Cheney: "This war is unlike any we've ever known."

[sabra]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/07/20060707-7.html

<SNIP>

This war is unlike any we've ever known. In the case of the terror network, we are not dealing with large armies we can track, or uniforms we can see, or men having territory of their own to defend. Instead, these enemies are hidden, diffuse, secretive in their movements, and asymmetrical in their tactics. They regard the entire world as a battlefield, and their goal is to plot, and plan, and strike wherever they can gain a foothold. They came into our country and murdered thousands of innocent, unsuspecting men, women, and children. They continue attempting to evade our strengths and to search for our weakness, in order to find ways to strike us again. And the greatest danger to civilization is the prospect of a terror network, on its own or with the help of an outlaw regime, acquiring chemical, nuclear or biological weapons -- and thereby gaining the power to kill hundreds of thousands, and to blackmail entire nations.

As long as these enemies threaten us, we'll have to wage the fight on many fronts. For us, this conflict began nearly five years ago. But for the terrorists, it's been going on for more than 20 years. For much of that time, they had the initiative, they were on the offensive. They carried out one attack after another -- on U.S. Marines in Beirut in 1983; on the World Trade Center in New York in 1993; and the same year on American special forces in Somalia. They attacked American embassies in Africa in 1998; the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996; killed sailors on the USS Cole in 2000. Over time, the terrorists kept hitting America but America did not hit back hard enough. And then, finally, came the attacks of September 11th, 2001. Those attacks changed everything for our country. And America and the civilized world made a decision: Wherever terrorists operate, we will find them and bring them to justice. As long as it takes, we will stay on the offensive, and stay in the fight until the fight is won.

:crazy:

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

1. This clown is unlike any we've ever known...

[wicket]

19. And we had a chance to "know" war first hand...

....instead the clown sought 5 deferments.

[Skidmore]

2. This greedy old bastard definitely doesn't get enough oxygen to

his brain. Evil to the core.

[acmavm]

3. What the hell war did this buffoon ever have any first-hand

experience with?

[uppityperson]

9. my thought too. Sounds like war

maybe he has only played video games? What a bunch of romanticized-war crap.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. I seem to be channeling a brit army general in 1776.

didn't they have the identical complaint about the colonial war on terra? Hmm. Anyone recall how that spat turned out?

The similarities are scary. A distant war, prisons using torture. Troops attacking civilians, breaking into private homes and raping daughters, extremely high expenses, undermanned troops, and traitorous locals who don't realize that they have been beaten.

[sarge43]

23. Exactly antifaschits.

Yo Dickie, we invented this kind of war.

[BOSSHOG]

5. It won't be long before a lemming in your neighborhood repeats this line

The war is like nothing we've ever known, so we have to stay the course and not cut and run and we have to continue to support the troops. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

[Armstead]

6. Does that idiot forget the Cold War?

That was what they always said about the Global Communiost Conspiracy.

Same things were said then.

It's like bush saying we're no longer protected by oceans. He forgot all those decades of worried about nuclear attack, when the oceans didn't protect us either.

Jeeze I wish these people would get their stories straight.

[louis-t]

7. I hear J.P. Sousa marches.

[bperci108]

8. Gee...

....quite a change from "last throes", eh Fuckhead?

Unbelievable.:eyes:

(I notice the nice anti-Clinton "America did not hit back hard enough..." dig. What an asshole.) :puke:

Welcome to the NeoCon wet dream: Eternal Warfare Against A Nebulous Enemy.


All together now:

"War Is Peace! - Freedom Is Slavery! - Ignorance is Strength!"

[The_Casual_Observer]

10. Somehow, I don't see the role of stealth bombers and tanks

in this "war". However, billions are spent every year on this shit.

[spanone]

11. No shit, Dick. Former wars were conducted against our enemies.

Not for your greedy bastard friends.

[vikegirl]

12. 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11!

the a**hole is *STILL* making the 9/11 - Iraq war connection?

Hasn't this been debunked ad nauseam?

[Cameron27]

13. Definately unique.

We're in the wrong damn country from which the terrorists sprang.

[Bandit]

14. and bring them to justice.

okay how is that justice thingy going anyway? Shock and Awe is not justice nor is raping a fourteen year old girl.

[leesa]

33. Nor is bombing Afghanistan for 10 months and killing thousands of civilian

[underpants]

15. "global struggle against violent extremism."

Shifting Language: Trading Terrorism for Extremism
by Steve Inskeep

Morning Edition, July 27, 2005 · Administration and military officials seem to be moving away from the slogan "global war on terrorism" to "global struggle against violent extremism." Steve Inskeep charts the phrase's evolution from 2001 to the present.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4772826

[ChairmanAgnostic]

28. war on a noun signifying fearful emotions

THAT is what this war is about.

