Cheney: Obama's Dithering & Waffling Endangers the Troops (Video)
Posted by Jim Hoft on Thursday, October 22, 2009, 5:51 AM
Another shotgun blast from the former Veep…
Cheney slammed scared walffler Obama yesterday for dithering while American troops are in harm’s way.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney skewered the “scared waffler” Barack Obama during his talk yesterday to the Center for Security Policy.
Real Clear Politics provides the transcript. Here are a few points from this amazing speech:
…In the short of it, President Obama’s cancellation of America’s agreements with the Polish and Czech governments was a serious blow to the hopes and aspirations of millions of Europeans. For twenty years, these peoples have done nothing but strive to move closer to us, and to gain the opportunities and security that America offered. These are faithful friends and NATO allies, and they deserve better. The impact of making two NATO allies walk the plank won’t be felt only in Europe. Our friends throughout the world are watching and wondering whether America will abandon them as well.
Big events turn on the credibility of the United States – doing what we said we would do, and always defending our fundamental security interests. In that category belong the ongoing missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the need to counter the nuclear ambitions of the current regime in Iran.
Candidate Obama declared last year that he would be willing to sit down with Iran’s leader without preconditions. As President, he has committed America to an Iran strategy that seems to treat engagement as an objective rather than a tactic. Time and time again, he has outstretched his hand to the Islamic Republic’s authoritarian leaders, and all the while Iran has continued to provide lethal support to extremists and terrorists who are killing American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Islamic Republic continues to provide support to extremists in Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories. Meanwhile, the regime continues to spin centrifuges and test missiles. And these are just the activities we know about.
I have long been skeptical of engagement with the current regime in Tehran, but even Iran experts who previously advocated for engagement have changed their tune since the rigged elections this past June and the brutal suppression of Iran’s democratic protestors. The administration clearly missed an opportunity to stand with Iran’s democrats, whose popular protests represent the greatest challenge to the Islamic Republic since its founding in 1979. Instead, the President has been largely silent about the violent crackdown on Iran’s protestors, and has moved blindly forward to engage Iran’s authoritarian regime. Unless the Islamic Republic fears real consequences from the United States and the international community, it is hard to see how diplomacy will work.
…President Obama has said he understands the stakes for America. When he announced his new strategy he couched the need to succeed in the starkest possible terms, saying, quote, “If the Afghan government falls to the Taliban – or allows al-Qaeda to go unchallenged – that country will again be a base for terrorists who want to kill as many of our people as they possibly can.” End quote.
Five months later, in August of this year, speaking at the VFW, the President made a promise to America’s armed forces. “I will give you a clear mission,” he said, “defined goals, and the equipment and support you need to get the job done. That’s my commitment to you.”
It’s time for President Obama to make good on his promise. The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger.
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.
Recently, President Obama’s advisors have decided that it’s easier to blame the Bush Administration than support our troops. This weekend they leveled a charge that cannot go unanswered. The President’s chief of staff claimed that the Bush Administration hadn’t asked any tough questions about Afghanistan, and he complained that the Obama Administration had to start from scratch to put together a strategy.
In the fall of 2008, fully aware of the need to meet new challenges being posed by the Taliban, we dug into every aspect of Afghanistan policy, assembling a team that traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan, reviewing options and recommendations, and briefing President-elect Obama’s team. They asked us not to announce our findings publicly, and we agreed, giving them the benefit of our work and the benefit of the doubt. The new strategy they embraced in March, with a focus on counterinsurgency and an increase in the numbers of troops, bears a striking resemblance to the strategy we passed to them. They made a decision – a good one, I think – and sent a commander into the field to implement it.
Now they seem to be pulling back and blaming others for their failure to implement the strategy they embraced. It’s time for President Obama to do what it takes to win a war he has repeatedly and rightly called a war of necessity…
…There are policy differences, and then there are affronts that have to be answered every time without equivocation, and this is one of them. We cannot protect this country by putting politics over security, and turning the guns on our own guys.
We cannot hope to win a war by talking down our country and those who do its hardest work – the men and women of our military and intelligence services. They are, after all, the true keepers of the flame.
Team Obama’s likely rebuttal: Cheney is unpopular.
UPDATE: Cheney accuses Obama of ‘libel’ against CIA interrogators.
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Milatant Conservative commented:
What do you expect from a President that is going down in the polls daily as one of the worst to hold that office. HE KNOWS what he is doing, Barry wishes to destroy the country so he can amass huge amounts of power and not have to be “limited” by that old stupid document called the Constitution.
Joe commented:
I think after the disaster that was the Bush administration, Cheney should just go away. He is not only completely irrelevant, but nearly every one of his policies has been proven to be a complete and utter failure. If we have to listen to Cheney, the one purpose this might serve is to realize that we should do the OPPOSITE of whatever he says.
