Cheney: Obama Should Stop ‘Dithering’ On Afghanistan And Just Copy The Bush Administration’s Strategy
Cheney: Obama Should Stop ‘Dithering’ On Afghanistan And Just Copy The Bush Administration’s Strategy
Yesterday, Vice President Cheney spoke at the Center for Security Policy, run by former Reagan official and prominent neoconservative Frank Gaffney. Cheney used the opportunity to aggressively attack President Obama, accusing him of “giving in to the angry left” and “dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger.” He added that because Obama “seems afraid to make a decision” on whether to add more troops to Afghanistan, he should just emulate the Bush administration’s strategy since it was so successful:
We should all be concerned as well with the direction of policy on Afghanistan. For quite a while, the cause of our military in that country went pretty much unquestioned, even on the left. The effort was routinely praised by way of contrast to Iraq, which many wrote off as a failure until the surge proved them wrong. Now suddenly – and despite our success in Iraq – we’re hearing a drumbeat of defeatism over Afghanistan. These criticisms carry the same air of hopelessness, they offer the same short-sighted arguments for walking away, and they should be summarily rejected for the same reasons of national security.
Watch the speech here:
With his criticisms, Cheney joins former White House adviser Karl Rove, who has been using his on-air and print outlets to blast Obama’s Afghanistan policies and rewrite history of President Bush’s legacy.
Many Americans — both on the left and commanders in the military — were critical of the Bush administration’s policies in Afghanistan. As early as 2005, the Center for American Progress called for a strategic redeployment from Iraq, urging more troops for Afghanistan where greater resources were “urgently needed to beat back the resurging Taliban forces and to maintain security throughout the country.” Additionally, in 2008, Gen. David D. McKiernan, then the top U.S. commander in Kabul, specifically asked the Bush administration for more troops for Afghanistan, but was rebuffed:
“There was a saying when I got there: If you’re in Iraq and you need something, you ask for it,” McKiernan said in his first interview since being fired. “If you’re in Afghanistan and you need it, you figure out how to do without it.” By late last summer, he decided to tell George W. Bush’s White House what he knew it did not want to hear: He needed 30,000 more troops. He wanted to send some to the country’s east to bolster other U.S. forces, and some to the south to assist overwhelmed British and Canadian units in Helmand and Kandahar provinces.
The Bush administration opted not to act on McKiernan’s request and instead set out to persuade NATO allies to contribute more troops.
Cheney also claimed, “Make no mistake, signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries. Waffling, while our troops on the ground face an emboldened enemy, endangers them and hurts our cause.” What endangered U.S. troops in Afghanistan was Bush and Cheney’s shift of focus to the Iraq war. Military officials have said that the Taliban was pretty much defeated in 2002, but regrouped when the Bush administration decided invade Iraq.
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October 22nd, 2009 at 12:13 pmWho cares what MELONHEAD has to say??
How’s that “they’ll be greeting us with flowers” coming DICK?
The Dick just pissed ’cause he ain’t running things anymore . .
GO AWAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY EVIL MAN . .
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:13 pmListening to a subhuman scum with a 9% approval rating…yeah, that makes sense.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:14 pmIf Cheney and McCain are criticizing the strategy then you know something must be going right.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:15 pmCan someone please return Dick Cheney to his bunker at an undisclosed location?
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:15 pmThat last paragraph in the post is to the point. Darth Cheney is off his fracking rocker; who let him out of the rubber room again?
If we followed the Shrub/Darth Cheney strategy on Afghanistan, we’d underresource our Afghanistan operations, ignore the country, and go to war somewhere else. Asswipe. War criminal.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:15 pmHence the CNN headline:
Obama is ‘afraid’, Cheney says
I dare you to say that to his face Dick.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:16 pmMore BS from the TREASONOUS Cheney and Rove.
USA, now just another Banana Republic…
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:16 pmA Patriot Acting: Obama Should Stop ‘Dithering’ On War Crimes Charges And Just Have AG Holder Enforce Our Laws Allready!
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:16 pmCheney: Obama Should Stop ‘Dithering’ On Afghanistan And Just Copy The Bush Administration’s Strategy
_____________________________________________________________
Because it worked so well for the Bush Administration?
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:18 pmSince when has anyone viewed a 5 deferment chickenshit as any type of military expert or historian ?
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:18 pmAnd we should follow Cheney’s advice because he never lies, and he’s always right.
