Print This Print This

Posted on August 14th, 2007 in News, Politics

Cheney calls Iraq a ‘quagmire’ …

By Kyle Whitmire

… in 1994, at least.

The Weekly came across this video on YouTube today, and we’re not yet sure whether the resulting nausea was from embarrassment of finding it four years too late or astonishment over its contents. In the video, Dick Cheney (then-citizen, former defense secretary and future vice president) explains why invading Iraq and toppling Saddam Hussein would have been a disastrous undertaking in the first Iraq war, and his reasoning seems prescient for the second. Our Arab allies would have abandoned us, he says. The United States would have been in Iraq alone. Once Hussein was out of power, the United States would have to hold together a country trying to tear itself in three. It would be a “quagmire,” he said. Yes, he used the term quagmire, and none of that “greeted-as-liberators” bunk. Finally, invading Iraq wouldn’t be worth the casualties, Cheney argued.

“The question for the president, in terms of whether we went on the Baghdad and took additional casualties in an effort to get Saddam Hussein, was how many additional dead Americans is Saddam worth,” Cheney said. “And our judgment was not very many and I think we got it right.”

The bug in the lower left-hand corner indicates that the interview was with the American Enterprise Institute, a traditionally neoconservative think tank. We can’t vouch for the source of the video, but the question seems to be within context and the answer speaks for itself.

— Kyle Whitmire

  • Share/Bookmark
blog comments powered by Disqus

WEEKLY PICKS: do more now

  • SATURDAY, NOV. 21

    SATURDAY, NOV. 21

    REQUIEM FOR A SCHEME: The featured composition at Saturday’s Alabama ...

  • SUNDAY, NOV. 22

    SUNDAY, NOV. 22

    BLAZE THE TRAIL: Or, at the very least, help trim ...

  • MONDAY, NOV. 23

    MONDAY, NOV. 23

    FOX TROT: The term “Seattle Scene” no longer holds the ...

Weekly Tweets

  • Can Jefferson County break the bank? The meaning of Jefferson County's suit against banking behemoth JPMorgan: http://bit.ly/2JfcKk #bham 19 hrs ago
  • @WadeOnTweets I don't see Dr. Davis on Twitter any time soon. We're plugging your blogging academy classes in next week's Weekly Picks btw. 1 day ago
  • Nice to see @bhamterminal 's @acnatta on Fox6 w BSC's Natalie Davis discussing #bham mayoral race. Video @WadeOnTweets: http://bit.ly/1o93gZ 1 day ago
  • @brightsides Thanks for comments on last week's cover. It was designed by Jeremy Markham (http://bit.ly/1l7Yx1). More: http://bit.ly/4bvRoK 1 day ago
  • Forest Perk Coffee opened today--new coffee shop on Clairmont (next to Piggly Wiggly). Just went by there--the coffee's good. Check it out. 1 day ago
  • Shout out to @DNicholAdams for her tweeting of the #bham mayoral forum tonight. She did a great job. Thanks for the live feed! 3 days ago
  • Also slated to appear: William Jason Sumner (?) & Jimmy Snow. No Smitherman or Hoyt? Election Dec. 8. Educate yourselves. We'll help. #bham 3 days ago
  • Mayoral forum information came from Delta Sigma Theta Alum association, who is putting on forum and was kind enough to call me back. #bham 3 days ago
  • William Bell, Patrick Cooper, Emory Anthony, Scott Douglas, Stephannie Huey, Jody Trautwein and others coming to #bham mayoral forum tonight 3 days ago
  • Don't forget there's a mayoral forum tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Huffman High, and a meet & greet Thursday at Highland Hotel, 5-7 p.m. #bham 3 days ago
  • I think if you count the fact that council started about 30 minutes late, this may be the quickest council meeting I've ever seen. #bham 3 days ago
  • Council meeting over except for old & new business. Hoyt says he is the fried turkey king, and will fry turkeys when done w/ politics #bham 3 days ago
  • More updates...

War on Dumb

Can Jefferson County break the bank?

Can Jefferson County break the bank?

Jefferson County has declared war on JPMorgan.

Upon Further Review

Lane Kiffin’s (allegedly) lost boys

Lane Kiffin’s (allegedly) lost boys

Lane Kiffin’s players are undisciplined? You don’t say…

Column

Surviving the New Depression with sweet taters

Surviving the New Depression with sweet taters

Political commentary plus a recipe for sweet potato pie.

Film

2012 blows up the world real good

2012 blows up the world real good

2012 may be the hugest, craziest, most preposterous disaster film ever made

Small World Cartoons

Jobless Recovery

Jobless Recovery

Things are looking up for the economy! Or they’re not.

(Click cartoon for a full size [...]

Suburban Legends

The Wedding Planner

The Wedding Planner

A classic from the Suburban Legends Vault