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Cheney: Iraq war ‘saved lives.’

Speaking this afternoon at the National Press Club, Cheney vigorously defended the Bush administration’s national security policies, including the decision to go to war in Iraq, which he rhetorically linked to 9/11 over and over. He also declared that the Iraq war “saved lives”:

CHENEY: The problem we were faced with in the aftermath of 9/11 was the possibility of another 9/11-style attack, only with much deadlier technology, a 9/11 with nukes or biological agents of some kind. That concern drove a lot of our thinking in that period, in those months after 9/11. … I think it was a sound decision to make. I think it was an important part of our overall strategy in the Global War on Terror. I think it saved lives.

Watch it:

Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction. He had no links to al Qaeda. And the Iraq war has resulted in the deaths of more than 4,300 American soldiers and roughly 100,000 Iraqis.

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