Yeah, right.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:18 pmCheney is a fool for thinking that anyone should consider his words to be advice from an expert. The only thing that stupid Cheney is an expert at is starting wars. He doesn’t know how to win wars.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:18 pmIf we were to prosacute this piece of trash for all his crimes we would not have to listen to his crap any more….Blessings
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:19 pmDick Cheney wants Obama to continue his administration’s foreign policy.
Dick Cheney, 2005: “Elections have consequences.”
Dick Cheney thinks the deficit is “spiraling out of control.”
Dick Cheney, 2001: “Deficits don’t matter. Reagan proved that.”
Why does the media still breathlessly report everything Dick Cheney says? Why does anyone even listen to him?
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:23 pm“..and just copy the Bush Administration stragegy…”
…an administration whose policies and positions were so decisively opposed at the ballot box about a year ago.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:23 pmDick PNAC Cheney says…well who really gives a shit what the war criminal, traitor and war profiteer has to say?
GO FU(K YOURSELF UNTIL YOU DROP DEAD DICK!
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:24 pmForeign policy “expert” Dick Cheney speaks…
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:26 pmYes, lets follow the no exit plan strategery and run off to find Bin Laden in, what say, Pakistan or Iran.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:26 pmCheney: Obama Should Stop ‘Dithering’ On Afghanistan And Just Copy The Bush Administration’s Strategy So I and my buddies can continue to make our deserved millions.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:28 pmThe Iraq War was a mistake. There were no weapons of mass destruction. The surge was a successful strategy that help bring more stability – although it could be characterized as buying off the opposition.
The War in Afghanistan has had relative bipartisan support.
Progressives were right that the War in Iraq diverted focus from Afghanistan, which was the more legitimate cause.
We are at a crossroads. Is the effort in Afghanistan just? It’s expensive; is it worth the cost? Do we withdraw, maintain the status quo, or escalate?
Is the pursuit of Al Qaeda for 9/11 and the neutralization of the Taliban to help foster more human rights for the people of the region worth the lives and expense? Or is it just more American imperialism that will end up doing more harm than good?
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:29 pmBecause we all know Dick Cheney, world class war monger and war profiteer, has Barack’s best interests at heart. Whatever this coward says, I’d do the opposite.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:29 pmYou mean unlistened to. Plenty on the left questioned it. My wife cried the night we invaded Iraq.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:30 pmWhy hasn’t that liar been indicted for war crimes yet?
That lying daughter of his is all over the 24/7 “news” channels spewing her lies and propaganda.
Who the hell elected her?
I am so sick of that war-profiteering clan.
They caused immeasurable heartache and misery for so many millions of people, all for their goddamned sense of power and privilege.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:32 pmHmm, let’s see…
Bush’s “strategy” on Afghanistan:
INVADE IRAQ
Bad idea Dick, bad idea.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:32 pmHow many times do we have to repeat the truth to you about the lie that was the surge cappy? You know the truth about it and still, you laude it as a success.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:32 pmThis man has absolutely no credibility. NOW Afghanistan is important? Hmmm…. I remember when Darth Cheney was Veep and he seemed to forget all about Afghanistan. And where is Liz? I thought she was her father’s official spokeperson?
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:33 pmGeorge says – Hehehe, that’s right, I’m the decidering guy and I decidered some smart stuff, just America wouldn’t let me be dictatoring enough, had I had 10 more years the world would have seen what a smart guy I am, I would have had the entire middle east in flames just like Dick’s Master Satan wanted, the nukes would have been flying and death and disease would have ruled the world, the four horsemen, Me, Dick, Rummy, Rice would have done what Satan wanted, but Nooooo, America had to have an election, we don’t need no stinking elections, I was too rule the world and destroy it, but I guess we will have to wait for Dick’s daughter Liz to complete the job….What you think about all this Dick?
Dick says – I need fresh blood from cute kittens and puppies.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:34 pmfrom the National Securitry Network:
GEN. EATON: DICK CHENEY WAS “INCOMPETENT WAR FIGHTER”
h/t Huffpo
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:34 pmCheney-Bush were responsible for Afghanistan policy for 7 years. Why didn’t Cheney give the Generals the troops they wanted in 2005 if the answer is simply more troops today. And wasn’t it under Cheney’s watch that they pulled troops from around Tora Bora, enabling bin Laden to escape out the back door.
