EXCLUSIVE: Cheney Says British Troop Withdrawal Is Positive Sign

[underpants]

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2891713

Feb. 21, 2007 — British Prime Minister Tony Blair's announcement that British troops will begin withdrawing from Iraq would appear to be bad news for the Bush administration.

But in an exclusive interview with ABC News, Vice President Dick Cheney said the move was actually good news and a sign of progress in Iraq.

"Well, I look at it and see it is actually an affirmation that there are parts of Iraq where things are going pretty well," Cheney told ABC News' Jonathan Karl.

"In fact, I talked to a friend just the other day who had driven to Baghdad down to Basra, seven hours, found the situation dramatically improved from a year or so ago, sort of validated the British view they had made progress in southern Iraq and that they can therefore reduce their force levels," Cheney said.

Dick goes on to equate Murtha and Pelosi with alQaeda and attack McCain.

[hippiechick]

1. whuh?

A "positive sign" that "things are going pretty well", so the US needs to send MORE troops?

I'm so confused, I think I'm going to cry.
Or go into a fetal position and suck my thumb until Nov. '08


:(

[Dinger]

2. Maybe He Was Drunk

Maybe my ass.

[Nickster]

3. But Deadeye, doesn't their troop withdrawal embolden the enemy? Won't they just move to Basra?? I'm

so confused, please Deadeye, tell me who's emboldening the terra-ists!

[acmavm]

4. I wish that guy would choke on his lies. He'd have been out of

our hair a LOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGGGG time ago.

[entanglement]

5. Spin, spin, spin

and more spin

[sendero]

6. god should have made republicans..

... with a mouth on both sides of their head. because they contradict themselves so often, a person really shouldn't have to say the opposite things on a daily basis out of the same mouth.

[peacetalksforall]

16. Thank you. I've visualized it and that's the way I'm going to

look at them. I'm also going to pass it on as the best laugh of the day - hope to make someone else's day. Will creit you.

[Maggie_May]

7. What the?

Cheney doen't have a clue. When was last time Cheney took a trip to Iraq? This is good news for us because the British troops are getting the hell out so should we!

[5X]

8. I can just see the whole pnac group sitting around a conference table....

trying to come up with their spin on these stories.
They really don't care about truth, only the sound
bites they can plant in the msm.

[UpInArms]

9. I talked to a friend just the other day who had driven to Baghdad down to Basra

:wtf:

this monster has the audacity to say this crap??????

yeah, right, evil being - we'll all just take a sunday drive in Iraq.

[Tin Man]

28. What laughable fiction. Cheney's buddy, out for a Sunday drive through Iraq...

...in his M1A2 Abrams main battle tank.

His buddy also noted that along the trip, IED attacks were down 20% from a year ago - only 57 this trip!

[calimary]

32. Okay, dick. WHO'S this "friend" you refer to? Does he/she actually exist?

Or did you make this up, too, along with your "last throes" crap, and your scrambling for an excuse to give to the media as to why you were drunk and shooting that geezer in the face awhile back? Got a name for this person? Can he or she be produced for the media to corroborate your story (not that any of our cracker-jack media people will make any attempt to check this out to confirm it). Your "truth-telling" is EXTREMELY questionable.

And, indeed, if it's so safe and stable over there, WHY DON'T YOU GO OVER THERE AND ENJOY ONE OF THOSE NICE, LEISURELY DRIVES THROUGH THE COUNTRYSIDE??? Shouldn't it be safe enough, now, for YOU to go over there for a look-see? Huh? Or do you have "other priorities" in this case, too?

If this guy told me the sun rose in the east every morning and that I myself was a life-long liberal Democrat, I'd STILL go get myself a second opinion.

Oh yeah, and one more thing, dickie-poo. If it's such a nice, stable situation over there, STARTING from Baghdad, shouldn't that mean WE can start pulling OUR troops out, too? Doesn't that mean another "Mission Accomplished"????

[underpants]

33. That was the most laughable part

but ABC carried it (gee now THERE'S a surprise)

[ginnyinWI]

37. it's fine if they carry it--should they censor it?

