White House rejects Cheney's charges on Afghanistan

Republicans have developed a troubling pattern of blaming President Obama for trying to fix all the problems that they created,”

Well said! The entire Bush's neo-conservstives should brought to trail for criminally charges! They are guilty of treasons!

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. “I think we’ve all seen what happens when somebody doesn’t take that responsibility seriously.”

This too is well said. Talking serious (as Cheney loves to do) isn't the same as being serious.

Credibility is a serious issue here.

Dick Cheney worked tirelessly to obtain deferrments (was it 7?) to prevent him from serving in Vietnam.

Then, when he assumed a position of power, he botches strategy and execution so badly that he and his boss OK'd the invasion of the wrong country and left the U.S. fighting 2 seemingly endless conflicts that by all accounts are only going to get worse.

Dick Cheney is a failure on all important accounts.

Watching Cheney criticize the sitting president for poor strategy when he himself excelled at it is like watching an arsonist criticizing a fireman for using too much water to put out an inferno.

Cheney has zero credibility.

Period.

Number of Americans dead due to Cheney/Bush fake wars, about 5000. Tens of thousand injured for life.

Number of Americans killed by Obama war, zero.

Now who cares about the troops? Republicans like to wrap themselves in the flag but when it comes to letting the troops die for nothing, they do not give it a second thought.

I think one of the few remaining ways that GOP/conservatives can continue to function is to simply continue deflecting blame for these 2 disastrous wars on anyone but themselves.

It's called Taking Responsibility - conservative style. :-)

Barack Obama hasn't taken the bush/cheney strategy and called for stay the course. They will be making a change and cheney is just using Obama's time for pursueing the correct tactic as a chance to run his mouth.

he just needs to crawl back into his hole, go fishing or shoot a congressman. < :-)

Yeah ole Dick is so right, when President Obama started the 2 wars way back in 2003 he just did not have a plan. Now we are in the 6th year of the Obama administration and we still have not gotten the thing done.

You way back when Dick and Bush were in charge 2000-2001, things were so much better....LOL

Obama campaigned saying repeatedly Afghanistan was the war of necessity.

Time for wonderboy to man up.

I don't know about Canadians and Europeans, but Americans don't like whiners.

Obama has had 10 months. SNL has him pegged.

What has Barack Obama achieved?

"Jack and Squat."

Like Bill O Reilly says, Obama would rather battle Fox News (or Palin's Facebook page) than the Taliban.

Who is this fraud?

Who have we elected?

Guardian UK video: Obama: Afghanistan is 'war of necessity'

"Barack Obama addressed the Veterans of Foreign Wars with his strategy on withdrawal from Iraq by 2011 and concentration on Afghanistan"

((((http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/aug/18/barack-obama-iraq-withdrawal-afghanistan))))

Cheney should follow GW 43's lead for once. Go and sit in your living room, watch television, and take solice in the fact that it's not you're problem anymore.

cooperstown:

Who have we elected?

What do you mean "we"? I voted for the true moderate, not the far-Left Hugo-Chavez-wannabe who only pretended to be a moderate.

Of course the White House is rejecting Cheney's charges. What did anyone expect from the Obama administration? "Oops, you caught us"? Geez, they don't even do that when they're caught on video with their own words.

From the article:

“Republicans have developed a troubling pattern of blaming President Obama for trying to fix all the problems that they created,” said Sen Jack Reed, D-RI, a member of the Armed Services Committee.

If only Obama were actually trying to fix anything... unless you consider industries not being owned/controlled by the Obama administration as something "broken".

cooperstown

Time for wonderboy to man up.

george bush and dick cheney were weasels and had 6 years to start a war based on lies, fly to the USS Lincoln the "Mission Accomplished" ship, hung on to the "Stay the course" for 4 years, left a mess for Obama or whoever might have been elected and you whine about Obama.

Right cooperstown. Right statement, wrong president. < :-)

"george bush and dick cheney were weasels and had 6 years to start a war based on lies, fly to the USS Lincoln the "Mission Accomplished" ship, hung on to the "Stay the course" for 4 years, left a mess for Obama or whoever might have been elected and you whine about Obama."