Likewise, the surge in Iraq was going poorly until al Sadr decided on a unilateral cease-fire in Iraq. Does Cheney think the Taliban will offer a unilateral cease-fire in Afghanistan? Fat chance of that!
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:34 pmWhat a miserable old loser Dick is.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:35 pmGreg Brady says:
Sorry bout that chick who was, like not into your groovy new style.
(great clip yesterday BTW)
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:36 pm26,
If we wish to fight, the enemy can be forced to an engagement even though he be sheltered behind a high rampart and a deep ditch. All we need do is attack some other place that he will be obliged to relieve. If we do not wish to fight, we can prevent the enemy from engaging us even though the lines of our encampment be merely traced out on the ground. All we need do is to throw something odd and unaccountable in his way.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:37 pm- Sun Tzu
Of course, Witch1 @14 is absolutely correct. We have to strip war criminals like Cheney of any credibility through prosecution and conviction. He is a stain on the national honor and a danger to a peaceful future as long as he goes unpunished and unrepudiated. It was the ‘forgive and forget’ fallacy with Nixon and Ford which enabled Cheney and Rumsfield to cause such problems under W. We need to use the law as our best tool to prevent a recurrence of the horrible Bush years. Criminals have no standing or credibility in our society; it is time Cheney were officially numbers amongst them.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:39 pmIt’s so easy to wage war from the comfort of a heavily defended fortress, especially if none of your loved ones are never threatened by the horror of war.
The neo-con trash, led by Cheney and his little pet monkey Bush, conned the nation into supporting the Iraq crap, ignoring the real intelligence out there and circumventing the international protocol.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:40 pmHas anyone noticed that MSM doesn’t even report about Iraq anymore? MSM has literally dropped Iraq. But we sure hear about ACORN don’t we?
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:40 pm32, Senior chicks, like who can figure them out?
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:41 pmDammit!
If only we’d listened to Bush and Cheney we wouldn’t be in this mess!
/sarc
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:48 pmWHY IS THIS WAR CRIMINAL NOT ON TRIAL?
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:51 pm.
Today’s theme song…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aizz0o9fPWU
.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:55 pmLook at the weak verbiness in this passage. He’s talking about war? Complaining that President Obama isn’t doing enough? I don’t think Cheney understands doing. He can’t tell the difference between deliberating and dithering. He doesn’t understand strategy or consequences. He doesn’t know the difference between substance and image.
I hope to see the language of PR and sociopathic thinking fade out to obscurity in our lifetimes. It disgusts me that these meaningless jingles pass for discourse and go unchallenged. It disgusts me even more that we were ruled by people who actually think like this.
Our nation doesn’t need to be emotionally manipulated into taking a side. We need information and awareness.
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:00 pmHeh. Shorter Cheney: Just nuke them all and get it over with!!!!!
Ri-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ght. Go to the Devil, you evil POS.
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:14 pmCheney is wrong. Here’s someone who disagrees.
Is Cheney calling his SECDEF a liar?
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:22 pm“Obama “seems afraid
Dick Cheney: 5 draft deferments(he had better things to do)
undisclosed locations
man-sized security safe
pixellated his home on google maps
He is an expert on being afraid.
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:25 pmChickenhawk (CHIK.un.hawk) n. A person who now advocates war but who once took special measures to avoid military service. Also: chicken-hawk, chickenhawk.
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:29 pmi recall a recent mcSAME comment about “muddling through” it…
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:29 pmwhich he was all for before/during the prez campaign…
not so much now…
FiveDefermentFormerEmperorInHisOwnMindDick can take his irrelevant opinions and shove them into his man size safe.
President Obama isn’t going to rush into any major decision without taking time to hear from all sides, understand the short and long range strategic and tactical issues at hand.
Unlike some other Mad Magazine Unitary executives we could name.
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:32 pmOh, and does President Obama keep a hazmat suit in his limo?
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:32 pmPlausibly from the desk of Dick Cheney:
You know, it seems to me that an ex-President of the United States like me shouldn’t have to put up with all of this guff like some minority successor manipulating my war policy in ways that threaten the value of my Halliburton and KBR shares.
This is an intolerable situation, and it is why I’m going to be running my daughter against this guy as soon as the back of her neck heals where the string was installed.
You heard Woody Guthrie, dammit. “This land is my land”, and you can go f yourself.
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:32 pmThis is the same bone-head that was able to receive 5 deferments during the Viet Nam war.
For you younger folks, there was a “draft” in those days, but he weaseled his way out of serving his country and let somebody else do the fighting for him.
