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Cheney: By Jan. 2009, Iraq Will Be A True ‘Democracy In The Heart Of The Middle East’»

cheneytr.jpg Today in a new interview with Politico, Vice President Cheney said that he is “confident” Iraq will eventually be in a “good” enough place that the administration will be able to look back and say, “That was the right decision. It was a sound decision going into Iraq.” When will that time be? According to Cheney, Jan. 2009:

But Cheney said that by the middle of January 2009, it will be clear that “we have in fact achieved our objective in terms of having a self-governing Iraq that’s capable for the most part of defending themselves, a democracy in the heart of the Middle East, a nation that will be a positive force in influencing the world around it in the future.”

All of that by 2009? “Yes, sir,” he replied.

The Bush administration has been pledging this flourishing democracy since the United States invaded almost five years ago. Some of Cheney’s promises:

We would act in that same spirit after a regime change in Iraq. With our help, a liberated Iraq can be a great nation once again. Iraq is rich in natural resources and human talent, and has unlimited potential for a peaceful and a prosperous future. Our goal would be an Iraq that has territorial integrity, a government that is democratic and pluralistic, a nation where the human rights of every ethnic and religious group are recognized and respected. [8/26/02]

RUSSERT: And you are convinced the Kurds, the Sunnis, the Shiites will come together in a democracy? […]
CHENEY: I think the prospects of being able to achieve this kind of success, if you will, from a political standpoint, are probably better than they would be for virtually any other country and under similar circumstances in that part of the world. [3/16/03]

We will succeed in Iraq, just like we did in Afghanistan. We will stand up a new government under an Iraqi-drafted constitution. We will defeat that insurgency, and, in fact, it will be an enormous success story. [6/24/05]

The progress we’ve seen in Iraq has been superb, and we can be confident going forward because the Iraqi people value their own liberty and are determined to choose their own destiny. … The victory of freedom in Iraq will inspire democratic reformers in other lands. [10/3/05]

According to the nonpartisan Freedom House, Iraq is still considered “not free,” with its “civil liberties rating” actually declining from the previous year. Privately, the White House is scaling back its “expectation of quickly achieving major steps toward unifying the country.” Gen. David Petraeus and Iraq Amb. Ryan Crocker have also stated that they foresee “a significant American role” in Iraq through 2009.

Of course, there’s reason to doubt Cheney’s prediction. This is the man who said we were in the “last throes” of “the insurgency” on June 20, 2005.

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65 Responses to “Cheney: By Jan. 2009, Iraq Will Be A True ‘Democracy In The Heart Of The Middle East’”


  1. patooty Says:

    Cheney distorting facts and attempting to rewrite history again!! What else is new with these frauds?


  2. wisedup Says:

    well gee…if you say so.


  3. bilbobaggins Says:

    Chaney has gone completely over the edge. It’s rather sad when you think about it. History will once again prove him wrong. Maybe when he realizes that he was wrong on all accounts, his head will explode.


  4. Cailleach Says:

    Afghanistan is a failure. There’s nothing more to say.


  5. j swift Says:

    He needs to see a psychiatrist. The man is delusional.


  6. republicans hate facts Says:

    The revised edition of “6 more months”, yet just as unfounded on reality…


  7. Buckie Boy Says:

    And when it is still a sh!thole of corruption and violence what then Darth Dick? 2010, 2011, next tuesday?

    Bush/Cheney
    Hague Trials ‘09

    Buck Fush


  8. Tender Chicken Says:

    I can’t wait to see this thug convicted and executed for war crimes, crimes against humanity and treason.


  9. Kay Says:

    F_ck you, Cheney.


  10. republicans hate facts Says:

    F_ck you, Cheney.
    Comment by Kay — December 5, 2007 @ 7:49 pm

    I think you meant “Cheney you, Cheney” ;)


  11. Badmoodman Says:

    Cheney will be right. Of course, to achieve that end, he fails to mention that we will nuclear carpet-bomb all the countries surrounding Iraq, thereby making him prescient.


  12. mudsharks buddy Says:

    yeah…sure thing Dick.”we’ll be greeted as liberators”…does that one ring a bell DICK…………if anybody listens to this pathological liar and still believes him….well…………their pretty F****N STUPID…


  13. SP Biloxi Says:

    Daddy war bucks Dick:‘Democracy In The Heart Of The Middle East’

    That’s a joke. Cheney is really saying: “I’m packing my stuff and taking the taxpayer’s money that I stole and run and leave the sh*t in Iraq and U.S. to the next President.”


