[Dark Horse]

[Willie Bee]

Hate to sound like I'm coming to the defense of Cheney since I don't like the guy or trust him at all in this administration. But I'm not sure why this 13-year-old interview should be either confusing or shocking to anyone???

[Willie Bee]

...and because the general policy of this administration has been to never, ever, under any circumstances admit you were wrong in anything you said or did.

Will agree with you on this point, DL.

But the flip-flopping they heralded with Kerry was for voting for going into Iraq in 2002 then saying we shouldn't have gone in later. It had nothing to do with him flip-flopping on the Desert Storm fight back in 1992 of which Cheney was speaking in this video. The coalition forces met their primary objective in 1992, that being to drive Iraq out of Kuwait, not to remove Saddam Hussein from power at that time.

[Dark Horse]

Hate to sound like I'm coming to the defense of Cheney since I don't like the guy or trust him at all in this administration. But I'm not sure why this 13-year-old interview should be either confusing or shocking to anyone???

How can someone with such clear foresight in 1994 completely lose it and, like a blind man, walk straight into the quagmire he had warned against?

My guess is ideology.

[Willie Bee]

How can someone with such clear foresight in 1994 completely lose it and, like a blind man, walk straight into the quagmire he had warned against?

That's a good question, DH, and one that I wish I had the magic answer to. I can still vividly recall standing in a pub watching the news the day then-general Colin Powell announced the mission in 1992 was done. This was a a very mixed group that I worked with then -- Americans, British, Germans, Aussies, Asians of all sorts and one good friend who is Persian (he bristles if you call him an Iranian). And the consensus among the group was: A) Powell, was right, the UN objectives had been reached, and; B) Saddam Hussein would most likely have to be dealt with again in the future.

I think the USA's naivete really showed at that point thinking, along with the rest of the world, that we'd showed 'em who was boss. Don't believe we, i.e., our leaders, had a clue as to what damage was done to America by fighting in that war. While so many Arabs, especially the Saudis and Kuwaitis, publicly said they wanted our help and publicly thanked us for providing it, it merely ratcheted up the hatred the vast majority of Arabs had for us.

You have to remember that we've had an agreement to protect the Saudi royal family longer than Israel has been officially on the map. Trying to hold that candle that's burning at both ends has gotten us into a lot of dicey situations that this administration, and most if not all before it, has no clue to how to deal with. Wish I had all of the answers, but in the end I have more questions than I do answers.