He hasn’t changed one bit. He still is all talk and willing to let somebody else go into harms way…The gutless bastard!
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:33 pmAnd furthermore, the Obama legislation should start making buggy whips. They were good enough for me.
And Obama should cause the Stock Market to fall, the same as we did.
And Obama should conduct illegal searches and seizures, because that’s what we did.
And Obama should lie to the UN about weapons of Mass Destruction in France. It worked good for us in Iraq and we owe those Frenchies for not supporting us.
(Add sound of John Steward imitating Cheney / sounding like a penguin)
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:58 pmIt’s amusing that Cheney think anybody cares about his or his daughter’s opinion.
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:03 pmCheney has come out because he fears his pipeline used to steal oil might be destroyed. Remember Karzai’s first order of business when appointed President was to sign the drilling of the pipeline for Haliburton/Dick Cheney. Karzai was employed by Unical and if he loses the election he will take his old job back. Carlye Group who’s memembers include Dick Cheney, George H.W. Bush and the Bid Laden Family have been using Afghanistan to steal oil while Americans were looking at Iraq. Now when George W. Bush was Governor of Texas he invited his friends the Taliban to the US as his guest. That friendship soon went south when Bush’s Family and the Caryle Group decided they wanted the oil land rights. Daddy Bush is doing the best he can to suck up to President Obama because when their is an honest President in Afghanistan the oil stealing will end. We have the worst economy, unemployment and still soldiers dying as Cheney never said a word about that only when oil is the topic does Cheney come out of his hole.
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:06 pmCheney’s statements are the precursors of the Republican election campaigns. They will accuse Obama and the Dems of being soft on defense and terror. This is the tactic they have used many times before with some success. The upside to all of this is that so many people detest Cheney and by extension his daughter and the Republicans, that most people are not going to listen.
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:08 pmCheney: Obama Should Stop ‘Dithering’ On Afghanistan And Just Copy The Bush Administration’s Strategy
– - Thanks, Dick Cheney – whenever I worry about Obama’s policies, you’re there to buck me up and remind me of the alternative.
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:09 pmIf Osama bin Laden was resposinble for the deaths of three thousand Americans then Dick Cheney is responsible for the deaths of five million defenseless men, women, children, and babies in Central America, South America, South East Asia, and the Middle East.
Dick Cheney is one of the most evil human beings alive today.
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:12 pmGo away old man! Can we just imagine the free swift boat ride response from the wing nuts if someone with Viet Nam era deferments was barking at a Republican president from the sidelines? The media should also take some time to remind the public about the cumulative military service of the chicken hawk, college dropout triad of Beck, Hannity and Limbaugh since they will be the non journalists who push this phony soldier advice story.
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:54 pmSo is he telling us that we should stay in Afghanistan for another 8 years.
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:58 pmWell, if he’s going to follow the Bush Administration’s lead in Afghanistan, he will refuse to send any more troops. Because that’s what Bush did every time he was asked for more troops.
Just more Republiscum hypocrisy.
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:07 pmWhat I would like to know is why the MSM is giving Cheney and his alter ego Liz so much air time. I have never seen a former Vice President given so much attention in the 40 years I have followed politics.
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:08 pmhar5125 says:
Can someone please return Dick Cheney to his bunker at an undisclosed location?
I agree with you har5125. Didn’t Cheney have a serious heart condition? He probably stole a heart directly out of the chest of some 10 year old little boy before he drank his blood.
There is no limit to the level of stupidity coming out of this jackasses mouth. Just more proof that only the good die young. The f’n morons seem to live forever.
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:12 pmInteresting… He wants them to copy a plan the brought us to the point after 8 years that unless we rush 60K more troops we will loose the war.
Now that is a plan worth copying…. Why didn’t they send the extra troops.
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:50 pmCheney wants to stop dithering in Afghanistan and attack some other country unnecessarily the way he did. The man is a war criminal.
October 22nd, 2009 at 4:48 pmI still don’t know what these cretins REALLY want to do except one thing: Keep in power.
But they’re not in power, except whatever power we GIVE criminals who run around unpunished. And that, my friends, is power indeed; far too much power for the likes of these.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:06 amAnd what exactly is that strategy, Mr. Cheney? Nuking every brown-skin in Afghanistan who doesen’t agree with us? Typical repug strategy, so theres no suprise there…
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:14 amCheney should just STFU and remember his side LOST the election.
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:11 pm