Left a mess? Obama knew what was on table.

cooperstown-- Yes, 10 months. 10 months to try and figure out how to get out of a convoluted war as delicately as possible while also trying to handle a crumbling economy and everything else. I find it really strange that a lot of the people who voted for him somehow expected him to get in office and magically everything would be okay in two months time. He's a politician. He had to say the right things to get elected. They ALL say the right things to a point. Why is there such an uproar all of a sudden because everything isn't perfect yet? He got left a mess-- everyone knows it, including Bush and Cheney, I'm sure. I was not anti-Bush, but really any complaining from his side should be taken with a grain of salt, because it's easy to stand back and whine when someone else is cleaning up a mess you started. It didn't take long for the war to start. But it takes time to end it, and there's a lot more at stake. That said, I hope he does something soon.

...I didn't vote for him either, by the way. But I have a feeling if it were anyone else, it would be the same. The president just can't work fast enough for some people.

cooperstown, yes Obama did know what he is getting. He isn't whining, you and dick cheney are. Obama will have a decision, the republican can cry all they like, but he won't be rushed. < :-)

"He isn't whining, you and dick cheney are."

It's well above the reading level of a guy who affixes emoticons to his posts but even The Nation, probably the most respected magazine on the liberal/progressive/left in America, has recently taken to calling our president "Whiner-in-Chief."

It hurts, I know, but that's cos it's the truth.

The worse the mess left behind by bush/cheney becomes, the louder the GOP/conservatives seem to complain.

The only reason we are even talking about these wars is because bush/cheney and a pile of their not-too-clever followers supported the invasions.

This point seems to fly right over the heads of GOP/conservatives.

Funny, that.

Interesting....here's what someone who had the guts to serve his country in wartime said about someone who didn't -

Retired General Paul Eaton - "The record is clear: Dick Cheney and the Bush administration were incompetent war fighters. They ignored Afghanistan for 7 years with a crude approach to counter-insurgency warfare best illustrated by: 1. Deny it. 2. Ignore it. 3. Bomb it. While our intelligence agencies called the region the greatest threat to America, the Bush White House under-resourced our military efforts, shifted attention to Iraq, and failed to bring to justice the masterminds of September 11.

The only time Cheney and his cabal of foreign policy 'experts' have anything to say is when they feel compelled to protect this failed legacy.

While President Obama is tasked with cleaning up the considerable mess they left behind, they continue to defend torture or rewrite a legacy of indifference on Afghanistan. Simply put, Mr. Cheney sees history throughout extremely myopic and partisan eyes."

I'm looking forward very much to the Armchair Generals on JT try to defend against this. :-)

Somebody may have said it already, but if this dimwit and his Simian president did a little more thinking and didn't rush into Afghanistan and then illegally into Iraq in the first place the US wouldn't be in a fifth of the trouble it's in now in either place, or domestically with the economy.

But as usual, deadeye just shoots his mouth off without thinking... better that than shooting his friends, I guess.

Isn`t it time Dick just shut his mouth once and for all?

paolo27th - "Isn`t it time Dick just shut his mouth once and for all?"

Unfortunately not. For him, keeping quiet would move him closer to being hauled before a criminal court.

Cheney knows he has to keep criticizing and keep deflecting attention elsewhere - anywhere but on the disasters he has caused.

Sushi: "Cheney knows he has to keep criticizing and keep deflecting attention elsewhere - anywhere but on the disasters he has caused."

Now come on, Sushi... that's not completely fair... he only PARTLY caused the disasters! bush needs some credit, too.

from smithinjapan: "Somebody may have said it already, but if this dimwit and his Simian president did a little more thinking and didn't rush into Afghanistan "

Cheney's president is Obama. Okay? Got it? You may not like that, being a right wing Komeito supporter, but calling him simian is racist. You should keep those sentiments to yourself.

cheney's an ass and he needs to shut up.

