Posted on 11/16/2001 1:10:45 PM PST by america-rules
By Charles Aldinger
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) fired a broadside at critics of the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan (news - web sites) on Wednesday, saying they had been ``dead wrong'' in sniping at the pace of a 39-day bombing against the Taliban.
Boasting that the Taliban were in flight ``virtually all over the country,'' he chided analysts who accused the Pentagon (news - web sites) of not dropping more bombs or putting more troops into Afghanistan.
``It's nice, at a moment like this, to be able to remind them (critics) that a lot of what they put out over the course of the last few weeks was just dead wrong,'' Cheney told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (news - web sites) in a speech.
He was not specific about the critics but said it included military pundits, the Washington press and ``talking heads'' on television.
Praising Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff, the vice president said that ''we've got some great people running the operation. And the results are there for all to see.''
Cheney cautioned that the war was far from over in Afghanistan despite the collapse in many areas of military forces of the fundamentalist Muslim Taliban, who have ruled the country for five years.
``This is a very good beginning to what's likely to be a long struggle,'' he said.
``They (the Taliban) have lost their control over a major part of Afghanistan. They've lost control of most of the cities. Many of their forces have been killed, captured or fled to the hills,'' he said.
But in another apparent jab at critics, he noted that President Bush (news - web sites) had vowed to end support by the Taliban and other countries worldwide for ``terrorist'' networks such as al Qaeda guerrillas of fugitive Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), accused of masterminding Sept. 11 attacks on America.
``I think this morning, in the fate that has befallen the Taliban, there is proof positive,'' the vice president said.
``If anybody has any questions about whether or not we're determined to carry through on that threat, all they have to do is go visit Afghanistan today and interview members of the Taliban -- if they can find any.''
That's the lesson learned from Poppy41. He won the Gulf War too quickly and too easily. It scared off the Democrat front-runners in the '92 election leaving lesser men like Tsongas and you-know-who. The problem was that the Gulf War became a forgotten war by the time Election Day rolled around. If W spanks the Taliban, takes his win and goes home, nobody outside New York is going to remember in 2004. That's one reason why this war must be taken beyond the Afghan borders. Who'll be next? Someone between Iraq and a hard place?
Mineta was never mayor of Denver. He was a former congressman from San Jose and, along with Robert Reich who resigned, were the only members of Clinton's cabinet to serve scandal-free.
Tell the defeatist, leftist, hate-America press to go pi$$ up a rope!!!
Please, Buchanan and McCain are Populists, about as far from Libertarian as you can get. Don't blame these idiots views on us:)
None of them have ever worn a uniform in the defense of their country; none of them suffered in a Hanoi POW camp; none have ever been in Harm's Way in the defense of the nation!
None of them have ever worn a uniform in the defense of their country; none of them suffered in a Hanoi POW camp; none have ever been in Harm's Way in the defense of the nation!"
Sorry, but I am not a mind numbed robot for someone just because he was a POW. I wish we could all remember him for just that. I once met John McCain when he was a Conservative Republican at a state convention, took a picture with him, and thanked him for his service to this country. That was before he started flipping out. It is too bad that he will be remembered as a liberal political hack.
That record, while deserving of our thanks and recognition, in no way sheds light on whether he holds correct political positions, has integrity, or is even sane. We all know or have met Vietnam vets who have none of those qualities.
His military record is a fairly decent indication of what kind of a person he was at the time, and the experience may be useful to him in his work today, but it's no seal of approval of him as a person.
I don't really judge people based on what they were 30 years ago. I want to know what they are today.
With John McCain, I do not like what I see today.
Absolutely!
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