During the ride back from a meeting of the crime families in New York, Vito Corleone tells Tom Hagen, "...but I didn't know until this day that it was Barzini all along." Well, based on the speeches and interviews of the last few days, it seems clear that it was Cheney all along.
This is not exactly the revelation of the age. Cheney is a much older hand than the President. It appears likely that the Republican plan all along was to elect someone, anyone, who would allow Cheney, Rumsfeld and the boys to dictate foreign policy. John McCain wasn't about to be steam-rolled by these guys which is why he was torpedoed in South Carolina in 2000. George W. was barely able to stand up to Al Gore and John Kerry. How do you imagine he fared at a meeting with his father's former advisers? He's lucky they didn't offer him a phonebook to sit on. Even Colin Powell says he thought of George as Skippy.
Well, it's now 2007. We have been at war for almost five years. 3,000+ Americans are dead and thousands more are coming home in one boot or with one sleeve pinned at the shoulder. The President has made two speeches in the last few weeks in which he virtually pleaded with the American people to give him just one more opportunity to fix Iraq. Congress is about to test the boundaries of the War Powers Clauses of the Constitution. Thank God Rumsfeld and Wolfowicz are out of the picture. Karl Rove has taken his magic wand to the shop to discover why it failed in the 2006 elections. One adviser remains. The man who not only orchestrated the invasion of Iraq but provided his own company as the agents for what came after: Vice President Dick Cheney.
Dick Cheney who couldn't be bothered to serve his country during Vietnam, citing "other priorities".
Dick Cheney who gave us such memorable quotes as, "We will be greeted as liberators" and "We know that he (Saddam Hussein) is devoted to acquiring nuclear weapons and we believe that he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons."
Dick Cheney who, now that his lesbian daughter is pregnant, resents any mention of the subject and refuses to comment on the anti-gay rhetoric that got he and George elected.
Your first clue as to the VP's importance should have been when, immediately after 9/11, it was he who was removed to a secure location. Even then, the Secret Service knew who was calling the shots.
Now that even the President admits that the war is a mess, Vice President Cheney is having none of it. In a contentious interview with Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday, Mr. Cheney refuses to acknowledge that there is anything amiss in the Middle East. He is not especially interested in the opinion of Congress ( and by extension the American people) regarding the conduct of the war. According to him, all dissent is virtual treason, giving aid and comfort to the enemy. One gets the unmistakable feeling that Dick Cheney knows he's right and he would really appreciate it if the rest of us, 300 million Americans, would just stop whining and let him run the world.
Mr. Cheney rails that we have had "enormous successes" in Iraq. (Naturally, this string of victories is going totally unreported by the liberal media). The facts , however would tend to support a contrary position. If you accept that our only objective was the elimination of Saddam Hussein than one would have to agree: Mission Accomplished. However, virtually all of the American combat deaths have occurred since Saddam ran for his spider-hole. If we are having such success, why does the President need 21,500 additional troops just to attempt to pacify the capital? We could have committed a much larger force at the beginning but, in spite of the concerns of America's generals, less than 125,000 troops were committed.
The administration didn't have to look far to learn what would probably happen in Iraq after Saddam. Shortly after the Iron Curtain fell, Yugoslavia was plunged into a terrible civil war. The country had been an uneasy collection of partisan factions kept in check by a strong, if oppressive, central government. Once that government (and its troops) were gone, neighbors began shooting at each other. After more than 100,000 people were killed a truce was brokered and it's still holding. By that reckoning Iraq still has about 40,000 more casualties to absorb.
Mr. Cheney is a little fuzzy on exactly who our enemies are. All Iraqis are either Shi'ites or Sunni. Both have guns. Both are determined to run the country. The Shi'ites are in the majority (about 65%) so they have the upper hand. The Sunnis are divided into Kurds 20% and Sunni Arabs 15%. If the Sunnis win, Iran will not be happy. Iran is mostly Shi'ite. If the Shi'ites prevail, Saudi Arabia may rethink its neutral stance. The Saudis are predominately Sunni.
If you are getting a headache trying to figure this stuff out than imagine the migraine that George W. Bush must have. Prior to becoming President, he thought that Yemen was something you said at the end of a prayer. (Sorry) Now his entire legacy is wrapped up in a war of his own making. I suspect that he has had some exceedingly harsh words for his VP. At some point he might actually utter them while Cheney is in the room.
In the meantime Vice President Cheney moves from nasty interview to nasty interview. He doesn't even make an effort to hide his contempt. Why should he? His legacy is already secure. Have you seen the share price of Halliburton lately?
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