  14. mudsharks buddy Says:

    meanwhile,in Lebanon.There are 50,000 Iraqis,who entered the country illegaly and are now being persecuted for being there.The Lebanese are arresting the males….600 so far.It’s either go back to Iraq(death sentence) or rot in a Lebanese prison……..These people don’t have the time to wait till 2009(as if it would work by then anyway)


  15. Evergreen2U Says:

    By Jan 1 2009 Cheney will be counting his $$ from Haliburton etc profits.

    We all know that in one year there will be no democracy for anyone in Iraq & women will still be slaves. He is putting out yet another bag of soft, squishy, smelly stuff.

    What he really means is that the corporations he works for will have access to the money from Iraqi oil by then. He defines democracy as
    Government by and for the corporations…$$$$.


  16. abarts Says:

    Sure they will. I mean, he’s been right about everything else, hasn’t he?


  17. Lora Says:

    Yes, Dickhead. We all know how right you have been so far on everything else concerning Iraq and the Middle East.


  18. joe cantwell Says:

    cue the trolls.

    (we need a laugh here)


  19. jb Says:

    The deluded Dick criminal should just shoot himself.


  20. JPV Says:

    He knows he’s full of it.

    It’s called THE BIG LIE.


  21. Hemlock for Gadflies Says:

    Well, why not? After all, Bush’s still going to be president, and Cheney’s still going to be VP in 2009.

    Wait, did I say that out loud?

    Never mind….


  22. JPV Says:

    By Jan 1 2009 Cheney will be counting his $$ from Haliburton etc profits.

    We all know that in one year there will be no democracy for anyone in Iraq…

    Comment by Evergreen2U

    Or the US for that matter.


  23. Zooey Says:

    …….and I’ll be the Queen of Spain.


  24. landofthefree Says:

    Why does he even open his mouth in public?

    Seriously? Why doesn’t he just hunker down in his private residences, go hunting all day, and ride out the next two years? No one believes him. No one likes him. He can keep his mouth shut and continue to do all sorts of evil things behind the scenes.

    Does he just have a compulsion to make people bristle? Does he just want to be talked about (even if the vast majority of people are laughing out loud at him)? Or, does he simply believe the breathtakingly absurd things he says?


  25. patooty Says:

    Photo Caption: If I only had a brain.



  26. Xisithrus Says:

    It didnt work for the British/Churchillian empire in the 1900’s…


  27. Bobwurst Says:

    re 30,

    Tell the truth, Dan Bartlett told you to regurgitate that, didn’t he.


  28. Bobwurst Says:

    “Well, things are improving. Ask Jack Murtha: CaptainMantastic ”

    Oh, you got the regurgitation call from bartlett too.


  29. 2MillionLightYearsToAndromeda Says:

    “Fascism is on the march today in America. Millionaires are marching to the tune. It will come in this country unless a strong defense is set up by all liberal and progressive forces…”

    - former U.S. ambassador to Germany William Dodd in 1938


  30. Xisithrus Says:

    Comment by muckdog — December 5, 2007 @ 8:29 pm

    Hoekstra: Iraq goal shouldn’t be democracy


  31. 2MillionLightYearsToAndromeda Says:

    THEY JUST CANNOT GET ENOUGH DEATH!

    An Associated Press poll in February found that the average American believed about 9,900 Iraqis had been killed since the end of major combat operations in 2003. Recent evidence suggests that things in Iraq may be 100 times worse than Americans realize.

    …Finally, last month, the respected British polling firm ORB released the results of a poll estimating that 22 percent of households had lost a member to violence during the occupation of Iraq, equating to 1.2 million deaths.

    …So multiple polls and scientific surveys all suggest the official figures and media-based estimates in Iraq have missed 70 percent to 95 percent of all deaths. The evidence suggests that the extent of underreporting by the media is only increasing with time.

    http://www.baltimoresun.com/ne…..6773.story


  32. 2MillionLightYearsToAndromeda Says:

    Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose, and you allow him to make war at pleasure. Study to see if you can fix any limit to his power in this respect, after having given him so much as you propose…

    - Abraham Lincoln

    http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln


  33. sacopenapa Says:

    Iraquis think that Democracy and Freedom tates like White Phosforo, eletrical schock, black hoods and chains, not to mention dead relatives! Thanks Chenney, I hope you end up like Musolini did, your fat ugly body hanging upside down and being spat on by crowds!


