Fox News Sunday Host Chris Wallace gave National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley three opportunities to admit Cheney made a mistake when he said the Iraqi insurgency was in its “last throes” last May.

Opportunity 1:

WALLACE: Last May, Vice President Cheney said the following, and let’s put it up on the screen if we can, I think the level of activity that we see today from a military standpoint, I think will clearly decline. I think they’re in their last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.

Since then, 462 American troops have died. The insurgency back in May was not in its last throes, was it?

HADLEY: One of the things the president did in his speech on Wednesday was to try and be clear about who is the enemy, who we’re up against, and he categorized it really in three ways…

Opportunity 2:

WALLACE: But, Mr. Hadley, with respect, I don’t think you answered my question. Was the vice president mistaken last May when he talked about an insurgency in its last throes, given the fact that almost 500 American troops have been killed since then?

HADLEY: The violence is continuing, as I said in my answer to the prior question. We have made clear we thought the violence was probably going to go up in this period.

Opportunity 3:

WALLACE: But doesn’t that undercut the credibility of the administration, first of all, when the vice president talks about last throes, last May, and clearly it turns out it was wrong? And, with respect, there’s an unwillingness for you to admit it was a mistake then. A lot of people say that this administration, even when it’s clearly mistaken, is never willing to say it was wrong…Was he wrong when he said that?

HADLEY: Well, look. What I think we can say is that there were indications that we are making progress against the insurgency.

The truth is that daily attacks on American troops by the insurgency are at their highest level ever. Hadley demonstrated, once again, that this administration can’t handle the truth and can’t admit a mistake.

UPDATE: Crooks and Liars has the video.

Yesterday, 10 Marines were killed in Fallujah by a roadside bomb. President Bush knew about it before he made remarks at 10:45AM in the Rose Garden. From today’s White House press conference:

QUESTION: Can I ask, when the president came to the Rose Garden this morning about 10:45, at that hour, did the White House already know about this attack on the Marines in Fallujah?

MCCLELLAN: Yes, we did. The president was informed about the loss of the Marines last night and those that were injured, and then he was briefed again this morning.

But Bush didn’t mention it. He didn’t want to take the focus off today’s message, the “good news” about the economy.

[AmericanProgress recently launched TortureIsNotUS.org, a campaign to support the McCain anti-torture legislation now being held up by conservatives in Congress. Our guest blogger, Peter Bauer, is a former U.S. Army military intelligence interrogator who served during the Gulf War with the 3rd Armored Division.]

During the latter days of the Cold War and the quite warm days of the first Gulf War, I served in the United States Army as an Interrogator (MOS 97E). As a graduate of the Interrogation program at the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and School, Ft. Huachuca, Arizona, I received comprehensive training on acceptable interrogation techniques, as well as training in adherence to the Geneva Conventions.

But it’s not that training that produced my firm conviction that torture and “coercive interrogation techniques” are ineffective intelligence gathering techniques. It is my experience using such techniques myself, as an instructor in resistance to interrogation. Read more