Vice President Cheney said, in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute:
What is not legitimate — and what I will again say is dishonest and reprehensible — is the suggestion by some U. S. senators that the President of the United States or any member of his administration purposely misled the American people on pre-war intelligence.
Some of the most irresponsible comments have come from politicians who actually voted in favor of authorizing the use of force against Saddam Hussein. These are elected officials who had access to the intelligence materials. They are known to have a high opinion of their own analytical capabilities. (Laughter.) And they were free to reach their own judgments based upon the evidence. They concluded, as the President and I had concluded, and as the previous administration had concluded, that Saddam Hussein was a threat. Available intelligence indicated that the dictator of Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and this judgment was shared by the intelligence agencies of many other nations, according to the bipartisan Silberman-Robb Commission. All of us understood, as well, that for more than a decade, the U.N. Security Council had demanded that Saddam Hussein make a full accounting of his weapons programs. The burden of proof was entirely on the dictator of Iraq — not on the U.N. or the United States or anyone else. And he repeatedly refused to comply throughout the course of the decade.
For the President to have “purposely misled the American people on pre-war intelligence,” the President and a large number of people within the Administration would have had to have known that there were not, or probably were not, banned weapons in Iraq, and all of those people would have had to been willing to put their careers, and even possibly their freedom, on the line to service the President’s intended deception. This would include several cabinet secretaries and undersecretaries, the members of the National Security Council, the Director of Central Intelligence, the various deputy directors in the CIA and DIA, intelligence analysts, a group of people that would probably number over a hundred.
And that, of course, is just in our government. The leaders of the British government, the Spanish government, the Polish government, and dozens more, all would have been willing to put their careers (at the very least) on the line . . . to help George Bush attack Iraq.
Our liberal friends continually tell us that George Bush is absolutely hated abroad. As nearly as I can tell, if their argument that President Bush engaged in a deliberate deception to push the war in Iraq, he must be one of the most loved leaders in the world, that so many people in so many countries willingly put their futures on the line to help him.
And, of course, they all had to know that there was no escape of scrutiny, at the very least. If they were willing participants in a deliberate lie about the existence of chemical and biological weapons in Iraq, they had to have known that, upon invading Iraq, those weapons would not be found. And when not found, their actions and assessments would come under close examination.
Yet none of them, not a single one, came forward and said that President Bush and the American government were pressuring them to make knowingly false statements to push for the invasion. Even the French and German and Russian governments, all of which opposed the war, all of which tried to prevent the war, and all of which have sizable intelligence agencies of their own, never came out and said that the intelligence assessments were wrong.
What about President Bush, personally? If he knew that there were no banned weapons in Iraq, and we assume that all of the others who also knew this actually were willing to keep their mouths shut, Mr. Bush had to have known that, within a month or two, at the most, after the invasion, it would be very clear to everyone that no, there were no banned weapons in Iraq. The invasion began in March of 2003, a year and a half before the President’s reelection campaign. Why didn’t he wait, until September of 2004, to make his press for war? That way, he’d have gone into the 2004 elections with a hugely successful military campaign under his belt, but before the non-existence of the banned weapons could be demonstrated. The 2004 election was a solid victory for the President, but it was closer than he might have liked, and there was a solid possibility that he could have lost. Yet, with the example of his own father’s defeat by having his military victory come too far in advance of his reelection campaign obviously present, the current President Bush went ahead and started a war, under false pretenses according to the left, too far in advance of his own reelection.
The fact is that there were no banned weapons found in Iraq; that makes the Administration’s statements about the presence of WMD wrong. But for the left to say that they were a deliberate lie (meaning: making a statement that is known to be false), the left must be either invincibly stupid (to be unable to see that it is virtually impossible that so many people participated in a known lie, at the risk of their careers and freedom), amazingly credulous (to believe that so many people would risk their careers and freedom just to help George Bush), or deliberately lying themselves . . . and to themselves.
Nevertheless, like the Big Lie technique of the Nazis, the (deliberately?) false statements of the left, repeated time and time and time again, are having an effect. That’s why Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld noted yesterday that, “The battle is here in the United States.”
Well, I think that the time has come to vote on it! Representative John Murtha, (D-PA) proposed the following:
Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of American in Congress assembled, That:
Section 1. The deployment of United States Forces in Iraq, by direction of Congress, is hereby terminated and forces involved are to be redeployed at the earliest practicable date.
Section 2. A quick-reaction U.S. force and an over-the-horizon presence of U.S. Marines shall be deployed in the region.
Section 3. The United States of America shall pursue security and stability in Iraq through diplomacy.
That is, of course, stripped of several “whereases” that made the proposed resolution impossible for the GOP to allow to come to a vote. A .pdf file of the entire resolution can be found here. The Republicans proposed the following resolution:
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately.
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately.
The Democrats have made a lot of noise about the Mr. Murtha’s original resolution not having been brought forward. But the GOP version expressed only the “sense of the House,” (meaning: it was a vote without legal consequences) while Mr. Murtha’s original would have, in effect, repealed the congressional authorization for the use of force in Iraq, under the concurrent resolution provisions of The War Powers Act of 1973.