From a recent Miami Herald oped:

In the fear that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Americans were told that defeating Al Qaeda would require us to ``take off the gloves.'' As a former commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps and a retired commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command, we knew that was a recipe for disaster.

But we never imagined that we would feel duty-bound to publicly denounce a vice president of the United States, a man who has served our country for many years. In light of the irresponsible statements recently made by former Vice President dick cheney, however, we feel we must repudiate his dangerous ideas -- and his scare tactics.

http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/1227832.html

But I suppose cheney has to keep barking at the moon. I'm sure he feels it's helping him stay out of jail.

Taka

“I think we’ve all seen what happens when somebody doesn’t take that responsibility seriously.”

Helllloooo rummy.

Taka

Cheney. I can't believe he is still in America. He never fled to Dubai, like so many of us in the progressive reality-based community predicted he would.

What the silly old warmonger fails to realize is that our new president, unlike shrub, has mended ties with our European allies, with his speeches alone, and NATO is probably now more than willing to help shoulder the burden in Afghanistan.I am confident that the 40 000 troops warmonger Colonel McChrysal is demanding can be provided by Euorpean nations. All Barack has to do is fly to Berlin again.

"What Vice President Cheney calls dithering, President Obama calls his solemn responsibility to the men and women in uniform"

Pfffft! President Obama's solemn resonsibility to the men and women in uniform is giving them what they need to win this war, and that is the extra troops that the commanders on the ground and Defense Secretary Gates say are needed.

"the 40,000 troops warmonger Colonel McCrysal ( General McCrystal ) is demanding can be provided by Euorpean ( European ) nations. All Barack has to do is fly to Berlin again."

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

seijichuudo: "Cheney's president is Obama. Okay? Got it?"

Perhaps you need a little more education as to the difference between past tense and present, as clearly you missed the 'DID a little more thinking part'. But heck, I can't really blame you if you think Cheney's words are STILL lacking in thought and capable of causing a lot of problems. That, however, would be your problem.

"You may not like that, being a right wing Komeito supporter,"

You're that threatened by the Komeito that you think they're going to make a run for the American presidency? Or wait, is it just possible your 'argument' has nothing to do with the thread and, true to past handles you want to try and undermine someone else's points by attempting to belittle something else?

"...but calling him simian is racist."

No, it's only racist if you're insulting and/or undermining someone based on their race; it's not racism when you point out the fact that the former US leader was (and 'was' is the past tense of 'is', by the way) a whole step down the chain of evolution.

Taka: "cheney's an ass and he needs to shut up."

That pretty well sums it up.

cooperstown, you and any magazine can call Obama anything you like. It doesn't offend me, it just shows how little you know. You call the president names, okay. Your magazine call him names, okay. But the fact remains that bush /cheney had over 6 years to fight a war and they abandoned it for Iraq. They abandoned the troops in Afghanistan to pursue fabricating lies and attacking Iraq for personal reasons.

Stay the course was the only decision that bush/cheney were good at making. Obama won't take years to stay the course. I don't know what his decision will be, but it won't be "Stay the course". < :-)

Cheney and Obama have the same masters.

"Cheney and Obama have the same masters"

And they are...?

"This is what people write who can't refute what Cheney said"

Cheney has been refuted countless times. His personal record speaks volumes without refutuion.

Selective reading is the problem here...

sarge: "This is what people write who can't refute what Cheney said about Obama's hesitation on providing the necessary troops in Afghanistan."

Far more than your own comments, Cheney has been refuted more times than the spineless man has opened his gob and said something stupid -- ie. countless times. Just because you have chosen not to acknowledge how awful this man and the shrub were is not at all evidence they have done nothing wrong -- just proof of why the Republicans/GOP failed so badly at the last election.

Dead-eye is just continuing to yap because he is starting to realize his own irrelevance and wrong doing, and like most scared, tired old people in the GOP he's chosen to criticize what he himself created instead of trying to make things better. The champion draft-dodger cannot say anything about the current situation in Afghanistan and/or Iraq with a single shred of credibility.

