Dick Cheney and his lies

By Steve Gilliard

Dick Cheney gave a speech before his favorite group today, the American Enterprise Institute. As is par with this Administration, it was packed filled with lies, distortions and errors.

Let's take a look:

Our strategy in the war on terror is based on a clear understanding of the enemy, and a clear assessment of our national interest. Having lost thousands of Americans on a single morning, we are not going to answer further danger by simply issuing diplomatic protests or sharply worded condemnations. We will not wait in false comfort while terrorists plot against innocent Americans. We will not permit outlaw states and terror groups to join forces in a deadly alliance that could threaten the lives of millions of Americans. We will act, and act decisively, before gathering threats can inflict catastrophic harm on the American people.

Who Are The Iraqi Guerrillas?

CBS) A shadowy guerrilla movement has inflicted growing casualties on U.S. forces occupying Iraq. The shooting began shortly after American troops captured Baghdad. The guerrilla attacks have increased in intensity and sophistication since then.

The skill and courage of our military have brought a series of major successes in this war. With the best of allies at our side, America took the battle directly to the terrorists hiding in Afghanistan. The Afghan people have reclaimed their country from a depraved regime, and the violent rule of the Taliban has been ended forever.

US forces launch new operation in east Afghanistan

KABUL : US troops in Afghanistan have launched a new operation in two eastern provinces in an effort to eliminate holdouts of Taliban fighters in the border area across Pakistan, a military spokesman said here on Thursday.

The operation, coded Warrior Sweep, is deliberately planned with the participation of conventional combat troops from the US-led military coalition and the new Afghan national army, US Army Colonel Rodney Davis told a press conference in Kabul.

Events leading to the fall of Saddam Hussein are fresh in memory, and do not need recounting at length. Every measure was taken to avoid a war. But it was Saddam Hussein himself who made war unavoidable. He had a lengthy history of reckless and sudden aggression. He bore a deep and bitter hatred for the United States. He cultivated ties to terrorist groups. He built, possessed, and used weapons of mass destruction. He refused all international demands to account for those weapons.

Hype seen in weapons rhetoric

But a National Intelligence Estimate from October 2002, portions of which were declassified on Friday, stated that ''Baghdad for now appears to be drawing a line short of conducting terrorist attacks . . . against the United States, fearing that exposure of Iraqi involvement would provide Washington a stronger case for making war.''

Analysts previously questioned whether bin Laden's Islamic network would have formed an alliance with Hussein's secular government. ''Nobody thought there were any very serious links on the Al Qaeda aspect of it,'' a senior intelligence official said last week, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Take a third example. The NIE cautioned that quote: "Since inspections ended in 1998, Iraq has maintained its chemical weapons effort, energized its missile program, and invested more heavily in biological weapons; in the view of most agencies, Baghdad is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program." End quote.

Intelligence Experts Say Iraq Nuclear Evidence was Thin

Before the war, U.N. nuclear inspectors at the International Atomic Energy Agency interviewed Iraq's nuclear scientists and found no indication that they were working on a weapons program.

"The whole thing was antiquated," said IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming. "These guys were aging, they weren't working collectively and the facilities and infrastructure was dilapidated."

Having now liberated Iraq, the United States and our allies are determined to see all our commitments through. The leader of the Coalition Provisional Authority, Ambassador Paul Bremer, was at the White House yesterday and to brief us on the progress that the Coalition Provisional Authority is making. Nineteen nations now have provided more than 13,000 troops to help stabilize Iraq - and additional forces will soon arrive. In the relief and reconstruction effort we are renovating schools, and restoring basic services. Coalition authorities are training Iraqi police forces to help patrol Iraqi cities and villages, and will soon establish a new civilian defense force. Iraq will also have its own new army - a military force that defends the Iraqi people instead of bullying and terrorizing them. A governing council of Iraqis, recognized by the United Nations, is now operating, naming ministers, and drawing up a budget for the country. All major cities in Iraq now have municipal councils. The process of drafting a constitution will soon be underway, and this will prepare the way eventually for elections

"Bechtel: Privatizing Iraq's water

Bechtel received a no-bid contract from U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on April 17, 2003. The contract provides for: emergency repair or rehabilitation of power generation facilities, electrical grids, municipal water systems, sewage systems, airport facilities, the dredging, repair and upgrading of the Umm Qasr seaport (before the seaport was even occupied by the U.S. military) and reconstruction of hospitals, schools, ministry buildings, irrigation structures and transportation links. Its declared goal is to repair or rehabilitate up to 100 hospitals, 6,000 schools (out of approximately 25,000), up to six airports and one southern seaport. The contract is for $34.6 million initially, up to $680 million over 18 months, and could eventually be worth up to $100 billion, thus making it potentially the largest Iraq reconstruction contract.

..........

"Their record depicts that trend-they privatize the service, they raise the price and only those who can afford it get it," said Antonia Juhasz, a project director at the International Forum on Globalization think tank in San Francisco. "If one were to define a core democratic decision a people could make, the treatment of things like water and power and media would be it," said Benjamin Barber, author of the newly released book Fear's Empire: War, Terrorism and Democracy. "It's a pretty basic part of government." [19]

Our ongoing mission is not easy, but it is essential for our security and for the peace of the world. We will help the Iraqi people to build a free, sovereign, and democratic nation. That free nation will stand as an example to the entire Middle East, proving that freedom and the hope of peace have far more power and appeal than ideologies of hate and terror. And a more peaceful, stable Middle East will contribute directly to the security of America and our friends

This road map leads nowhere

For those formulating American foreign policy and dreaming of remaking the Middle East in their own image, the region is full of surprises. The determined resistance of some Iraqis to the Western occupation of their country seems to have been genuinely unanticipated. It should not have been. If the United States were conquered and occupied by Arab armies which announced their intention to stay for years and to restructure the country's government and economy along Islamic lines, would not Americans — and not just ‘‘hardcore Bush loyalists’’ or ‘‘Republican Party remnants’’ — resist?

Posted July 25, 2003 02:24 AM