On Thu, 25 Jan 2007 06:57:50 -0800, in "sdnet.politics" Brian David Smith, San Diego, California, wrote:
Cheney lied on CNN
Yesterday, in an interview on CNN with Wolf Blitzer, Dick Cheney said, "After 9/11, we learned that we have a vested interest in what happens on the ground in the Middle East." Cheney said to remember what happened in Afghanistan. Cheney said, "The United States was actively involved in Afghanistan in the '80s, supporting the effort against the Soviets. The Mujahedeen prevailed. Everybody walked away. And, in Afghanistan, within relatively short order, the Taliban came to power. They created a safe haven for al Qaeda. Training camps were established, where some 20,000 terrorists trained in the late '90s. And, out of that, out of Afghanistan, because we walked away and ignored it, we had the attack on the USS Cole, the attack on the embassies in East Africa, and 9/11, where the people trained and planned in Afghanistan for that attack, and killed 3,000 Americans. That is what happens when we walk away from a situation like that in the Middle East."
Cheney's key phase is, "After 9/11, we learned that we have a vested interest in what happens on the ground in the Middle East." Specifically Cheney is saying the U.S. has reason to monitor the Middle East and circumvent terrorists from developing safe havens, i.e. training and deployment camps.
Fair enough! That seems rational. Why give terrorists a foothold to establish themselves? Why take the chance?
Here is the problem. On January 17 2007, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that U.S. commanders in Afghanistan have requested an increase in U.S. force levels to handle an expected upsurge in Taliban violence. Essentially, an estimated 15,000 Taliban fighters are preparing for battle. The Taliban is going to use guerrilla-like techniques that they adopted last year.
WAIT A COTTON PICKING MINUTE !!
After 9-eleven, didn't the U.S. go into Afghanistan and clean out the Taliban? YES!
Didn't the U.S. stand up Hamid Karzai as the head of the transitional government of Afghanistan? YES!
Further, didn't Hamid Karzai become the first democratically elected head of state in Afghanistan in late 2004? YES!
So why is the Taliban back with 15,000 troops requiring the U.S. to amp up troop strength in Afghanistan?
Apparently, according to Dick Cheney's position, the U.S. must have stopped supervising Afghanistan in the last couple of years because the Taliban is back with 15,000 troops scaring the hell out of the American commander in Afghanistan.
What this truly says is the U.S. must keep constant, ongoing surveillance over the Middle East to prevent terrorists from coming back. Whether it is this year, next year, ten years from now or even further down the line, the U.S. must continually police the Middle East. Otherwise what Cheney claims happened in Afghanistan will reoccur. That is, terror groups will continue to re-establish safe havens and launch attacks.
As such, Cheney is saying the U.S. must continue to fight in the Middle East forever and forever. It is never going to end. The Iraq war will never end because there is a chance the terrorists will be back. The fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan will never end. On and on and on.
Bush and Cheney claim their new "surge" plan in Iraq will leave U.S. troops behind in Baghdad to prevent the terrorist from sneaking back in. Well, for how long? Bush and Cheney established the Hamid Karzai government in Afghanistan and apparently, the Taliban is back. So who is to say the Maliki government in Iraq will do any better?
It is all hogwash on the part of Bush and Cheney! Just standing up governments in the Middle East is not enough. Otherwise, the Taliban wouldn't be back in Afghanistan. Furthermore, neither would warring elements continually repopulate the Anbar province, Fallujah and Baghdad as they have repeatedly over the last four years.
Essentially, "getting the job done" in the Middle East will require American occupation forever and ever because the terrorists will be back. When Cheney says, "But the fact of the matter is, we need to get the job done," Cheney is disingenuous.
There is no getting the job done!
It will be a continuing occupation!
Did the American public sign on to sacrifice their sons and daughters in an ongoing occupation of the Middle East? NO!
Did Americans sign on to fund a continued war-level American presence in the Middle East? NO!
Essentially, Cheney, and therefore Bush, have lied once again. They do not intend to end U.S. aggression in the Middle East. It will be ongoing and will eventually include Iran and Syria.
So, when Cheney says, "The fact is, we can complete the task in Iraq. We're going to do it. We have General Petraeus taking over. It is a good strategy.It will work. But we have to have the stomach to finish the task," that is not Cheney's intention at all. He lies.
I totally agree with the red paragraphs above. No truer words have been spoken.
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