When I hear Cheney say anything, that's when I know that the opposite is true!

[Eurobabe]

10. Hey Cheney, you are do deluded you don't know which way is up

[RaRa]

11. Ouch!

My neck hurts from the velocity of that spin!

[EV_Ares]

12. Goes along when he said the increase in attacks on our troops

proved we were winning the war and they were in desperation straits.

[pinniped]

13. Wow, the 'surge' worked faster than I thought.

.

[C_U_L8R]

14. Was this a skit on that lame Faux Comedy show ?

Seems Cheney's ripping off the Tommy "that's the ticket" Flanagan bit.

[strizi64]

15. Ok Dick, I'm fine with that

If that's a positive sign, then we should begin with our troop withdrawal asap!

One question: are you with me Dick ;) ?

edit: typo

[Doondoo]

edit

[Doondoo]

17. THEN WHY THE HELL DO WE NEED A SURGE???!!!!!

:eyes:

[underpants]

27. BECAUSE!!...uh because this is in Basra and ...uh...

ONe of the points that is going to be completely missed here is that one of the main reasons the south of Iraq has been stable has been due to the tactics the Brits used with the locals. They have a vast experience with this sort of work and it shows.

"Fiasco" spells how horrific and how completely unprepared US forces were for even a short occupation-couldn't have training on that because might get the idea that we were going to be there a while.

[Doondoo]

18. edit

[Heidi]

19. Kick.

:kick:

[sabra]

20. (ABC Interview) Cheney Says British Troop Withdrawal Is Positive Sign

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2891738

EXCLUSIVE: Cheney Says British Troop Withdrawal Is Positive Sign

TOKYO, Feb. 21, 2007 — British Prime Minister Tony Blair's announcement that British troops will begin withdrawing from Iraq would appear to be bad news for the Bush administration.

...

"Well, I look at it and see it is actually an affirmation that there are parts of Iraq where things are going pretty well," Cheney told ABC News' Jonathan Karl.

"In fact, I talked to a friend just the other day who had driven to Baghdad down to Basra, seven hours, found the situation dramatically improved from a year or so ago, sort of validated the British view they had made progress in southern Iraq and that they can therefore reduce their force levels," Cheney said.

...

Cheney said Pelosi and other Democrats were pushing a policy in Iraq that would "validate the al Qaeda strategy."

"I think if we were to do what Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Murtha are suggesting, all we'll do is validate the al Qaeda strategy," Cheney told ABC News.

[hadrons]

21. man, this clown can put perfume on shit and try to sell it to Wal-Mart

with no shame ... sad thing is that 30% of the population would buy it

[saigon68]

22. He's just evil

[Dhalgren]

23. Isn't this the same kind of crap he was spewing about the increase

in violent attacks in Iraq shows that the insurgents are losing? "Last throes" and all that? Also, when was the last attack on British soldiers in southern Iraq? Oh, try, yesterday! British soldiers have been killed and wounded this month, so, yeah, the Brits are pulling out because its soooo peaceful, man, don't cha know?

[Fire Walk With Me]

24. "It's just a flesh wound!" -The Black Knight, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail

[Javaman]

25. If that's the case dickhead chaney, then start pulling out our troops...

what a colossal fuck he is.

[sakabatou]

26. Flip-flop

Flip-flop

[HuffleClaw]

29. wow, that is some hilarious SPIN

really.

[bobthedrummer]

30. ABC exclusive huh, means exclusive of any truth eom

[deadparrot]

31. Yeah, it's always good news when your lapdog deserts you.

:woohoo:

At least SOME soldiers are going home, even if they're not OUR soldiers.

[roamer65]

34. Spin all you want, Mr. Roboto.

The Brits see the handwriting on the wall...FAILURE. At least thru their past colonization failures, they know when to get out.

[tabasco]

35. Only the Coriolis Effect can slow that spin down !!!

Wow! That is just so illogical at a time when Cheney and Bush are screaming for more U.S. troops !

[rocktivity]

36. And The Onion hits ANOTHER one out of the park!

I was skeptical about their decision to syndicate their stories to other publications, but I have to admit it's really paid off--their humor is as fresh and sharp as ever!