  34. Jackie Says:

    When has Satan ever told the truth?


  35. hyerstandard Says:

    These true idiots on the right both the Bush administration and bobble heads that serve as their mouthpiece (ie: Faux News, Scarbourough, Beck, talk radio, etc. etc.) are not taking the recent turn of events laying down. No, not these patriots, they are now disregarding the NIE findings, attacking its authors and arguing that all is irrelevant as long as Iran is enriching uranium. Wow, just when you thought these scumbags couldn’t get any worse. If the enrichment of Uranium is grouds for political sanctions and possible millitary action then we are going to be a busy little nation building country.

    The following countries are known to operate enrichment facilities: Argentina, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Iran, Japan, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Israel and North Korea are also suspected of having enrichment programs. Belgium, Iran, Italy and Spain hold an investment interest in French facilities.

    Preach on you chicken hawks, preach on.

    http://www.hyerstandard.com


  36. Merlin Says:

    #38 Comment by 2MillionLightYearsToAndromeda — December 5, 2007 @ 8:52 pm

    And just think! These idiots compare Bush with Lincoln!!!


  37. Merlin Says:

    #40 Comment by hyerstandard — December 5, 2007 @ 9:05 pm

    If the enrichment of Uranium is grouds for political sanctions and possible millitary action then we are going to be a busy little nation wrecking country.

    There, I corrected your sentence.


  38. impeachcheneythenbush Says:

    “The invasion of Iraq was a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law. The invasion was an arbitrary military action inspired by a series of lies upon lies and gross manipulation of the media and therefore of the public; an act intended to consolidate American military and economic control of the Middle East masquerading — as a last resort — all other justifications having failed to justify themselves –as liberation….We have brought torture, cluster bombs, depleted uranium, innumerable acts of random murder, misery, degradation and death to the Iraqi people and call it “bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East.”

    Harold Pinter, the 2005 Nobel Prize Lecture in Literature, Guardian, December 7, 2005


  39. ForTruth Says:

    Cheney looks like he’s about to pull out the shotgun and shoot a coupla’ hippies.


  40. had enough Says:

    Cheney: By Jan. 2009, Iraq Will Be A True ‘Democracy In The Heart Of The Middle East’
    What he is really thinking:

    By Jan. 2009, Iraq will be a true cash cow for myself and my corporate buddies for decades.

    If congress will not impeach these thugs, maybe a united citizens group can begin a law suit, strip the thugs of their wealth and redistribute it to those harmed.


  41. Merlin Says:

    From the article:

    …by the middle of January 2009, it will be clear that “we have in fact achieved our objective…”

    And those objectives would be…

    •Avoided impeachment
    •Escaped prosecution for our war crimes
    •Successfully dumped the Afgan and Iraq mess in the Dems hands.
    •Succeeded in establishing a puppet Iraqi Gov’t that will do as it is told.
    •Signed an “agreement” that legally turns over Iraqi oil to American oil companies.

    Anybody else care to add more?


  42. Lefty Patriot Says:

    Gotta love the Murtha “surge is a success” quotes from the rightards without the Murtha “unfortunately it won’t make a difference” parts. Koolaid, koolaid, tastes great.


  43. Nat Says:

    Can’t we get this war criminal in The Hague already?


  44. Briseadh na Faire Says:

    There already is a democracy in the Middle East: Iran.

    It’s as much a democracy as the U.S. It’s a Republic.

    Saudia Arabia, on the other hand, is an absolute monarchy. The Arab Emirates is a Federation whose member states are ruled by Crown Princes. Kuwait is a constitutional monarchy.

    So, our Arab and/or Muslim friends in the Middle East can have monarchies and we’re ok with that. Our enemy du jour has a democracy, and we’re agitating for regime change and the use of force.

    It sure looks like we support monarchies more than we support democracies in the Middle East.


  45. ForTruth Says:

    I thought Mertha had no credibility, being corrupt and all. Right repukes?


  46. Brain From Planet Arous Says:

    Well, why not? After all, Bush’s still going to be president, and Cheney’s still going to be VP in 2009.

