Dick Cheney: Rand Paul Is Wrong On Foreign Policy

Business Insider ^ | 06/22/2014 | Hunter Walker

[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.

[celmak]

Thus the mess we are in today.

The mess we are in is purely with Obama.

[skeeter]

In hindsight it would've probably been better to destroy whatever remaining offensive capability Iraq possessed in 2003 with airstrikes and then quarantine her population, or at least prevent then from directly or indirectly immigrating until the country had sufficiently reformed itself, however long that would've taken.

Once we had committed ourselves we needed to stay committed, if for no other reason than to honor those who had sacrificed. Besides, I think there was a reasonable chance something beneficial and lasting could've been achieved there had we not elected a Marxist squish as president.

[celmak]

"Obama had no choice in pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq ???"

OTFLOL !!! And you say, "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.

So, SHAME ON YOU!

[celmak]

P.S. -- The U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement was signed by George W. Bush in 2008.

And in no way included the kind of pull-out that Obama did (which you obviously support!).

[Alberta's Child]

That was the only point in the video.

Absolutely false.

The video is 1:22 long. The point about "going at it alone" was made before the 0:20 mark, and was followed by a litany of other reasons why a U.S. occupation of Iraq was completely untenable.

P.S. -- How many Arab nations were part of the military force that invaded Iraq in 2003?

[laplata]

Thanks.

[Alberta's Child]

Under the U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement signed by George W. Bush in 2008, all U.S. military personnel were to leave Iraq by December 31, 2011.

Is there another U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement out there that I'm not aware of? Please fill me in on the details if that is the case.

[rbmillerjr]

Only Liberaltarian idiots would propose that we not go into Iraq, after the evidence and intelligence for WMD was shown and given to the President.

It would have been entirely negligent not to go in.

The fact that RonPaul, RandPaul and other conspiracy loons still can’t see this, makes them a joke. A total joke.

[Fuzz]

“And in no way included the kind of pull-out that Obama did”

You couldn’t be more wrong.

[celmak]

Absolutely false.

Absolutely true! The whole video is under the assumption of going at it alone.

Nice try.

[laplata]

The mess we are in is purely with Obama.

---

Exactly!

[celmak]

Great proof.

[Fuzz]

http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/122074.pdf

[celmak]

Read the text yourself, since you are so aware of it. There are plenty of stipulations in case the US was needed.

[celmak]

Thanks for proving my point!

[Alberta's Child]

I am familiar with the Agreement -- all 30 Articles of it.

Please cite for me any provision of that agreement that allows the U.S. to maintain a military presence in Iraq or conduct military action in Iraq on its own without the explicit permission of the Iraqi government.

[Fuzz]

Weird.

Here’s the key I think you are missing from what I can interpret from your posts.

We could have kept troops in after the withdrawal date if certain conditions were met, the most important of these being that the government of Iraq agrees. They did not.

These were the terms agreed to by both countries and signed by Bush.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Rand Paul is more right than Dick Cheney.

Cheney's philosophy might have worked in the WWII era, when there were still more patriots than scoundrels in DC. Now with 60's radicals firmly entrenched and undermining every step conservatives take, embarking on foreign adventures with speculative goals in mind is perilous at best.

[re_nortex]

The mess we are in is purely with Obama.

That's absolutely right since hussein obama and his team of traitors deliberately and maliciously undid the proven war of terrorism strategy of President Bush and Vice-President Cheney. It's clear that Dick Cheney knew that hussein obama was and is a marxist muzzie sodomite intent on the goal of dismantling America to make way for a caliphate:

During the eight years that President Bush and Vice-President Cheney, the clear-thinking adults, were in charge, America was kept safe from the islamic hordes. Under the despotic regime of obama/holder, America has been infiltrated with muzzie terror cells, placing the country at great risk by the enemy within. Although both George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney weren't 100% perfect, neither of them ever uttered the words, "...my islamic faith..." as did hussein obama.

[Fuzz]

“During the eight years that President Bush and Vice-President Cheney, the clear-thinking adults, were in charge, America was kept safe from the islamic hordes.”

Except for that whole 9/11 thing.