Cheney predicted ISIS in 1994!

[User Name]

Back in 1994, Dick Cheney (who had been the Secretary of Defense under President George H.W. Bush during the first Iraq war) explained that the Bush 41 administration did not invade Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power for the following reasons:

"Once you got to Iraq and took it over--took down Saddam Hussein's government--then what are you going to put in its place? That's a very volatile part of the world, and if you take down the central government of Iraq you can easily end up seeing pieces of Iraq fly off. Part of it, the Syrians would like to have to the west. Part of eastern Iraq, the Iranians would like to claim--fought over it for eight years. In the north, you've got the Kurds. If the Kurds spin loose and join with the Kurds in Turkey then you've threatened the territorial integrity of Turkey. It's a quagmire, if you go that far and try to take over Iraq."​

Invading Iraq would create a volatile quagmire. He was right. "ISIS" stands for "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria".

Cheney's larger statement can be seen in this video:

Invading Baghdad Would Create Quagmire

​

 

[Nick M]

Cheney predicted ISIS in 1994

You seem surprised. Everyone on the right has more wisdom than you. Leaving let them gather strength. And welcome to the right side of the debate.

 

[drbrumley]

Back in 1994, Dick Cheney (who had been the Secretary of Defense under President George H.W. Bush during the first Iraq war) explained that the Bush 41 administration did not invade Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power for the following reasons:

"Once you got to Iraq and took it over--took down Saddam Hussein's government--then what are you going to put in its place? That's a very volatile part of the world, and if you take down the central government of Iraq you can easily end up seeing pieces of Iraq fly off. Part of it, the Syrians would like to have to the west. Part of eastern Iraq, the Iranians would like to claim--fought over it for eight years. In the north, you've got the Kurds. If the Kurds spin loose and join with the Kurds in Turkey then you've threatened the territorial integrity of Turkey. It's a quagmire, if you go that far and try to take over Iraq."​

Invading Iraq would create a volatile quagmire. He was right. "ISIS" stands for "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria".

He also said, with much fanfare:

“We also have to work, though, sort of the dark side, if you will.”

 

[drbrumley]

Ole Ron was right.

We should have confidence in how well freedom works, rather than relying on blind faith in the use of military force to spread our message. Setting an example and using persuasion is always superior to military force in showing how others might live. Force and war are tools of authoritarians; they are never tools of champions of liberty and justice. Force and war inevitably lead to dangerous unintended consequences.

 

[Nick M]

We should have confidence in how well freedom works, rather than relying on blind faith in the use of military force to spread our message.

Who does this? I mean besides liberals.

 

[This Charming Manc]

Interesting that he predicted it then went and did what he thought he shouldn't do 8 years later

 

[drbrumley]

Who does this?

Who attacks other countries relying on blind faith in the use of military force to spread our message? Liberals of course!

I mean besides liberals.

Precisely! Liberals have been doing this for years. Including many in the Republican Party, which includes the name this thread is talking about.

 

[This Charming Manc]

Yes of course anyone you don't approve of is liberal.

Just so you know us liberals don't want him in our tribe either.

 

[drbrumley]

Yes of course anyone you don't approve of is liberal.

Just so you know us liberals don't want him in our tribe either.

Ok, how is he a conservative?

 

[The Horn]

Cheney is a despicable hypocrite . When he and G.W. Bush decided to invade Iraq based on a blatant lie about non-existent weapons of mass destruction there - FOR OIL MONEY , which was immoral, illegal, unconstitutional and despicable , they caused the needless deaths of 4,500 US troops, hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis including children , the destruction of a sovereign nation , the waste of trillions of dollars which should have been used for desperately needed domestic projects and total chaos in Iraq and the middle east .
THESE two war criminals and mass murderers created ISIS .
President Obama and his administration inherited this horrendous mess , and now right-wing idiots are blaming THEM . Unbelievable .
Bush & Cheney should have been impeached, removed from office and given life in prison . The Obama administration has handled this
quagmire as well as it could , an impossible situation caused by two
vile men .

 

[ok doser]

The Obama administration has handled this quagmire as well as it could ...

...considering that bammy was an unqualified, inexperienced affirmative action candidate, thrown into a role he was totally unready for

yeah, he's done a really good job for the last seven years :darwinsm:

 

[shagster01]

Why did he agree with Bush II taking the Iraqi government out then? Did he want ISIS?

 

[ok doser]

there were wmd's

 

[drbrumley]

there were wmd's

Nope

 

[ok doser]

well, yes

not the nukes or yellow cake crap or recent biologicals (as far as we know - there's no reason it couldn't have gone into syria), but the short range missiles saddam was using to play footsies with the UN immediately prior to the invasion


and he had had and used wmd's before - against the iranians, and against the iraqi kurds

 

[User Name]

there were wmd's

Iraq's chemical weapons production facilities were "put out of commission" by airstrikes during the 1991 conflict, while U.N. personnel afterward secured the chemical munitions in the bunkers...The weapons were not believed to be in a usable state. -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction#2009_Declaration

"The United States had gone to war declaring it must destroy an active weapons of mass destruction program. Instead, American troops gradually found and ultimately suffered from the remnants of long-abandoned programs, built in close collaboration with the West." Source: The New York Times

 

[User Name]

Why did he agree with Bush II taking the Iraqi government out then? Did he want ISIS?

I'm not sure what convinced Cheney to do a 180 on the whole idea of an Iraq invasion. What we do know is that his publicly stated reasons for the Iraq invasion were lies. 9/11 was used as a partial justification, but Saddam Hussein had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11. The claim that Hussein's regime possessed "weapons of mass destruction" was then settled upon as the justification for invasion, but that turned out to be a big lie as well.

Dubbya apparently wanted the invasion for at least two reasons: 1) To settle a personal vendetta he had with Hussein for the foiled attempt to assassinate his father during his visit to Kuwait in April of 1993; and 2) To shore up his legacy as a "wartime" president. Also, both Presidents Bush 41 and 43 spoke frequently about establishing a "new world order," and both used this goal as a reason to pursue war with Iraq.

 

[jgarden]

Cheney predicted ISIS in 1994!

Unfortunately Cheney's powers of prediction didn't extend to the location of the WMD in Iraq.

I always thought that it was the height of folly to deliberately put American troops in harms way by sending them into Iraq without prior knowledge as to where WMD were being stored and securing them first.

 

[User Name]

Cheney predicted ISIS in 1994!

Unfortunately Cheney's powers of prediction didn't extend to the location of the WMD in Iraq.

You'll notice that Cheney wasn't beating the war drums over WMDs in Iraq back in 1994. What was it that changed Cheney's position on the idea of an Iraq invasion between 1994 and 2003?

 

[Nick M]

Yes of course anyone you don't approve of is liberal.

Liberal is just your label so we don't have to type out Christ hating homo pig every time.