    Wait, did I say that out loud?

    Never mind….

    Comment by Hemlock for Gadflies — December 5, 2007 @ 8:22 pm

    I have been thinking this out loud for 7 years now, and it is NOT Marshall Tucker’s Law, but Martial Law. After all Mushie pulled it off in Pakistan with the blessings of BushCo.

    Believe NOTHING BushLaden Productions says, and I mean NOTHING.


  47. pluege Says:

    Depends on the meaning of democracy. if you go with democracy cheney style like he promotes here in the US, which is nothing more than a dictatorship and one party rule; why then, yes, the vice president may very well be right about Iraq.

    It also depends on the meaning of self-governing. if you go with self-governing cheney style, which includes massive foreign military bases and presence in your country and coerced treaties and agreements to let an occupier to have sole access to your resources at-will, why then yes, the vice president may very well be right about Iraq.
    .


  48. Innocent Bystander Says:

    By the middle of January 2009, Dick Cheney will be in Dubai, living like an Arab Sheik, free from extradition worries. He’ll be having a laugh at all of the suckers who defended him and this administration for 8 years.


  49. Keith H. Says:

    Dick Cheney: Absolute Evil Personified.
    May he get what he has coming, and soon.


  50. Chocolate Jesus Says:

    Iraq will be be a true democracy in the heart of the middle east just like the Palestenian government is now. Iraq didnt show up at the latest “peace” conference, just like the elected government of palestine didnt. Thats because they have demcratically chosen to align themselves with Iran and reject any conferences which try to align support against them, and they’ve also democratically chosen to hate israel and want nothing to do with any peace accords with then,.idiots like Kilo-twat are so naive they really think that they didnt show up at the peace conference like we wanted them to, because the entire iraqi government had a “schedueling conflict”,,, what a moron,,


  51. Max-1 Says:

    .

    And Cheney’s proof lies where?

    In his faulty, contrived, manipulated, “FIXED FACTS”?

    .


  52. RUCerious Says:

    Oh, and the oil’s gonna pay for it all, right, you big fat dick?


  53. RUCerious Says:

    We will succeed in Iraq, just like we did in Afghanistan. We will stand up a new government under an Iraqi-drafted constitution. We will defeat that insurgency, and, in fact, it will be an enormous success story. [6/24/05]

    Uh, the same Afghanistan that’s being overrun by the Taliban? That enormous success?


  54. Juan C. Says:

    Harold Pinter, the 2005 Nobel Prize Lecture in Literature, Guardian, December 7, 2005
    Comment by impeachcheneythenbush

    That is probably the best statement against the Iraqi invasion I have read, just as the best statement against the utterly destruction of Nicaragua.


  55. alphainfinityomega Says:

    January 2009 ??

    That’s over two (2) more Friedman unit’s. WTF.
    How many times have we heard this before ?

    ∞


  56. Gregor Samsa Says:

    a democracy in the heart of the Middle East

    This single sentence contains two elements Cheney knows little or nothing about (Middle East and a heart), and one he rather not know anything about (democracy).

    It’s no wonder the Iraq experiment is slowly going down the drain…


  57. alphainfinityomega Says:

    CAPTION

    “I think I see some Snow White Dove’s and some Whip-O-Will there in the distance, Lynn; hand me my 12 gauge.”

    ∞


  58. leftcoast Says:

    Iraq will eventually be in a “good” enough place that the administration will be able to look back and say,“That was the right decision. It was a sound decision going into Iraq.”

    Wouldn’t the appropriate time to have determined that it was a right and sound decision been before they decided to invade Iraq?


  59. dgpdx Says:

    If that happens, we break even: gain one democracy there; lose one democracy here…


  60. neoconsrscum Says:

    Yes, he’ll be screaming from his hospital bed, crowing about his successes in Iraq; like Roy Cohn, dying of AIDS, screaming from his deathbed that he’s “not homosexual”.


  61. neoconsrscum Says:

    #60- not only is it 2- Friedman units; it’d be suspiciously close to being right after the inauguration of his fav-rite Republi-SCUM candidate.


  62. Menehune Says:

    The “heart” of the middle east needs a pacemaker too. it seems to be in ventricular fibrillation.


  63. bernard quatermass Says:

    Dickie-poo wouldn’t know a true democracy if it blasted him in the face with birdshot.



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