did everyone here fail to hear the first question of the debate?
here is the question:
Vice President Cheney, there have been new developments in Iraq, especially having to do with the administration's handling.
Paul Bremer, the former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, gave a speech in which he said that we have never had enough troops on the ground, or we've never had enough troops on the ground.
Donald Rumsfeld said he has not seen any hard evidence of a link between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. Was this approved -- of a report that you requested that you received a week ago that showed there was no connection between Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Saddam Hussein?
CHENEY: It's important to look at all of our developments in Iraq within the broader context of the global war on terror. And, after 9/11, it became clear that we had to do several things to have a successful strategy to win the global war on terror, specifically that we had to go after the terrorists where ever we might find them, that we also had to go after state sponsors of terror, those who might provide sanctuary or safe harbor for terror.
And we also then finally had to stand up democracies in their stead afterwards, because that was the only way to guarantee that these states would not again become safe harbors for terror or for the development of deadly weapons.
Concern about Iraq specifically focused on the fact that Saddam Hussein had been, for years, listed on the state sponsor of terror, that they he had established relationships with Abu Nidal, who operated out of Baghdad; he paid $25,000 to the families of suicide bombers; and he had an established relationship with al Qaeda.
Specifically, look at George Tenet, the CIA director's testimony before the Committee on Foreign Relations two years ago when he talked about a 10-year relationship.
The effort that we've mounted with respect to Iraq focused specifically on the possibility that this was the most likely nexus between the terrorists and weapons of mass destruction.
The biggest threat we faced today is the possibility of terrorists smuggling a nuclear weapon or a biological agent into one of our own cities and threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans.
What we did in Iraq was exactly the right thing to do. If I had it to recommend all over again, I would recommend exactly the same course of action. The world is far safer today because Saddam Hussein is in jail, his government is no longer in power. And we did exactly the right thing.
NOW IF THATS NOT THE MOST BLATENT DODGING OF ISSUES YOU'VE EVER SEEN...
No mention about Bremmers remarks on insuficient troop levels
No mention about Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Saddam Hussein. Instead he continued to insist that there was an 'established relationship' between Iraq and Al Qaeda. That goes smack dab against the findings of the CIA that state if there was any connection at all it was insignificant, hardly anything that would quantify as an 'established relationship.'
Instead he just spouted off more of the same old shit.
I mentioned this in another post but its worth mentioning again. The Orriginal plan that this invasion of Iraq was based off of was created in 1998 and called for the use of 500,000 troops. (In its orriginal state the plan was know as Op Plan 1003) It was modifed over the course of time, streamlined to 150,00 troops on ASUMPTIONS about the current state of the Iraqi millitary as well as other factors. Over time it was streamlined to an invasion plan that required only 150,000 troops, primarily to speed up the rate of the the US's ability to build up a sustainable force in the region and launch the attack, they didn't want to wait the many months that would have been required to sustain a force of 500,000. At a private meeting, Rumsfeld polled his top generals and advisers to ask how long the war would take. The estimates ranged from seven days (Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz) to about a month (Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs).
Needless to say they were a little off.
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qualities solidity well finished after sale services (if broken, ..). so what do you think? out of one fact: armadas black and PINK is ugly and faggy!
