Over at TPM Cafe Jason Stanford thinks that Dick Cheney’s reemergence from the bowls of Mordor is a good thing. Since reading this article requires a paid subscription I’m going to do more blockquotes than I normally would. Dick Cheney was wrong about everything when it comes to Iraq. In addition he lied, yes lied, about the reasons for going to war. He was wrong about how the war would go, yes, when it comes to Iraq he was wrong about everything. Even a majority of Republicans realize that now so his sudden resurrection is in a sense a blessing at this point. Jason:
To check Cheney’s facts is to enjoy a target-rich environment. In the video, Cheney accused Obama of lying about Benghazi a day after we learned that the administration was right all along. Cheney snarls that Obama withdrew U.S. troops “with no leave-behind agreement” even though George W. Bush signed the treaty to pull out by 2011. And to grouse that “our enemies no longer fear us” conveniently ignores the deaths of Osama bin Laden and 14 other leaders of al Qaeda and thearrest of Benghazi terrorist Ahmed Abu Khatallah.
After yellowcake uranium, aluminum tubes, Curveball, WMDs, and linking Saddam Hussein to 9/11, we should be embarrassed to consider fact-checking Cheney to be worth our time. Offering a policy prescription to solve the crises in Iraq, Egypt, and Syria isn’t what Cheney’s after, either. Cheney’s not even trying to rehabilitate his support for invading Iraq in the first place, a decision his WSJ column and video completely ignore.
And then there is Liz Cheney and while it may almost seem impossible is even more vile than her father.
Liz gives up the game when she says the Alliance’s purpose is to “reverse President Obama’s policies” and “restore American power and preeminence.” How might the Cheneys accomplish this? Not by advocating any course of action at all during the crisis in Iraq but by ensuring “that these issues are a critical part of America’s national debate and discussion over the next two years,”says Lynne.
Reality has never been one of the Cheneys strong points. So is this just an attempt to rehabilitate the Cheney image? Sorry it won’t work.
It’s too late for Dick Cheney to rehab his legacy. The American people have made their decision about the Iraq War. Today, we are looking to a future where we use our military only when necessary and instead use America’s leadership role to create free and just societies, and it is in the contrast of Cheney’s gruff style with Obama’s cool pragmatism that the former Vice President proves most useful.
So Dick Cheney will always be seen as a Darth Vader or Sauron in history.