Whatever, as much as I am not a fan of Cheney he's right on this issue. In the eternal words of my grandfather "sh*t or get off the pot" Obama's "careful consideration" is wasting precious time. You're the commander in chief now act like one and listen to your generals.

usaexpat: " You're the commander in chief now act like one and listen to your generals."

So... you're saying simply that Obama needs to decide... so long as he does so in line with what the generals want? Doesn't sound as much like a decision as it does a demand -- less like "sht or get off the pot" and more like, "sht AND get off the pot".

Cheney is NOT right on the issue, and never has been. The only thing for certain is that he helped create it, and we all know what a disaster that's been. Looking forward to the run-off though after the proof of how corrupt the Afghan government is came out, by the way.

With all the whining about Obama and his decisions he has to make, why weren't these republicans as vocal about the failures of bush/cheney when he made such horrible mistakes? Ignorance and complacency for real idiots I guess. Republicans cry about Obama, but they never made a whimper about bush's wrong doing, except to try to justify the actions of a GOP loser.

You republicans seem to forget that bush/cheney left the troops in Afghanistan with just a handful of troops while pursueing WMD that they fabricated. Why hold Obama to standards you didn't hold bush/cheney to? Sounds kinda hypocritical to me. < :-)

cheney's an ass and he needs to shut up

Classic liberal thinking. Freedom of speech is allowed as long as that speech agrees with their opinion.

Smithinjapan: Obama as the CinC selected generals he trusts and now is ignoring their requuests and ignoring their assessment of the situation on the ground. That is the problem. Yes Cheney and Bush created the problem in Afghanistan by diverting troops and focus to Iraq. That doesn't matter now because they are not in power. This is now Obama's war and one he promised to win. I want to see that committment.

Gates was just making an announcement that we have NATO partners that are considering sending in more troops and civilian contractors. If Obama makes this decision too fast, we may be lose more help by our allies. There's more to this decision then just making it today. < :-)

USAExpat - "Obama's "careful consideration" is wasting precious time."

The alternative is to make another rash thoughtless mistake and we've seen more than enough of them in the last 8 years.

Again, the conservatives cry about how President Obama isn't working fast enough to fix the titanic sized problems they created.

Well, if you're a Republican, it all seems like a bad dream where you just cannot understand how it began.....

Sarge - "Pfffft! President Obama's solemn resonsibility to the men and women in uniform is giving them what they need to win this war."

Sarge successfully proves once again that he doesn't understand the issues and never did.

Oner of the U.S. president's key responsibilities is to protect American lives - this includes not just giving them the armor they need to survive in a war zone, it also includes not unnecessarily putting them into danger in the first place.

This is what Sarge still doesn't get.

USAExpat - "Yes Cheney and Bush created the problem in Afghanistan by diverting troops and focus to Iraq. That doesn't matter now because they are not in power. This is now Obama's war and one he promised to win. I want to see that committment."

You're 8 years too late. When General Shinseki asked bush for 400,000 troops, bush had him fired.

This is a key reason why Iraq - and Afghanistan - are the disasters we now see.

But if you're a conservative, naturally, it's all President Obama's fault for not making a quick decision 8 long years after incredibly foolish decisions were made at the outset of this war by bush and cheney.

This is one of the long shopping list of facts the Republicans/conservatives want you to forget.

SushiSake3: I'm not a conservative, I'm an independant who gave Obama the nod. What he has done since taking power is not what I signed on for in this area and many others. The mistakes made by BushCo are now his problems, he signed on for the job and is starting to look like he's out of his depth. That you can't change by blaming Bush.

USAExpat - I think I'm making strong hints that blaming President Obama for not moving fast enough to solve a problem he had nothing to do with is not really all that sensible.

The world has seen the disastrous results of poor strategy in both the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters over the last 8 years.

This isn't the time for more off-the-cuff decision-making.

The president should be given time to make the right and most appropriate decision - otherwise we're going to spend the next 8 years like we did the last 8 years - trying to rectify the results of poorly thought out strategy and America dones't need that right now.

SushiSake3 what you haven't posted exactly yet is that the republicans gave bush/cheney sufficient time to make good decisions and failed at every decision.