(Section 5, § c) Notwithstanding subsection (b), at any time that United States Armed Forces are engaged in hostilities outside the territory of the United States, its possessions and territories without a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization, such forces shall be removed by the President if the Congress so directs by concurrent resolution.
The Republicans may have made a mistake on the resolution; by not having a vote on Mr. Murtha’s original (possibly with the offensive “whereases” stripped out), they gave the Democrats an opening to attack the vote as a sham. And that gave the Democrats a way out of having the political courage to actually cast the votes in support of their words. One might have thought that the Democrats would have welcomed the GOP substitute, given that it was a vote with no legal consequences, but that would have required the Democrats to think non-demagogically, and such may not be possible.
So, I suggest that the Republicans return Mr. Murtha’s proposed resolution to the floor, perhaps stripped of the offensive preambles, but with the legal implication intact, that the House of Representatives and the Senate, by concurrent resolution, hereby terminate the deployment of American forces in Iraq, under the War Powers Act of 1973. That would be a vote with teeth in it, and it would demonstrate for us, clearly, unmistakably, unambiguously, whether the Democrats actually had the courage to put their votes on the line to match their rhetoric.
Cheney’s smackdown speech to the American Enterprise Institute
I’ve not written anything yet about Dick Cheney’s smackdown speech on the dishonesty of the revisionist Democratic liars in Congress he delivered at the American Enterprise Institute and after reading ST reader Dana’s post at his bl…
[...] But wrong simply means incorrect; “lie” means to deliberately say something that one knows to be false. I addressed that issue earlier: for President Bush to have actually lied about banned weapons, it would have required the cooperation of the largest international conspiracy of high ranking leaders ever seen, all of whom were putting their careers and possibly even their freedom at risk for something they knew to be false and knew would be quickly discovered to be false once the invasion proceeded. and ginned up phony links between Hussein and 9/11, [...]
here is the evidence. Bush told us that he gave Sadam a choice between defiance or compliance and he chose defiance†That is a lie. Sadam did play a dangerous game with the inspectors for many years but in the end he agreed to total inspections of any facitilies on our terms.That is confirmed by both Mohammed Baridi of the International Atomic Energy Commission and Hans Blix of the UN both of whom said the inspections were proceeding and they inspected every single site the US insisted contained WMDs without notice and that nothing was found. They reported this to Washington but nevertheless Bush, and not Sadam, demanded the inspectors leave and five days later invaded. Bush lied.
Senator Bob Graham on the Senate Intelligence Committee asked the CIA for a full report on what the situation was regarding WMDs in Iraq and he and his committee received a report which included all the sources and the various questions about them. Those serious questions about the sources were not included in information given to the general Senate so the report they got was very misleading. Graham voted against the invasion. Bush misled.
The French and Germans both told us the information we were using was unreliable including a major informer named Curveball who told the CIA he had personally worked on WMDs. The Germans told us the man was a liar,actually drove a taxi in Baghdad. But Bush either didnt know or should have known this information was unreliable. If he didnt deliberately hide this he damn well should have checked these reports out but he didnt.
Even after the report of collaboration between Sadam and Al Quida was debunked Cheney continued to repeat a discredited story about a meeting in Prague and connections between the two. A lie and he should have known that.
Allowing for all of this Bush could have insisted on further inspections to be sure before he invaded. If he had any respect for other nations instead of being so arrogant he would have avoided invading. But it was obvious that he had every intention of invading regardless of the facts. In fact as we know the “facts were being fixed around the policy†Bush got his desire and, belatedly, he has now admitted he was wrong but now the mission has changed and this is some kind of mission to “nation build†the very thing Bush said he was against during the campaign of 2000. Its bullshit to say we did this because we wanted to help the Iraqi and everyone on the Arab world knows it. .
If we really wanted to help Iraqis we could have given Sadam $100 Billion to get out of town and then $100 Billion to provide a better life for the Iraqis and the other $300 billion spent right here in the good old USA!
To cover his lies and misdeeds Bush and his party have continually questioned the patriotism of those that question him.
He now engages in secret spying, which I dont necessairly disagree with,but it is supposed to be with a court order which is a protection against abuse. He hasnt done that.
He also has assumed power to arrest anyone and hold them indefinately without charges. Doesnt that concern you? Freedom for Iraq and the loss of freedom here at home?
Our nation is now engaged in this 500 Billion dollar venture with no guarantee of success and the real possibility that a free Iraq will join with Iran.
This is not a sound policy to defend us but an ignorant ill conceived venture that is going to end in disaster.
I say there is far more reason to impeach Bush than there ever was to impeach Clinton.
One favor please. Dont refer to Bush as as Conservative.. Conservatives have faith in small government, individual responsibilty, demand respect for laws. balanced budgets and fear the growth of the Imperial Presidency. Bush is a Fascist..lets agree to keep the terms straight..