:rofl:
rocknation

[tex-wyo-dem]

38. Of course it has NOTHING to do with Blair's Labour party being in deep doo-doo in the polls...

largely due to the Iraq occupation being even less popular in Britain than it is here. The pullout can't be construed in any other way than it's an attempt by Blair to offer an olive branch to the people of the UK in an attempt to save his party majority. Of course, Dick's talking points from the AEI or Heritage Foundation say otherwise...what a load of BS!

[rocktivity]

48. Or maybe he knows that Bush is going into Iran

and wants to at least appear that he got his lads out of the way.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Scriptor Ignotus]

39. wow

impressive level of BS today Cheney, even for you.

[tex-wyo-dem]

40. This is almost as good as "the insurgency is in it's last throws"...n/t

[BlueStater]

41. So we here in America are "emboldening the enemy" when we call for a pull-out

But it's ok when the Brits actually do it?

Go back to hiding, Dick, and shut up.

EDIT: And upon scanning the article, I see he attacks Murtha and Pelosi for calling for the very thing he is praising Blair for doing now. Just how stupid does he think people are, anyway?

[Laurab]

42. I think he should take a drive from Baghdad to Basra

since it's so safe and all....

[FreeStateDemocrat]

43. MSNBC: Cheney says Americans don't want Iraq retreat

Different headline from the alternate universe of Big Dick.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17257494/

[zara]

44. He's Right-US should do the same--even better sign!

Anyone disagree?

[Supersedeas]

45. up is down, black is white, and 2+2=5--no back to the Ten Minutes of Hate

[TexasLawyer]

46. The ransacking of the British base last year

when the Brits pulled out. Does anyone remember this news item, now down the memory hole?

http://inbrief.threatswatch.org/2006/08/new-british-commander-updates/

A significant event this past week was the withdrawal of British forces from a base near Amara, the capital of the Maysan Province. The base, a former Baathist regime military installation, was called Camp Abu Naji, and at least some of the troops were to redeploy along the Iraq-Iran border in the area in order to stop arms smuggling from Iran to Shi’a militias. Unfortunately, the withdrawal did not go smoothly. The Karbala News Agency reported that on August 23, the day before the planned withdrawal, there was an exchange of fire in the Old Hussein neighborhood in Amara. The KNA tends to have a strong anti-Western bias, and gave no indication of an underlying cause other than to say that one individual was killed and locals reacted violently. The British military has not released a press report on the incident.

Then, following the British redeployment away from the Amara area, the abandoned base was ransacked by looters (Washington Post). The incident does not reflect well on local security, although concern for the security of the base after withdrawal does not seem to have been great. British officials responded to questions by saying that the base was now the Iraqis’ responsibility, and the Post notes that local Iraqi forces called the governor to get permission to return fire on armed looters, and apparently did not get it until the looting was almost done. The Post article also noted that there had been mortor shelling from militia elements loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, so the fight in Amara may have been related.

<snip>


Maysan Province

What do you want to bet a similar fate awaits future abandoned camps and bases, British and otherwise? It would be funny if it was not so tragic.

[Canuckistanian]

47. Wait, I thought increased violence was a positive sign

It showed the terrorists were getting desperate.

And doesn't "showing weakness by giving up" embolden the terrorists? I thought that was bad.

I have much to learn from these Republicans.

[followthemoney]

49. V-DAY! V-DAY! BRITS DECLARE VICTORY AND GO HOME.

[pinniped]

50. If this is good news and the area is stabilized, move the fucking troops to another part...

of Iraq. I'm sure they can find some "hotspots" for these troops to work their magic.

I look at my CC statements and think it's bad news. I'm an optimist like the robot vcreep. It is good news!:party::party:

Feb. 21, 2007 — British Prime Minister Tony Blair's announcement that British troops will begin withdrawing from Iraq would appear to be bad news for the Bush administration.

But in an exclusive interview with ABC News, Vice President Dick Cheney said the move was actually good news and a sign of progress in Iraq.