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Cheney Calls War Critics ‘Dishonest, Reprehensible’


— November 16, 2005

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In the sharpest White House attack yet on critics of the Iraq war, Vice President Dick Cheney said on Wednesday that accusations the Bush administration manipulated intelligence to justify the war were a “dishonest and reprehensible” political ploy.

Cheney called Democrats “opportunists” who were peddling “cynical and pernicious falsehoods” to gain political advantage while U.S. soldiers died in Iraq.

First, Dick Cheney can kiss my ass, on general principle. Second, Cheney hardly has much credibility these days, considering that his closest aide just resigned with felony charges pending against him for lying under oath. Third, on March 16, 2004, the “United States House Of Representatives, Comitee on Government Reform — Minority Staff, Special Investigations Division” published a report entitled “The Bush Administration’s Public Statements on Iraq.” Among other things, it says:

Number of Misleading Statements. The Iraq on the Record database contains 237 misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq that were made by President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary Rumsfeld, Secretary Powell, and National Security Advisor Rice. These statements were made in 125 separate appearances, consisting of 40 speeches, 26 press conferences and briefings, 53 interviews, 4 written statements, and 2 congressional testimonies. Most of the statements in the database were misleading because they expressed certainty where none existed or failed to acknowledge the doubts of intelligence officials. Ten of the statements were simply false.

“Dishonest and reprehensible,” indeed. That report came out in March 2004 — about a year and a half ago. Why is Cheney suddenly attacking those allegations now? Why didn’t the administration attack them then?

And check this out (published September 4, 2002):

CBS News has learned that barely five hours after American Airlines Flight 77 plowed into the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was telling his aides to come up with plans for striking Iraq — even though there was no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the attacks.

That’s according to notes taken by aides who were with Rumsfeld in the National Military Command Center on Sept. 11 – notes that show exactly where the road toward war with Iraq began . . . .

There is simply no doubt that the neocons in the Bush administration (Cheney chief among them) chose to use the September 11 attacks as an excuse for invading Iraq. There is no question that they skewed, misrepresented and lied about intelligence on Iraq to mislead the American people into a (near disasterous) war to fulfill their naive neocon fantasies.

For anyone — and especially for Dick Cheney — to suggest otherwise is just not credible. And for Dick Cheney to call the Democrats’ current criticism of the administration for its deceptions “a ‘dishonest and reprehensible’ political ploy” just defies belief. Dick Cheney is the king of staging “dishonest and reprehensible” political ploys. He and his cronies (Karl Rove, Don Rumsfeld, Scooter Libby, Paul Wolfowitz . . .) have made careers out of it. Cheney’s closest aide is currently under indictment for doing so, for chrissake.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In the sharpest White House attack yet on critics of the Iraq war, Vice President Dick Cheney said on Wednesday that accusations the Bush administration manipulated intelligence to justify the war were a “dishonest and reprehensible” political ploy.

Cheney called Democrats “opportunists” who were peddling “cynical and pernicious falsehoods” to gain political advantage while U.S. soldiers died in Iraq.

First, Dick Cheney can kiss my ass, on general principle. Second, Cheney hardly has much credibility these days, considering that his closest aide just resigned with felony charges pending against him for lying under oath. Third, on March 16, 2004, the “United States House Of Representatives, Comitee on Government Reform — Minority Staff, Special Investigations Division” published a report entitled “The Bush Administration’s Public Statements on Iraq.” Among other things, it says:

Number of Misleading Statements. The Iraq on the Record database contains 237 misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq that were made by President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary Rumsfeld, Secretary Powell, and National Security Advisor Rice. These statements were made in 125 separate appearances, consisting of 40 speeches, 26 press conferences and briefings, 53 interviews, 4 written statements, and 2 congressional testimonies. Most of the statements in the database were misleading because they expressed certainty where none existed or failed to acknowledge the doubts of intelligence officials. Ten of the statements were simply false.

“Dishonest and reprehensible,” indeed. That report came out in March 2004 — about a year and a half ago. Why is Cheney suddenly attacking those allegations now? Why didn’t the administration attack them then?

And check this out (published September 4, 2002):

CBS News has learned that barely five hours after American Airlines Flight 77 plowed into the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was telling his aides to come up with plans for striking Iraq — even though there was no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the attacks.

That’s according to notes taken by aides who were with Rumsfeld in the National Military Command Center on Sept. 11 – notes that show exactly where the road toward war with Iraq began . . . .

There is simply no doubt that the neocons in the Bush administration (Cheney chief among them) chose to use the September 11 attacks as an excuse for invading Iraq. There is no question that they skewed, misrepresented and lied about intelligence on Iraq to mislead the American people into a (near disasterous) war to fulfill their naive neocon fantasies.

For anyone — and especially for Dick Cheney — to suggest otherwise is just not credible. And for Dick Cheney to call the Democrats’ current criticism of the administration for its deceptions “a ‘dishonest and reprehensible’ political ploy” just defies belief. Dick Cheney is the king of staging “dishonest and reprehensible” political ploys. He and his cronies (Karl Rove, Don Rumsfeld, Scooter Libby, Paul Wolfowitz . . .) have made careers out of it. Cheney’s closest aide is currently under indictment for doing so, for chrissake.

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