Personally, I would rather have a president that logically weighs his decisions rather than just “shoot from the hip” like GW Bush. I don’t think “gut instinct” should be the basis for important decisions.
olm commented:
OT but just got an email from the Komen foundation saying all all participants are welcome n Egypt. Apparently presssure works.
GregZ commented:
Cheney is spot on! The truth hurts.
Cheney kicks a**!
olm commented:
Cheney should keep going. Cheney clearly illustrates this administration’s ignorance and mistaken belief that everyone is as corrupt and as self centered as they are.
Joanne commented:
Well, I am glad Dick Cheney is speaking up and saying what so many are thinking.
I loathe Obama; putting the lives of the military in danger with his own inaction infuriates me to say the least. Obama coddles the Muslim and communist countries and throws America’s allies to the wolves – can the picture get any clearer.
iconoclast commented:
Other Obama response:
Cheney is a raaacciiiisssst! And the due-by date on those promises have passed. As others have said, Obama is fighting a three front war right now: Afghanistan, Iraq, and Fox News.
btw, Zero spent more time talking to retards Olbermann and Maddow than to McChrystal.
olm commented:
Joe, you need so help,you had better call for reinforcements or find another topic.
The One and his staff had all the info before the he was even sworn in. He can’t make a decision because hoops and fundraisers are more important.
Barry doesn’t like work.
Joe commented:
Maybe he should go clear brush like Bush? Does that make you people feel like your pres is “working”? Or perhaps he should go spend 4 days drinking beer and watching the olympics?
Joe commented:
“The One and his staff had all the info before the he was even sworn in.”
Typical Bush-era thinking- Things don’t change and you know everything there is to know as long as you think you are doing the right thing.
mark commented:
More waffling. CNN reported this week that the H1N1 swine flu vaccine is too late to do any good for the majority of Americans. The WH knew about the dangers of swine flu long ago and promised they would protect the public. But they are too late now. And they want to take over healthcare?
olm commented:
Things change quite a bit but a smart leader who started ahead of the game with a pile of research and information. and who selected to follow the plan set by the predessor, would have kept currrent and engaged.
But hoops and fundraising are more important and Barry doesn’t like work and his advisors are too busy watching and emailing MSNBC.
Total losers.
daryl commented:
Instead of rattling your gums here moe, you should be more like your leader obama and get out and re-rouse the rabble that elected the ignorant pos.
When he loses the Congress and Senate next year that’s going to be one pathetic obama.
No hope-No change
mmmmm-mm-mmmmm
iconoclast commented:
We have another idiot troll in Joe. Joe apparently thinks that war strategies change as rapidly as an Obama promise.
And anyway, paying attention to an actual war (or an economy he is busy wrecking) is much less fun than playing golf or flying huge entourages around the world on government expense. Or meeting for hours doing a threesome with Maddow and Olbermann.
Martin commented:
How many times has Cheney been right about anything with security and wars?
5 deferments later.
Mike W commented:
Comrade Joe. Cuba Is Calling You Home.
Joe commented:
awwwww…. do you people feel left out? That’s what happens when you lose. You’re going to keep losing too… especially when your best and brightest consists of Palin, Steele, Gindal & Joe the Plumber. ha ha ha ha ha….
iconoclast commented:
Joe
It is Jindal, you moron. And the left tries to say the leftards are smart….
But with Wrangel, Lee, Waters, Pelosi, Obama, Holder, Dunn and the rest of the swamp in DC those folks look pretty good in comparison. At least they aren’t crooks, communists, cowards, race hustlers, and parasites.
Martin commented:
Here a couple more of his predictions:
# That the Iraqis would discover “new, untapped sources of electricity” in the western deserts
# That “98, 99% of reconstruction projects” would be completed satisfactorily and under budget in 2008
# That NATO would send “an additional 100,000 troops” to take over security in Baghdad
# That “Prime Minister Maliki will convert to Islam” as a good will gesture to the Sunnis
He has no credibility
http://www.unbossed.com/index.php?itemid=1892
Joe commented:
martin- you forgot that “the Iraqis would greet us as liberators”.
Joe commented:
Like I said… we SHOULD listen to Cheney and then do the EXACT opposite of what he thinks we should do. Too bad this wasn’t our policy all along. This country would be in good shape right now.
Martin commented:
And if you would like to read more on how much of a whackjob Cheney is…
http://www.americanprogress.org/kf/priraqclaimfact1029.htm
These are all assertions and statements made by Cheney and the Bush admin re: Iraq. And how they were proven wrong. Keep loving him folks. He’s a chickenhawk.