So the republicans have decided that taking time to think fails. They want decisions NOW. Too bad their decider was also oblivious to real thought out decisions and took the advice of draft dodgers, alcoholics and liars. < :-)

The increase in enemy activity in A-stan is a direct result of the gutless europeons not sending enough troops to help. Obama not sending troops has to do with his political base wanting us to cut and run. They really don't care how many troops die in the process. The ROE that Obama has in place says it all.

This is America's war. The Taliban attacked the US. Or should I say that Saudi Arabian's, trained in Afghanistan and unleashed on the US by Ossama bin Laden attacked the US.

Seeing the proximity of Europe to the middle east, the attacks on Britain, Spain, Germany and other countries also, it would benefit European to help fight this war in Afghanistan instead of their homeland. But this is America's war and the prior administration forfeited it to the Taliban and took up a new war for personal reasons.

Yes, Europe's help is needed. Yes, we want every swinging .... who will fight against the Taliban. And yes, Obama will make the call. But until he does, don't whine because Obama hasn't made his decision, remember the dunderhead who got us in this position and gave this war away for fame and dishonor. < :-)

If you're going to blame Saudi Arabia, you're going to have to blame the US too for supporting bin Ladin in the first place. Bin Ladin consider Saudi Arabia to be his number one enemy with the US in a distant second - recruiting Saudis is simply part of his propoganda which you're happy to help with.

Classic liberal thinking. Freedom of speech is allowed as long as that speech agrees with their opinion.

Romeo, tell that to the Dixie Chicks and they will laugh at you. Or anyone who didnt believe the bush lies before, during and after the failed invasion of Iraq.

So typical of republicans to squeal like kids when the tables are turned on them. Whiners the lot of them.

Zee, the fans of a particular musical entertainer will hold them accountable when said entertainer, instead of just singing, speaks of poltiics contrary to most of their fan base.

It's the American way. We vote with our checkbooks. You'll learn this once you win a U.S. Green Card lottery. ;-)

Remember, Obama wanted this job.

Sushi:"When General Shinseki asked bush for 400,000 troops, bush had him fired"

Yeah, and if Bush had actually deployed 400,000 troops, you would have had a hissy-fit. Can't win with some people.

Yeah Sarge, I might have had a hissy-fit. But we'd be out of Afghanistan and bush might have actually had something that he was successful at. We wouldn't be in Afghanistan now.

That would be sweet. Another bush/cheney failure though. < :-)

The only people who care what Cheney has to say are the people who love him and the people who hate him. We should put them all on an island and let the rest of us on get with the business at hand.

We wouldn't even be having this conversation if:

bush and cheney hadn't screwed up so bad.

If cheney would just shut the hell up. < :-)

Sarge at 12:58 PM JST - 24th October Sushi:"When General Shinseki asked bush for 400,000 troops, bush had him fired" Yeah, and if Bush had actually deployed 400,000 troops, you would have had a hissy-fit. Can't win with some people.

Actually Sarge, if Bush would have not stuck his head in the sand (or was that oil)and invaded Iraq. But rather would have gone into Afghanistan with 400,000 troops. We would have defeated the Taliban and had all of Al Qaida killed off by now. But, Bush was a fool and he believed what Cheney and Chalabi were feeding him.

For his mistakes we now need to take care of business.....Sad but true...

Well, unless you believe that President Obama has been serving for the last 6th year. Then if you believe that, well then it must be President for life Obama's fault...LOL

Like George Will said, "A bit of dithering might have been in order before we went into Iraq in pursuit of non-existent weapons of mass destruction"

Cheney is a cyborg and a fool. He only answers to the oil industry, that we know for sure. No one cares really what a failure has to stay. Except the other failures who still want to support him.

I was against the War in Iraq in the first place. I had no choice and my decision didn't matter...but again they went into Afganistan and what should we do? We can cry! We can get out and let those people suffer under the broken promises of bringing them Democracy and Freedom and all that___... If they really want to win...you go all out...let's say 500,000 or more....OH that cost money...If a country does not want to spend money they should NOT go to War!