[enid602]

16. "This war is unlike any we've ever known."

Shouldn´t he have instead said ¨this war is unlike any I´ve ever dodged?¨

[Cleita]

17. Wrong Mr. Cheney, this war is very much like

Hitler's invasion of Poland. The Poles had to fight panzers and the blitzkrieg with nineteenth century technology basically horses and rifles. We entered Iraq whose military hardware had been destroyed
since the first gulf war, with "shock and awe" and all the military hardware that was used for it.

[Flubadubya]

18. 'these enemies are hidden, diffuse, secretive in their movements...

and asymmetrical in their tactics. They regard the entire world as a battlefield..."

My, how well he describes himself and BushCo!!! :grr:

[Alcibiades]

20. Ignore all of human history

The real news here is that the concept of asymmetrical warfare is news to Dick Cheney. Had he gone to Viet Nam instead of getting all those deferments, it wouldn't be.

My ancestors fought the British in almost exactly the same way the insurgents are fighting us. The British wised up and bailed. Did we follow them? Heck no, we made peace and set about rebuilding. The Vietnamese fought the US in almost exactly the same way the insurgents are fighting us. Did they follow us when we withdrew? Heck no, they set about rebuilding (fighting a couple of other wars along the way, and established peaceful relations with us as soon as out 20-year gloat over pulling out was over.

Look at the counterexamples--Israel, for one. Now, even the Israelis have realized the wisdom of pulling out (though they have gone right back in, they do at least claim the latest offensive is temporary and not a prelude to the reoccupation of Gaza). Of course, a big difference between us and Israel is that the Israeli-Arab conflict was always a war of national survival, whereas the Iraq war has never really been a question of survival for us.

Anyway, if this war really is different from all past wars, what the heck is Cheney basing his assessment on? Tea leaves? Fairies? How do we know pulling out will be bad--after all, this war is different from any other war. Pulling out may be absolutely brilliant.

[Cassandra]

21. Pure projection!

Imagine this is another country talking about us (or CheneyCo.) :
"They regard the entire world as a battlefield, and their goal is to plot, and plan, and strike wherever they can gain a foothold. They came into our country and murdered thousands of innocent, unsuspecting men, women, and children. They continue attempting to evade our strengths and to search for our weakness, in order to find ways to strike us again. And the greatest danger to civilization is the prospect of a terror network, on its own or with the help of an outlaw regime, acquiring chemical, nuclear or biological weapons -- and thereby gaining the power to kill hundreds of thousands, and to blackmail entire nations."

[patrice]

22. Maybe . . . but it will do just as well as any and all other wars for

helping men, and women too, who seem to have some difficulty otherwise, with becoming "a band of brothers" or whatever. That's why our country is addicted to war in its many forms.

We are an empty people in search of something to fill that emptiness, and when that causes pain and suffering, it's even more "significant".

[Jacobin]

24. Uh, yes it is

[RedStateShame]

25. Really? 'Cos it seems a LOT like Vietnam

Nobody has an exit strategy, thousands dead, the nation divided, and George W. Bush has nothing to do with it.

[WinkyDink]

26. PROJECTION! TRUTH-TELLING!!

"Instead, these enemies are hidden, diffuse, secretive in their movements, and asymmetrical in their tactics. They regard the entire world as a battlefield, and their goal is to plot, and plan, and strike wherever they can gain a foothold."

"These enemies" = "WE".

[Poiuyt]

27. This war is unlike any we've ever known because this one we started

[ToeBot]

29. Not true, The US has fought many wars of conquest...

just not in this or the previous century.

On Edit: I take that back, there is a good argument that Vietnam was actually an invasion as well.

[bdamomma]

30. cheney is the biggest terrorist of all

and he comes with alot of company. they are all criminals.

Well, isn't Cheney quite the PNAC'er, "we'll have to fight on many fronts". That is chilling how much longer are we going to let them do this stuff unchallenged.

Cheney is definitely showing his "dark side", probably that is all he has.

[madrchsod]

31. i guess he flunked world and american history

this is the stupidist whitehouse in history. there isn`t anyone that has a clue about anything at all

[LynnTheDem]

32. Wrong as always, dick.

1. illegal invasion & occupation

Seen that done before, now haven't we.

2. illegal invasion & occupation leading to world outrage & dislike towards the illegal invaders/occupiers.

Seen that before too, haven't we.

3. illegal invasion & occupation done so fucking stupidly, so dumbly, so incompetently...

Ok, that's new.