Five years ago today

August 26, 2007

Today is the fifth anniversary of Dick Cheney’s 2002 speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ national convention, which was the first instance of the White House making its case for a war with Iraq. Looking back, it’s quite an oration.

“The case of Saddam Hussein, a sworn enemy of our country, requires a candid appraisal of the facts…. But we now know that Saddam has resumed his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. Among other sources, we’ve gotten this from the firsthand testimony of defectors — including Saddam’s own son-in-law, who was subsequently murdered at Saddam’s direction. Many of us are convinced that Saddam will acquire nuclear weapons fairly soon….

“Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us….

“In the face of such a threat, we must proceed with care, deliberation, and consultation with our allies. I know our president very well. I’ve worked beside him as he directed our response to the events of 9/11. I know that he will proceed cautiously and deliberately to consider all possible options to deal with the threat that an Iraq ruled by Saddam Hussein represents. And I am confident that he will, as he has said he would, consult widely with the Congress and with our friends and allies before deciding upon a course of action. He welcomes the debate that has now been joined here at home….

“As President Bush has said, time is not on our side. Deliverable weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a terror network, or a murderous dictator, or the two working together, constitutes as grave a threat as can be imagined. The risks of inaction are far greater than the risk of action.”

Commenting on the speech, Thomas Ricks said this week, “I think it will be remembered as close as there was to a declaration of war with Iraq. When the Vice President got up there, we had no other evidence of a decision within the Bush administration. This seemed to be it — the first time in history that a Vice President declared war.”

I’d be surprised if, whatever Cheney actually knew or felt compelled to lie about, could not have been said at the VFW in 2001. If Iraq had imminent nuclear capability, it probably was not discovered in a Eureka moment after 9/11/2001.

As we know, 9/11 provided pretense and bogus Niger stories and scare rhetoric provided false justification. Some day, some journalist will examine the pre-9/11 rhetoric closely and integrate what was known by the CIA and UN. I would still not be surprised if one of the conclusions of Cheney’s Energy Task Force was that securing control of the Iraqi oil fields would be a major requirement for maintaining our energy needs over the coming years.

  • Let me fix this for you Steve…

    Today is the fifth anniversary of Dick Cheney’s 2002 detonation of a Weapon of Mass Deception at the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ national convention…

  • “I think it will be remembered as close as there was to a declaration of war with Iraq. When the Vice President got up there, we had no other evidence of a decision within the Bush administration. This seemed to be it — the first time in history that a Vice President declared war.”


    This is one of the most succinct insights I’ve seen in quite a while. Naturally, it came from Comedy Central’s Daily Show, not from our serious, elite political media. This of course would be the same serious media that in the run up to the Iraq debacle would stage a ‘balanced debate’ on the merits of this disastrous scheme with actor Tim Robbins vs 2 or 3 retired Generals. So it was fitting that Robbins had a scathing indictment of this media, and a terrific companion to Ricks’ comments. In case you’ve been on Mars and missed it, Democratic Underground has the full 10+ minute clip of Robbins dismantling Stephen Hayeshere.

    Robbins: Before we got into this War there were countless Military Experts – Intelligence Analysts – that told us that this was a good idea, that we had to do it, that presented their information and were so terribly wrong. These people are still effecting public policy. Are still considered experts.
    I’m sorry, shouldn’t there be a rule, or a law, that says if you fuck things up this badly, you can no longer be considered an “expert”? You should have a chyron under you name that says “Shameless Propagandist.”

  • Bush??? Directed our response to the events of 9/11?????? Bush was hiding in Air Force One while Darth was ordering the shoot-down of American airliners. Bush hasn’t directed anything since he told his friends to stick cherry bombs in frogs he caught.

    The Vice President declared war because he’s the one running the show. Moron Boy is just the front-office drunk.

  • This is what one should expect, when the Oval Office becomes the “receptionst’s desk” for the Naval Observatory.

    As soon as this national nightmare of an administration has been summarily shown the door in ’09, there needs to be a crash effort on the part on the incoming administration, the media, the foreign governments of the world and their media outlets, the the People themselves—to decipher what these Bushylvanians have done. There must be an accounting of historical proportions; not so much to render justice upon these most heinous of political abominations (Bush/Cheney/Rove/Gonzales et. al., although Justice will be rendered in the due course of things), but rather to establish such preventive measures as to stop this from ever happening again.

    It will not come as much of a surprise, should the entire truth of the Bush43 Presidency come into the light of day, that vast legions of conservatives in this nation start parroting the “Nicht Nazi” of post-Hitler Germany—by denying that they were ever members of the GOP….

  • It’s a remarkable excerpt, in that every statement in it is wrong, except two:

    “The case of Saddam Hussein, a sworn enemy of our country, requires a candid appraisal of the facts”

    “In the face of such a threat, we must proceed with care, deliberation, and consultation with our allies.”

    That’s it. The rest is bullshit, line by line.

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