So it's your contention that Dick Cheney said - and meant to say - that we would be greeted as liberators by literally each and every single person in Iraq? And that didn't happen (obviously), therefore Cheney was wrong/bad/etc in how he "sold" the war?
Are you familiar with the term "straw man"? Sure must be easy to argue against your opponents when you feel at liberty to stretch their claims to the most absurdist lengths imaginable. You're right, if Dick Cheney actually said, or meant to say, or implied, or meant to imply, that he believed every single Iraqi would greet American troops as liberators, then he was wrong in that belief. (That would be the least of our problems; it would also mean Cheney has mental problems.)
But is that even a remotely fair characterization of Cheney's statement?
I have no doubt that there were and are Iraqis holding that view. The point is that an impression was cultivated that Iraqis in general would greet us as liberators.
Oh. Well, so what? I'm not even sure it's incorrect that Iraqis "in general" have greeted us as liberators. It all depends on what "in general" means, doesn't it? i.e. If you only pay attention to the ones exploding bombs, then no...
If Cheney, as Vice President, publicly expresses a belief on the friendly reception of American troops in Iraq, do you suppose it is private and not meant to influence?
A publicly expressed belief is not private no. So, Dick Cheney had that belief. Was he required to keep his mouth shut? He believed what he believed and said so. What is the point here?
Nobody forced Congress to vote the way they did on the basis of Dick Cheney's personal beliefs. If Dick Cheney's beliefs entered into any Congressman's vote, that's the Congressman's fault, not Cheney's.
I said earlier: If the war is now perceived as a failure, its because reality hasn't matched administration pre-war PR. I stand by that, and provided quotes from prominent conservatives both in and out of the administration to back up that claim.
For every quote you dug up from some no-name or another, I could dig up a quote actually from Bush explaining how the war would be long, difficult, painful and costly. The problem is that what you perceive as their "pre-war PR" has gotten to you filtered through the media. i.e., The media choose to pretend that Bush said "quick" (which he didn't!) and choose not to remind anyone that Bush said it would be long.
In a way, I suppose your claim here isn't incorrect. It's just that it doesn't go against what I'm saying. Reality didn't match "the PR", but what are peoples' perceptions of the PR based on? Based (in large part) on what the media chooses to emphasize.
The "cartoonishly impossible fantasyland" was created by the administration, perhaps you weren't paying attention at the time.
I was paying attention, which is precisely why I know that claims that Bush "sold" the war as quick, cheap, and easy are full of crap.
Here is another cartoonishly impossible estimate from Bush's director of the OBM: Mitch Daniels provided an initial budget estimate for the Iraq War of $50 to $60 billion.
Never heard the name before. Did Mitch Daniels's utterance affect the war debate at all, in your opinion? Were there Congressmen who were gonna vote no but decided to vote yes on the basis of what Mitch Daniels said? If you go amongst the American public and say "Mitch Daniels" how many glimmers of recognition you think you'll get?
This is simply not relevant to a discussion of how "the war was sold".
Nope, didn't say that.
Are you familiar with the term "straw man"? Sure must be easy to argue against your opponents when you feel at liberty to stretch their claims to the most absurdist lengths imaginable.
Isn't that exactly what you've done above?
You're right, if Dick Cheney actually said, or meant to say, or implied, or meant to imply, that he believed every single Iraqi would greet American troops as liberators, then he was wrong in that belief.
But is that even a remotely fair characterization of Cheney's statement?
Its not my characterization of Cheney's statement, its your straw man.