Posted on 01/15/2007 1:59:22 AM PST by Aussie Dasher
Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday the United States must show it has the "stomach" to win in Iraq or it will confirm al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's view that Americans can be pressured to leave.
U.S. allies helping in fighting terrorism - Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states and Egypt - must have confidence that the United States will stay until a successful outcome, he said.
"If the United States doesn't have the stomach to finish the task in Iraq, we put at risk what we've done in all of those other locations," he said on "Fox News Sunday."
Bin Laden's strategy is to push U.S. presence out of the region through terrorism and Iraq is currently at the center of that battle, Cheney said. "It's absolutely essential that we win there, and we will win there," he said.
Cheney defended the new plan by President George W. Bush to send 21,500 additional troops to Iraq and said critics had not produced an alternative proposal.
Democrats, who took control of Congress this year after winning November elections largely due to growing public anti-war sentiment, are planning a non-binding resolution to reflect opposition to the new troop deployment.
Cheney said such a gesture would not prevent the president from carrying out his policy.
"Congress, obviously, has to support the effort through the power of the purse, so they have got a role to play and we certainly recognize that," Cheney said. "But also, you cannot run a war by committee."
Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said he opposed withholding defense funding to signal opposition to the president's plan
"I don't support using the power of the purse because I think that sends the wrong message to our troops," Levin said on CNN's "Late Edition."
Cheney said while Democrats have criticized Bush's plan and advocated withdrawal, they have not offered an alternative strategy to the president's proposal.
He said the president did not conduct policy based on public opinion polls, which have shown increasing dissatisfaction with U.S. involvement in the Iraq war.
"You cannot simply stick your finger up in the wind and say, 'Gee, public opinion's against, we better quit,'" Cheney said. Doing that would just "validate the al Qaeda view of the world," he said.
Cheney said criticism from members of their own Republican Party had not made him or the president feel embattled. "I've seen embattled administrations. This isn't one of them."
Tensions in the Middle East were raised after the U.S. military's arrest of five Iranians in Iraq, accusing them of providing arms and money to militants. Iran called them diplomats and demanded their release, and Iraqi officials also said they should be freed. "We've asked for their release," Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on CNN. He said while the Iranians had been working from an office that was not formally a consulate, it had been doing some consular services such as offering travel permits.
Cheney said Iran has created tensions throughout the region by pursuing nuclear weapons, supporting extremists, and providing improvised explosive devices inside Iraq.
"It's been pretty well known that Iran is fishing in troubled waters, if you will, inside Iraq, and the president has responded to that," Cheney said.
The United States was not getting ready for a military conflict with Iran, White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley said.
"The president has said very clearly that the issues we have with Iran should be solved diplomatically in terms of the nuclear issue," Hadley said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
If the US tosses in the towel over what amounts to one days casualties in WW1 or WW2 we can stop pretending to be any kind of military power.....
Maybe. But I'd suggest that a half-@ssed, futile nation-building effort aimed at establishing an Islamic state in the Middle East is one of the worst abuses a "military power" can carry out.
When we tear a government down, we have to assist in the rebuilding. Germany and Japan are notable examples.
Amen to that.
When our own US citizens tear down our own nation who will help rebuild this nation? It sure seems that we have people who are for throwing in the towel to the terrorist to destroy our country and all for what. It must be for their self centered ego's.
I agree with Chenney to a point. We fight in such a half-assed way. Every decision should be made that takes into account our soldiers lives. Instead, we play games allowing our men and women to be clipped a way one or two at a time. Some Americans don't want to give up because of the fight, they want to give up because we're not fighting our hardest. We have these fancy weapons, use them. I know this sounds a bit sick, but I'd rather 1000 Iraqi's get terminated than see one GI die. The Iraqi's caused this situation by their inability to agree over....well...anything...with their fellow Iraqi. I mean, is an Iraqi ever not outraged....ever?
They should pay the highest price as the neighborhoods get 'cleaned', not the GI.
I think Thomas Jefferson made some comment about how freedom needed to be replenished with blood from time to time. People today don't seem to grasp reality as they buy whatever the media feeds them.
Good point about the MSM "feeding them". Last night President Bush was interviewed by Scott Pelley whose FIRST comment was "Bush is going for broke" with the troop buildup. I dont see it that way at all. I see it as a necessary continuation of the war effort. It is only another ploy of the Rats & the MSM to try to make Bush look like a failure again.
Really? Where is that written in the US Constitution?
Nonetheless, it may be a good idea to do so, but to do so only on our own terms.
We destroyed Nazism and Japanese Imperialism and Emperor worship, root and branch. Unfortunately, our Politically Correct methods in Iraq were not as thorough there in destroying our enemies and therein lies most of our current problem.
It may not be too late to fix our wishful illusions, but it is going to cost us a lot more in blood and treasure than first needed to do so.
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Thomas Jefferson
3rd president of US (1743 - 1826)
Yup! Ping!
bttt
Right on, Mr. Vice President!!
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