Posted on 06/22/2014 10:48:17 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
ormer Vice President Dick Cheney fired back Sunday after Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) criticized his position on Iraq. In an appearance on ABC's "This Week," Cheney argued Paul, who is widely seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2016, is an "isolationist" who doesn't understand the "absolutely essential" need for America to be involved in the Middle East.
"Now, Rand Paul and — by my standards, as I look at his — his philosophy, is basically an isolationist. That didn't work in the 1930s, it sure as heck won't work in the aftermath of 9/11, when 19 guys armed with airline tickets and box cutters came all the way from Afghanistan and killed 3,000 of our citizens," Cheney said, according to a rush transcript of the show.
Paul addressed Cheney's position on Iraq in an interview with NBC that aired on "Meet The Press" Sunday. In that interview, Paul critiqued a Wall Street Journal op-ed written by Cheney and his daughter, Liz, that was critical of President Barack Obama's foreign policy and handling of the crisis in Iraq. The Cheneys said Obama's "rhetoric" about ending the Iraq War had "come crashing into reality" after troop withdrawals were followed by jihadists from the group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) taking territory in the country. Paul argued Cheney and others who supported the Iraq War were primarily to blame for many of the current issues in the Middle East.
"What’s going on now — I don’t blame on President Obama. Has he really got the solution? Maybe there is no solution. But I do blame the Iraq War on the chaos that is in the Middle East," Paul said. "I also blame those who are for the Iraq War for emboldening Iran.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
No, I remember how Powell and Bush were horrified by the networks showing of the destruction General Schwarzkopf was going through heading toward Baghdad; and Bush took Powell’s advice in stopping Schwarzkopf.
Correct. Our effort was never unilateral as the media brainwashed the sheeple into.believing.
The vote in Congress was bipartisan...the UN was onboard and all Intel from various countries pointed to WMD. Plus it was Clinton who.issued the Iraqi Liberation Act not.Bush.
No deal, Dick? Then go clean up that mess yourself.
So you blame Bush for what is happening now?
Exactly! And people soon forget what Clinton did to Iraq in Desert Fox (though he did do it to avoid his scandals). He was quick to off on sign H.R. 4655!
The whole issue of whether the U.S. was "going in alone" of if it was part of a multi-national force was complete bullsh!t, anyway. The U.S. did not need military assistance from any other country in any of these military campaigns -- which means the multi-national aspect of them was nothing more than a political measure to somehow make these military campaigns more acceptable to Americans.
Rule #1 for me on this is: Don't ever expect me to take you seriously if you're going play political games with military engagements.
Might have been. Either way it was the right decision.
When conservatives here on FreeRepublic are holding up a piece of legislation from the Clinton Administration to support an argument in favor of U.S. military action overseas, I’d say we’ve pretty much put the whole conservative movement to shame.
Likewise when people here support exactly what Obama has done in pulling out our troops from Iraq before its time and hamstringing the US so that terrorists like ISIS can move in.
Rand Paul lost what little support or respect I had for him...he is certainly his Father’s Son..
I fully will support TED CRUZ for 2016...
Nope, I totally disagree. We will eventually be going back and we will not be as strong, willing or able then. We will have more than double the rules of engagement - which I did not agree with during Bush I.
Ditto - Cruz in 2016!
Cheney is right. We need to finish what we started a decade earlier. Obomao just does not understand.
The biggest mistake the U.S. made over there was in deluding itself into thinking that Iraq even had a sovereign government that was capable of negotiating any kind of agreements like that.
P.S. -- The U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement was signed by George W. Bush in 2008.
(cel...my initials!!!)
Time for NEW BLOOD, NEW IDEAS, AND ONE WHO STILL SHOWS RESPECT TO OUR LORD...
HAVE A GREAT SUNDAY FOLKS...
Hindsight is wonderful. But it changes nothing and we never seem to learn that doing the same thing again will somehow have better results this time. Thus the mess we are in today.
That was the only point in the video. Don't ever expect me to take you seriously if you're going play political games with military engagements.
I'll grant you that, don't tie the hands of our military with unnecessary "rules of engagement"! Bring it back to at least WW2 level.
Rand Paul is a Libtardian moron!
I'm with you on that. His, and Rumfeld's, actual statements after the invasion are just appalling.
But none of this should give the Democrats any comfort. They are just as complicit in this mess. Both sides need to be honest about their mistakes, so this sort of thing won't happen again.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.