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Oh, this is rich:
Former Vice President Dick Cheney accused President Barack Obama of “dithering” in failing to make a decision about escalating troops in Afghanistan. “Make no mistake, signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries. Waffling while our troops on the ground face an emboldened enemy endangers them and hurts our cause,” Cheney said in a speech Wednesday night. Unlike former President George W. Bush, Cheney has been a vocal critic of the current administration.
This is coming from a vice president who was more than willing to essentially abandon the Afghanistan War in favor of an unnecessary but costly invasion of Iraq that still constrains our options to act elsewhere in the world. It’s the fault of Cheney and Bush that the war in Afghanistan is in the straits it is in.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal implicitly criticized the Bush Administration in his recent strategy memo to the White House. Some excerpts:
Our campaign in Afghanistan has been historically under-resourced and remains so today. Almost every aspect of our collective effort and associated resourcing has lagged a growing insurgency – historically a recipe for failure in COIN.
This is an important -~ and likely decisive ~~ period of this war. Afghans are frustrated and weary after eight years without evidence of the progress they anticipated. Patience is understandably short, both in Afghanistan and in our own countries. Time matters; we must act now to reverse the negative trends and demonstrate progress.
And so on and so forth. The Afghanistan war didn’t suddenly go badly because Obama took office. If Afghanistan is in bad shape today, it’s in large part because Cheney helped take America’s eye off the ball. Remember this from 2007?
The U.S. military’s top officer acknowledged on Tuesday that for all the importance of preventing Afghanistan from again harboring al-Qaida terrorists, Washington’s first priority is Iraq.
“In Afghanistan, we do what we can,” said Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “In Iraq, we do what we must.”
It was Cheney who helped make sure the war in Afghanistan was underresourced — as officials acknowledged at the time. You’d think he’d have the graciousness to realize his error and shut up instead of behaving like an arrogant pit bull.
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I trust Cheney much more than I trust Obama. Obama is weak a President. He will be a one term president, just like Jimmy Carter.
I find it hilarious that any person can trust Dick Cheney. When he had the opportunity to protect this country by fighting for it he requested and received 5 deferments for college. It took him 6 years to get his diploma and in the process failed out of Yale in his sophomore year.
In 1989, when being interviewed by Washington Post writer, George C. Wilson, Cheney said – ” I had other priorities in the ’60’s than military service.” ( so did all those who were killed protecting our country.) Cheney is always clamoring about going to protect our country, but when he had the chance he had other things to do. Former Republican Governor/Navy Seal – Jesse Ventura had it right when he said – ” Clearly he’s a coward.”
Cheney is a chickenhawk, as was Bush. And chickenhawks are notoriously bad at fighting wars. Also, I find it hilarious that HPK rates presidents by the number of terms they serve.
From Fox News:
In a speech to the Center for Security Policy, Cheney said the Bush administration handed Obama’s transition team a policy review of the Afghan war conducted last fall to meet the new challenges posed by the Taliban.
“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,” Cheney said in prepared remarks.
Cheney’s comments contradicted a claim by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel that the Obama administration had to form an Afghan war strategy from scratch because the Bush administration hadn’t asked any key questions about the war and left it “adrift.”
But since this is from Fox, I suppose it can’t be trusted. The White House tells us so.
Jim: Even granting that you’re absolutely correct, the scenario is that the Bush Administration decided in fall 2008 — after fighting for seven years — that maybe it was time to get serious about Afghanistan.
I don’t dispute that (much). But Cheney is saying what Obama’s defense secretary, his hand-picked general in Afghanistan, our NATO allies, and senators in BOTH parties are saying: ‘Dithering’ after saying you had a new plan in place back in March is hurting the mission.
Cheney is saying it more strongly, for sure, but that’s all he’s saying. And Cheney made that comment I excerpted in response to Obama’s White House taking a shot at him on that front. Can’t blame him for responding to clarify the record.
It sure would be nice if this White House stopped obsessing over/blaming the Bush administration for every setback. Even you must be getting tired of it, my friend. It seems clear to me that Obama is putting political considerations paramount here. The irony is that he’d get a lot of Republican support (including from me) if he’d do what he said he’d do: Win the war in Afghanistan.
Obama is working with MUCH different domestic political situation than Bush did when he endorsed the surge in Iraq. Some Republicans and ALL Democrats were opposed. Most Democrats and ALL Republicans would support Obama if he imposed his own surge in Afghanistan. Yet he continues to dither. Strange.
Why does he always have to be a one term president like Jimmy Carter? Why can’t he be a one term president like George H. W. Bush?