CHENEY HAS NO PROBLEM WITH IRAQ DEBATE,
VIDEO HERE
Vice President Cheney in his speech today at the American Enterprise Institute agreed that there is no problem with having a debate or opposing views:
What is not legitimate — and what I will again say is dishonest and reprehensible — is the suggestion by some U. S. senators that the President of the United States or any member of his administration purposely misled the American people on pre-war intelligence.
Some of the most irresponsible comments have come from politicians who actually voted in favor of authorizing the use of force against Saddam Hussein. (Ouch!) These are elected officials who had access to the intelligence materials. (Ouch!) They are known to have a high opinion of their own analytical capabilities. (Laughter.) (Ouch!) And they were free to reach their own judgments based upon the evidence.
They concluded, as the President and I had concluded, and as the previous administration had concluded, that Saddam Hussein was a threat. Available intelligence indicated that the dictator of Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and this judgment was shared by the intelligence agencies of many other nations, according to the bipartisan Silberman-Robb Commission. All of us understood, as well, that for more than a decade, the U.N. Security Council had demanded that Saddam Hussein make a full accounting of his weapons programs. The burden of proof was entirely on the dictator of Iraq — not on the U.N. or the United States or anyone else. (Ouch!) And he repeatedly refused to comply throughout the course of the decade.
Permit me to burden you with a bit more history…
Protein Wisdom laid out the points from the Vice President’s talk:
Clearly, the important administration arguments are beginning to coalesce: 1) Criticism of the war is not by itself unpatriotic 2) Similarly, answering anti-war critics is not challenging their patriotism 3) But opportunistic and cynical anti-war critics who are trying to walk back their own votes and level spurious charges at the Administration (they lied to take is into war) are themselves lying 4) These lies are hurting the country and the troops. 5) The burden of proof, in a post 911 world, was on Saddam Hussein to prove he’d disarmed; we could not wait for the threat to become imminent before acting 6) The cause the troops are fighting for is just and right 7) Iraq is moving toward freedom; and things on the ground are improving daily, regardless of what the MSM and prominent Dems would have us believe.
For more on Bush Fights Back:
Bush Returns from Slumber, Attacks Liberal Revisionists
Will “W” Keep His Swagger or Keep His Distance?
Bush Not Ready to Retreat, Thumps Teddy Kennedy
Bush Takes Out WAPO & Sen. Levin. Who’s Next?
White House Corrects The Old Gray Lady’s Memory
Bush Continues Smackdown
Update: (10:30 PM) Obviously CNN had difficulty with Cheney’s speech and has resorted to subliminal messages.
Gina Cobb says the “X Out” on Cheney is “plausible deniability”.
