As Dick Cheney’s Middle East tour got underway, he sat down with Fox News’ Bret Baier to talk about the region. Today, as his tour wraps up, Cheney discussed his overseas meetings with … Fox News’ Bret Baier. If I didn’t know better, I might think the Vice President is playing favorites among the media. Hard to imagine, I know.
Much of the interview was devoted to Cheney emphasizing his concerns about Iran. When Baier noted that some Middle Eastern leaders believe resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should take precedent over other issues, the VP dismissed it out of hand: “My experience has been generally throughout the region that everybody is really focused on the Iranian situation. It’s a top priority, if you will, in terms of concerns and the prospects of the Iranians developing nuclear weapons.”
Over and over again, Cheney directed some fairly confrontational rhetoric towards Iran.
“The Iranians have been interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq…. They appear to be determined to develop the capacity to enrich uranium in order to produce nuclear weapons. The UN Security Council now has twice unanimously passed resolutions calling for an end to that Iranian nuclear program. So far, the Iranians have ignored it. They shouldn’t ignore it. They ought to comply with the UN resolutions. […]
“We are confident that there are a number of senior al Qaeda officials in Iran and they’ve been there since the spring of ’03. […]
“I think the important thing is that Iran has become the major source of instability in the region. We saw them last summer support Hezbollah’s attacks on the Israelis. We see them active in terms of resupplying Hezbollah and working through Syria. Syria has, in effect, become an ally of Iran working inside the Arab world. That’s got a lot of people out here very upset. We see obviously continued support by them for Hezbollah. They’ve been and have been for a long time a prime state sponsor of terror.”
Yes, to hear Cheney tell it, Iran is developing an illicit nuclear program, flouting U.N. resolutions, harboring al Qaeda terrorists, sponsoring terrorism, and destabilizing the region.
Now, remind me, which country did the Bush administration just announce it would begin bilateral, diplomatic discussions with? Right, that would be Iran.
The amusing thing is one gets the sense listening to Cheney that he opposes the president’s policy. He didn’t come right out and say, “That’s Condi’s dumb idea, pay no attention to it,” but it seems to be the sentiment, if you read between the lines.
Baier asked about the possible contradiction between saber-rattling towards Iran and agreeing to bilateral talks with Iran at the same time. Cheney stuck to a single phrase to explain.
“Well, the meetings in Baghdad will be at the ambassadorial level and the President has made it abundantly clear that they are to focus specifically on the situation in Iraq…. The Iranians have been interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq and that subject will be discussed at the ambassadorial level.
“I can’t predict what’s going to happen. The President made the decision that we will have these talks at the ambassadorial level in Baghdad, and we’ll see what it produces…. The decision the President made is that there will be conversations at the ambassadorial level on the issue of what Iran is doing in Iraq.”
Cheney seems to believe that so long as our ambassadors are engaged in bilateral diplomacy with Iran, it doesn’t count — because they’re only ambassadors. Anyone buying that?
There was one other exchange worth highlighting.
Baier: On the debate about Iraq at home, do you believe that someone who opposes the war wants terrorists to win?
Cheney: I think they have to be responsible for the consequences of the policy recommendations they make. If, in fact, they advocate complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, then they are, to some extent, accountable for what would happen when that policy followed, what happens inside Iraq, what kind of encouragement that might give to al Qaeda. Al Qaeda has based its entire strategy on the proposition that they can break the will of the American people, that if they kill enough that eventually the U.S. Government will withdraw.
In other words, Cheney believes it’s possible that war critics in the U.S. do want terrorists to win.
What a sad, little man.