I think we all knew this was coming. Since the flare up of sectarian violence in Iraq, the cheerleaders and architects of the War in Iraq have taken to the airwaves and opinion pages to criticize President Obama over his decision to withdraw all troops from Iraq in 2011. (Never mind that the withdrawal agreement was signed by President Bush before Obama ever took office.) Over the past few days, we’ve seen neocon hawks such as Bill Kristol, Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, Paul Wolfowitz and John Bolton step to the podium to attack the current administration for its handling of Iraq. Needless to say, they’ve all blithely dismissed their own roles in selling a disastrous war whose only outcome appeared to be chaos and disorder of the kind we are seeing.
However, the one person we hadn’t heard from yet was former Vice President Dick Cheney, the chief architect and liar when it came to the Iraq War. The wait is now over, as Cheney, along with his daughter Liz, penned an unbelievable piece of retcon tripe for the Wall Street Journal where they claimed that Obama lost the war that was already won, while at the same time positioning Dick Cheney as a hero. It is hard to imagine that one would have the audacity to write something like this, considering his own role in selling a lie and reassuring the American people that the war would only last a few weeks, yet here we are.
Right away, the Cheneys set the tone, claiming that President Obama is never right and that he is completely ineffective as a leader:
Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many. Too many times to count, Mr. Obama has told us he is “ending” the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—as though wishing made it so. His rhetoric has now come crashing into reality. Watching the black-clad ISIS jihadists take territory once secured by American blood is final proof, if any were needed, that America’s enemies are not “decimated.” They are emboldened and on the march.
Of course, per Dick Cheney, he is seen as a respected statesman in Iraq, and people keep asking him why the President abandoned the Iraqi people rather than keep a ‘residual force’ in the country forever. The obvious inference here is that the Iraqi people see Cheney as a ‘liberator’ and that the President wasted all the goodwill that the United States built up with a nearly decade-long war.
On a trip to the Middle East this spring, we heard a constant refrain in capitals from the Persian Gulf to Israel, “Can you please explain what your president is doing?” “Why is he walking away?” “Why is he so blithely sacrificing the hard fought gains you secured in Iraq?” “Why is he abandoning your friends?” “Why is he doing deals with your enemies?”
In one Arab capital, a senior official pulled out a map of Syria and Iraq. Drawing an arc with his finger from Raqqa province in northern Syria to Anbar province in western Iraq, he said, “They will control this territory. Al Qaeda is building safe havens and training camps here. Don’t the Americans care?”
Just in case the point hadn’t been hammered home enough that Obama doesn’t care about Iraq or take his job as President seriously, the Cheneys toss in some 8th-grade level insults (my guess is this was Liz’s contribution to the article.)
Our president doesn’t seem to. Iraq is at risk of falling to a radical Islamic terror group and Mr. Obama is talking climate change. Terrorists take control of more territory and resources than ever before in history, and he goes golfing. He seems blithely unaware, or indifferent to the fact, that a resurgent al Qaeda presents a clear and present danger to the United States of America.
Gotta get a dig at climate change in there. Good job!
Thankfully, this display of hubris mixed with a complete lack of self-awareness shaken with a dose of heartlessness and poured into a glass of douchebaggery was not lost on others Wednesday morning. Once the Cheneys objectionable and off-putting op-ed hit the stands and net, the attacks came from all sides.
Not The Onion: Dick Cheney op ed’s subhed: “Rarely has a prez been so wrong about so much at expense of so many” http://t.co/ySKED48dNw
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) June 18, 2014
Um, why is anyone listening to Dick Cheney on ANYTHING?! #Obama #Iraq #p2 pic.twitter.com/nMozh0qKk7
— Eric Wolfson (@EricWolfson) June 18, 2014
dick cheney, who helped to kill nearly 5,000 americans, lectures obama on patriotism. have a seat, monster.
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) June 18, 2014
IDK Dick Cheney being wrong about a country having WMDS at cost of $1 trillion & 1000s of troops lives is hard to top pic.twitter.com/acbxRE9Ben
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) June 18, 2014
Glad to see Dick Cheney collaborating with his daughter because if there’s one thing the warmongering industry benefits from is nepotism.
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) June 18, 2014
“I think they’re in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.” Dick Cheney, 7/20/05
— Kaili Joy Gray (@KailiJoy) June 18, 2014
“I think it will go relatively quickly. Weeks rather than months.” Dick Cheney, 3/16/03
— Kaili Joy Gray (@KailiJoy) June 18, 2014
Like I said when Bill Kristol got smacked down by John Heliemann for suggesting that we need to send tens of thousands of troops into Iraq for an indefinite period of time — if you were one of the ones responsible for getting the US into war, then you kindly need to sit down and stay quiet. You aren’t allowed to speak on this subject. Everything going on right now is the direct result of your actions and words. At this point, you need to be happy that you aren’t being tried as a war criminal and sentenced to death due to the destruction and decades of chaos you’ve brought forth. Just go away, never to be heard from again.
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
