I can appreciate the fact that [tag]Dick Cheney[/tag] finds it embarrassing, but a year ago, he really did say that the insurgency in Iraq was in its “[tag]last throes[/tag].”
“I think we may well have some kind of presence there over a period of time,” Cheney said. “The level of activity that we see today from a military standpoint, I think, will clearly decline. I think they’re in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.”
Since then, he’s defended the comment. In fact, as recently as March, Cheney said the remarks were “basically accurate and reflect reality.” Today he took his defense one step further, and created a made-up context for his original comments.
“What I was referring to was the series of events that took place in 1995 [sic – 2005]. I think the key turning point when we get back 10 years from now, say, and look back on this period of time and with respect to the campaign in Iraq, will be that series of events when the Iraqis increasingly took over responsibility for their own affairs.”
This is total nonsense. The [tag]Vice President[/tag] may not be familiar with it, but there’s a tool known as “Google,” which people can use to find something called a “transcript.” A year ago, Cheney clearly was speaking about the military and the ongoing violence when he predicted the “last throes.” Now he not only wants people to believe he was right all along, he also wants them to forget about the original context.
I’m curious — does Cheney a) fool himself into believing things that aren’t true; b) expect reporters and others to not check the record; or c) simply not care anymore if people know he’s not telling the truth? Given his record, I think I’m leaning towards the latter.