The latest from "Last Throes" Cheney is that we've made "significant progress" in the war on terror. One of the problems with responding to this administration is that they're wrong in so many ways, it's hard to know where to start. So let's briefly deconstruct some of this:
The unpopular Vietnam War and the Watergate scandals allowed Congress to take more authority at the expense of the executive branch, Cheney said. He and the president believed it was important to "have the balance righted, if you will."If by "balance righted" he means an executive power grab on shaky (at best) legal ground that has been condemned by Democratic and Republican legislators and judges, then yes, it's been righted. Also, I wonder if he is on record with this opinion from when he was actually IN Congress.
We have been engaged in a debate about the wisdom of the [NSA domestic eavesdropping] program and whether or not it's legal, but it clearly is legal, we believe. It is consistent with the Constitution.If it's consistent with the Constitution, why not, say, put it before the courts? So they can, y'know, confirm that it's Constitutional? Unless, of course, the new "balance righted" means the Executive branch now determines Constitutionality.
"I believe we are [winning the war on terrorism]," Cheney said. "I think we've made significant progress, if you look back on the last nearly five years now."This is the really infuriating part. This administration has systematically misprioritized the war against terrorists, starting when they shifted focus from al Qa'ida in Afghanistan to pursue a miserable strategy in Iraq and continuing through foolish North Korea policy, irrational Iran policy, stunted intelligence reform, resistance to establishing a Department of Homeland Security, and an unprecedented alienation of foreign allies (and potential allies). The administration has taken its eye off the ball, and we're less safe because of it. Normally you keep your eye on the ball so you can smack it, but as Jean Schmidt memorably revealed, "We have to keep our eye on the ball or the ball will come back to harm us." Actually, in this case, she may be right.
Cheney defended his comment last year [...] that the Iraqi insurgency was "in its final throes." He said he was referring to a series of events -- including elections and the drafting and acceptance of a new Iraqi constitution -- that he believes history will show to be pivotal.That's not what he was referring to. Why not just say, "I was totally wrong?" Just own up to it. Come on. Party of personal responsibility and all. Your approval rating is near the single digits anyway.
And finally:
"I don't think anybody anticipated the level of violence that we've encountered," Cheney said. He said much of the continuing violence has its roots in "the devastation" that 30 years of Saddam Hussein's iron-fisted rule "had wrought on the psychology of the Iraqi people."What drives the insurgency, and what really affects the psychology of the Iraqi people, is a completely and utterly lawless society. Given that a horrendous strategy and continued mismanagment caused the lawlessness in which Iraq's government fails to provide for the basic needs of its people, Cheney's admission that he underestimated the strength of the insurgency is a cover for the greater issue: the screwups that he, Bush, Rumsfeld, and the rest made helped establish the conditions that created the insurgency.