Charlie:
Your first comment deserves tome time to which to compose a response. Your second one, however, shows a lack of command of the English language: you do not know what a Fascist is.
Fascism is:
You’ll note that President Bush ended a dictatorial government in Iraq, and is replacing it with a democratic one. You’ll note further that President Bush is subject to the constraints on his power, is limited by Congress, was subject to an election last year, and will leave office peacefully in January of 2009.
As for the “suppression of opposition” part, I’d note that you are out there, perfectly free, to say anything you want in opposition, apparently including being willing to post your views in public fora (at least two of them, Patterico’s and here), without any (reasonable) fear that you are going to be locked up for it.
[...] Saddam’s Nuclear Program had been moved to Libya Weapons Inspectors Refused to Search Bunkers Saddam’s Other WMD’s are in Syria: See: “David Kay, the recently resigned head of an American WMD search team in Iraq, confirmed that part of Saddam’s weapons was hidden in Syria, Britain’s Sunday Telegraph reported on Jan. 25, 2004. Kay said he had uncovered conclusive evidence shortly before last year’s U.S. invasion.” HERE Kay’s testimony was misrepresented to the public WMDs Smuggled to 3 Sites in Syria Israeli General: Saddam moved WMDs to Syria 6 weeks before the war David Kay says he has evidence of such Kay HAD Syrian WMD Maps Death to America:The Unreported Battle of Iraq by Ryan Mauro Nerve gas components found near Baiji LORIE BYRD’S Roundup of “MUST-READS” Canadian Reporter Finds Saddam-bin Laden Link FOUND: a Saddam-Al Qaeda “Smoking Gun” Saddam had 1.8 tons of low-enriched uranium The Clinton Administration linked Al-Qaeda with Saddam MORE Al Qaeda – Saddam links shown here & here Captured documents reveal Saddam’s terrorist training camps The pre-war Saddam-AlQaeda link needed addressing SMOKING GUNS ARE STILL BEING SUPPRESSED (Are they still yielding intelligence?) Ramzi Yousef worked for BOTH Iraq’s Mukhabarat AND Al-Qaeda A partial list of the WMDs found in Iraq >>> The sources for that list UNMOVIC head tells Security Council WMD material was moved outside Iraq Iraqis were taped discussing “evacuating” material prior to a weapons inspection. Disinformation by Richard Miniter Why George Bush couldn’t have lied The phrase “Bush lied” is ITSELF a lie. The Fedayeen – al Qaeda Connection Fedayeen supervised Al Qaeda training WMD materials removed from 109 sites Saddam saw Osama as an asset to be courted Czech surveillance noted Atta meeting Iraqi official Ex-Iraqi intelligence officer ties Saddam to al-Qaeda ally al-Tikriti memo details uranium shipment, Atta’s Iraq training Saddam’s stockpiles of WMD raw materials HAVE been found Al Qaeda-financed WMD factory used peculiar Iraqi bio-weapons formula UNMOVIC inspectors: Saddam Shipped Out WMDs New evidence: Saddam’s WMD in Lebanon Saddam had WMD on ‘short notice’ 9 Iraqi scientists murdered The Carney Files The OTHER “Downing Street Memo” of July 2002 (which NEGATES the first one) See excerpts from The Secret History of the Iraq War HERE Jordanians say they stopped a major Al-Qaeda attack WITH WMDs mounted from Syria: See THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS and: THIS. “So, after the fall of Afghanistan at the end of 2001, Zarqawi and other al Qaeda veterans made their way to Iraq, where, secure under the wing of Saddam Hussein, they plotted chemical weapons attacks on countries friendly to the U.S., as well as the murder (successfully carried out) of an American diplomat. And yet, to this day it remains an article of faith on the left that Saddam’s Iraq was a kite-flyer’s paradise with no connection to international terrorism, no relations with al Qaeda, and, of course, no chemical weapons. Maybe the current trial will reveal where the chemicals assembled for the attack on Jordan came from; maybe it won’t. But we don’t need any new information to understand that Saddam’s regime protected and supported the deadliest of al Qaeda’s terrorists.” — John Hinderaker, HERE See: “IRAQ’S COMPLICITY IN TERRORISM” HERE Al Qaeda videos found in Iraq weapons raid Bad Samarratans – caught between Iraq and a hard place Kuwait foils smuggling of bio warheads from Iraq Danes think they might have found chemical weapons Iraqi Missile Parts Found in Holland “The evidence [of Saddam's moving his WMD to Syria from August to December of 2002 and his collaboration with Al Qaeda] is overwhelming.” — Yossef Bodansky, Director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and author of The Secret History of the Iraq War Saddam Possessed WMDs, Had Many Terror Ties Former advisor says Clinton believed Iraq was behind the 1993 WTC bombing [...]
[...] Where to begin? Charlie, I addressed the point about whether President Bush deliberately lied about WMD here. It’s a long read, as brevity is a word that seldom occurs to me, but, suffice it to say, if President Bush lied, it had to have been part of the largest international conspiracy in history. [...]