Martin commented:
My favorite:
We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators. . . . I think it will go relatively quickly… (in) weeks rather than months.- Vice President Cheney [3/16/03]
iconoclast commented:
Martin
Your crappy blog didn’t even bother to post the transcript, let alone a link to the actual show.
Typical dishonest leftard behavior. Why anyone would give a leftard any more time than it would take to spit on them always amazes me. Pond scum like Obama and his greedy courtiers are the most disreputable gang outside of Caracas or Moscow. And even Moscow thinks Obama is a self-aggrandizing narcissistic putz who is more interested in surrounding himself in comfort like a cheezy African dictator than the President of the United States.
Joe commented:
Martin- good link. Too bad these people don’t “believe” in facts. It’s all about gut instinct.
iconoclast commented:
Celebrations ensue as troops move into the center of Baghdad
http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/iraq2003/saddamfalls/
Guess Dem dementia made you forget that little detail, loons.
avery commented:
Our Dear Leader will Dump Afghanistan,our service man are being kill invaild.we have not a Leader of all the people.He for only his supporter.Which he is losing every day.
Joe commented:
iconoclast- how quickly we forget that that whole episode was STAGED by the US military. Do I really need to supply you with all of the links to prove this? Do some research before you make stupid comments.
Joe commented:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqvC9Po9-8s
Joe commented:
Also… that wasn’t “greeting us as liberators”. That was the beginning of a RIOT and looting.
Joe commented:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Toppling_the_statue_of_Saddam_Hussein
Chisum commented:
Ruh Roh.
Gallup: First-year quarterly drop in Obama’s approval rating one of the biggest in decades
Not much Hope but a whole lot of Change. ObamaCare plus stagnant unemployment plus dithering on Afghanistan makes for a magical brew indeed, my friends.
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/10/21/gallup-quarterly-drop-in-obamas-approval-rating-one-of-the-biggest-in-decades/
Joe commented:
It’s funny that your arguments consist of citing opinion polls. Hilarious…
Chisum commented:
This is definitely Cheney’s fault! Or maybe Bush’s fault! Definitely the Republican’s fault!
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/10/22/obamateurism-of-the-day-141/
Mike W commented:
Comrade joe patting the head of his sock puppet martin how touching.
Source watch is about what I figured you would call credible since its all about “The Party”.
Ignorance is Strength
Fits you like a glove joe.
Chisum commented:
OBAMANOIA
LITTLE HOPE, LESS CHANGE
http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/obamanoia/#
Martin commented:
Do you think anyone listens to a Cheney when they talk now? Same rhetoric. Same deal. Failed as CEO. Failed at fighting wars. Responsible for the lives of solders. Blah blah blah. He said McCain was going to win. That was close. He said the GOP would keep the house/senate. That was close.
iconoclast commented:
“Do I really need to supply you with all of the links to prove this? Do some research before you make stupid comments.”
You must have mistaken that event for an Obama townhall. But go ahead and post more idiotic links such as martins’. Something from The Nation or the NYT would be definitely convincing (not).
So do a little of your own research before you post imbecilic comments such as you have. You will look (a tiny bit) less like a troll–or a leftard (not much difference).
Martin commented:
why did that picture show up? That is not me. Great web site.
iconoclast commented:
“Do you think anyone listens to a Cheney when they talk now? ”
Clearly the slam against Cheney is that he isn’t as perfect as TheWon.
Halliburton did pretty well under Cheney. As did the USA. Under Obama and the corruptocrats? Not so much.
But losing trillions of dollars to graft and corruption, losing wars, and being a laughing stock in the world is your goal after all. So Obama is a great success.
Enjoy your temporary visit to power, ‘tards. Unless Acorn and others have completely infiltrated the voting registries (with underage Salvadoran prostitutes?), Americans will throw you scum into the trash starting in 2010.
KR commented:
Joe and Martin need to contact Joe Steel and set up their own blogs/web sites. With all their brilliance the traffic would be astronomical!
Go for it guys.
Kunta Kinte commented:
Martin and Joe,
Voting for Biden completely eliminates your ability to judge previous VP’s.
Solaratov commented:
olm
October 22nd, 2009 | 9:55 am 8
Joe, you need so help,you had better call for reinforcements or find another topic.
But, Olm, joey is an “independent thinker” – not a knee-jerk apologist for obama and his lackeys. Lil joey truly believes that waffling and dithering is actually “reasoned thought” – and he just loves that obama is so good at it.
After all, who would want a president who instinctivly acts to protect America and American troops? (/sarc/) Certainly not joey. He’d rather just cut and run.
That would show the taliban that we’re really nice folks and that we’ll all be pals.
Solaratov commented:
Joe
October 22nd, 2009 | 9:59 am 9
Maybe he should go clear brush like Bush? Does that make you people feel like your pres is “working”? Or perhaps he should go spend 4 days drinking beer and watching the olympics?
