Dick Cheney: Still Right
And so is Liz.
On Missile Defense:
President Obama’s cancellation of America’s agreements with the Polish and Czech governments was a serious blow to the hopes and aspirations of millions of Europeans. For twenty years, these peoples have done nothing but strive to move closer to us, and to gain the opportunities and security that America offered. These are faithful friends and NATO allies, and they deserve better. The impact of making two NATO allies walk the plank won’t be felt only in Europe. Our friends throughout the world are watching and wondering whether America will abandon them as well.
On Iran:
The President has been largely silent about the violent crackdown on Iran’s protestors, and has moved blindly forward to engage Iran’s authoritarian regime. Unless the Islamic Republic fears real consequences from the United States and the international community, it is hard to see how diplomacy will work.
On Afghanistan:
In the fall of 2008, fully aware of the need to meet new challenges being posed by the Taliban, we dug into every aspect of Afghanistan policy, assembling a team that repeatedly went into the country, reviewing options and recommendations, and briefing President-elect Obama’s team. They asked us not to announce our findings publicly, and we agreed, giving them the benefit of our work and the benefit of the doubt. The new strategy they embraced in March, with a focus on counterinsurgency and an increase in the numbers of troops, bears a striking resemblance to the strategy we passed to them. They made a decision – a good one, I think – and sent a commander into the field to implement it.
Now they seem to be pulling back and blaming others for their failure to implement the strategy they embraced. It’s time for President Obama to do what it takes to win a war he has repeatedly and rightly called a war of necessity.
On waterboarding:
For all that we’ve lost in this conflict, the United States has never lost its moral bearings – and least of all can that be said of our armed forces and intelligence personnel. They have done right, they have made our country safer, and a lot of Americans are alive today because of them. …In short, to call enhanced interrogation a program of torture is not only to disregard the program’s legal underpinnings and safeguards. Such accusations are a libel against dedicated professionals who acted honorably and well, in our country’s name and in our country’s cause. What’s more, to completely rule out enhanced interrogation in the future, in favor of half-measures, is unwise in the extreme. In the fight against terrorism, there is no middle ground, and half-measures keep you half exposed.
On the CIA persecutions:
But I will tell you straight that I am not encouraged when intelligence officers who acted in the service of this country find themselves hounded with a zeal that should be reserved for America’s enemies. And it certainly is not a good sign when the Justice Department is set on a political mission to discredit, disbar, or otherwise persecute the very people who helped protect our nation in the years after 9/11. …We cannot protect this country by putting politics over security, and turning the guns on our own guys.
- Entries
Both he and his wife are TRUE PATRIOTS. Thank God there's someone out there who isn't afraid to TELL THE TRUTH.
Thanks, Noel!!!
Look, if we are to be intellectually honest, we have to admit that even a broken clock is right twice a day. Even if it is for stupid reasons, I agree with the decision not to pursue the missile shield for Eastern Europe.
This is not 1961 and Eastern Europe is not the broken and poor shambles it was after WWII, riven with poverty and ripe for Communist exploitation. Europe is booming economically and feeling its oats politically.
Bottom line, if they want a missile shield, let them build it. If they want us to build them a missile shield, let them pay for it. It makes no sense for US taxpayers to be paying to protect Warsaw or Prague.
Even during the Cold War, we were in Germany because it suited our interests, not because it suited Germany's interests. That those interests often ran parallell to each other was fine, but ultimately we were there because that was the best place from which to protect the United States, not because we owed a debt to Germany.
In the post-Cold war world, I don't understand why we are still treating Europe as though it is a crippled orphan, struggling to survive. All we're really doing is spending our own money to provide protection to a wealthy group of countries that are more than capable of protecting themselves. Of course, they don't want to have to protect themselves - why should they, when they think they can get Uncle Sugar to pony up for it? - but they have the means to if they want to.
Yes, there is babying effect. I'm not sure how to get around it short of what you suggest. But those SDI sites were also to shield our East Coast. And the Czechs and Poles aren't Old, Ungrateful Europe--you can poll any Czech or check any poll. In fact, Obama targeted Warsaw because they broke his beloved Pact.
And you're welcome, Charlotte. Thank you!