mrs Cheney about ‘no attacks’, Stewart counts attacks on other countries as attacks on the United States.
    according to Stewart’s line of thought, the world is America.

    seriously…. shouldn’t Stewart maintain one definition and not change it when its convenient for his argument–especially when its about a minute apart on video.

    – liberal comedy remains the last bastion of failed entertainers


  69. Tender Chicken Says:

    Why would anybody care what Lynne Cheney has to say? The only fact you need to dismiss anything that comes out of this woman’s mouth is this: look at the man she married.


  70. RightOfAttila Says:

    Why would anybody care what Lynne Cheney has to say? The only fact you need to dismiss anything that comes out of this woman’s mouth is this: look at the man she married.

    Comment by Tender Chicken — October 12, 2007 @ 2:28 pm

    What an inciteful thing to hear from a liberal. The golden ones who claim to be champions of compassion and free speech. So we don’t want to discriminate anyone on the basis of gender, race or religion but it’s OK to do it based on spouse selection. To the subject at hand - The point here is that we can’t do as much about terrorism in other countries as we can in our own country. Common sense tells you that you can do more when you have full control of resources (police, intelligence, etc.) which you don’t have when you’re dealing with a foreign country. But even then, recent arrests of terrorists in Europe were the result of the cooperation between the US and other goverments. The reality is that the administration has been very successful at preventing a repeat of 911. Part of the reason for that success is that we’re keeping the terrorists busy in Iraq and the new intelligence gathering programs that we undertake here and abroad.


  71. Tender Chicken Says:

    RightOfAttila: My point is this, Lynne Cheney, like your comments, is irrelevant. Quick asking “liberals” to be nice and polite when you and yours parade Anne Coulter, Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin, and anyone on Fox Noise to do your dirty work, not to mention each and every Republican politician. You have to be kidding asking people to be nice to you. You want nice after you people went after a 12 year old boy with the bloodlust of a gang of serial killers? Get over yourself. Hilarious.



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