You mean unlike taking a vacation and coming back and running off immediately to Camp David for a vacation-from-the-vacation?
And did you mean the “traditional” Wednesday night cocktail and caviar parties that barry and mo instituted? You know, the ones where they have $100/pound wagyu steak and $20/pound kale? The ones that send barry off to work on Thursday morning with a screaming hangover?
You mean like shopping trips to Paris on the taxpayer dime? Or a “date night” to NYC that demands 3 choppers in DC, 3 airplanes (AF-1, and 2 more for press and staff), and 3 more choppers in NYC? (Doesn’t everybody take three planeloads of staff and reporters on a date to a show and dinner, though?)
You mean like that, huh, joey?
J commented:
Having listened to some really well-educated and well-informed Arabs from the middle-east, who also were not happy with President Bush’s plan, they at least realized why it was beneficial to the USA and what a strategic place Iraq is for our interests. The poor boys who are so consumed by their hatred of Bush and Cheney (and who obviously don’t get out of Mommy’s house too often) failed to search out answers and stand in their corners calling names. I thought in grammar school these wimps were ignored, why not now?
Hypogean commented:
Boy, Cheney really drives the trolls off their rockers. For a guy who’s wrong about everything, he sure has an amazing hold over them, in that they feel compelled to post here for hours in an effort to discredit him.
If he’s wrong, and if the GOP will only fail by taking his advice, why all the panic, Joe and Martin? Why not let us make the mistake of doing what he suggests?
One Way commented:
“They asked us not to announce our findings publicly…” Cheney on Obama administration’s request regarding Bush’s rigorously studied plan for Afghanistan.
I’ve read/heard him say this more than once, and each time it jumps out at me.
That statement encapsulates what we’re dealing with — a corrupt bunch who’re forever working to secure the option to deceive for their own purposes.
Which is precisely what they did here. And I’m so glad Cheney called them on it. Lies are their modus operandi and they deserve no measure of trust from us; or anyone, for that matter.
Matthew commented:
I had very very high hopes for Cheney when the administration started, but unfortunately those were erased. Unlike Martin and Joe, I do believe alot of Iraqi’s were optimistic when the invasion began. But Cheney has never been held accountable by this blog or most of the Right for his failed policies. For example, when he stated that the war would pay for itself. He also helped preside over mismangement and billions of dollars in waste in reconstruction contracts in Iraq. My question is why do the same people who complain (and rightfully so) about government waste not complain about this? The tea-parties and their stance against government spending and waste is just and honrable. But it does seem hypocrtical to me that these same people don’t have a word of complaint against the VP who said “deficits don’t matter” and who also help preside over huge entitlements and gov’t waste. In my eyes Cheney let down the conservative movement and our military. (And i say this regretfully)
bg commented:
++
waffling is an understatement..
Obama & his ilk are partying like it was 1984!!
==
Bogdan from Australia commented:
Joe and Martin are SUBHUMANS.
Lik all Leftoids.
Leftist ideology is an ideology of PARASISTISM. Its aim is to justify theft of the wealth created by the people of smart and honest work.
As the Leftists are permanently incapable of creating anything useful or valuable (I know them, I have lived under the whip of socialism for yonks), they have to steal in order to survive.
They are just too cowardly to take the risk the common crook is taking, so they are struggling to create the socio-political construction in which they will be ablke to live their parasitic lives (to steal) without taking any risk.
In that they have never raised above the mentality of a predatory animals.
And that’s why is it appriopriate, reasonable and moral to call them SUBHUMANS.
John DeFlumeri Jr commented:
Dick Cheney knows as much about the wars in the countries of Iraq and Afghanistan as Obama does. I believe Cheney is stating fact, not just his opinion.
John DeFlumeri Jr
bg commented:
++
Chisum @ 11:11 am # 36
excellent read, thanks..
sarc on/
oh, i’ve been meaning to ask.. all these monies advanced to orgs like ACORN, etc.. could they not be considered bonuses from the CIC??
/sarc off
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Make it Happen commented:
It’s time for President Obama to make good on his promise. The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger.
Don’t count on that taking place anytime soon. Obama is a pathetic leader, an empty suit, and will be a one term failed president. Guaranteed.
One and Done.
bg commented:
++
ht BDU-33 @ 11:08 pm #67
U.S. forces struggle with Washington’s
perceptions and reality in Afghanistan
[“Guys back in Washington need to get, I think, a better operational understanding, [of] what goes on here,” she said. “To separate the enemy from the population to make progress will take a really long time, and the administration really needs to understand that. Even more than in Iraq, to get to the point where they … they can build a government — which they can’t do now — [and] get rid of corruption, is going to take years.”]
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