Cheney Debunkered

For more on what Cheney will likely say and what
you should know, read this American Progress debate backgrounder.
Here's what to watch for:




KEY CHENEY CLAIM BLOWN APART:
Cheney still asserts, “[Saddam] had a relationship with al Qaeda,” in
an ongoing attempt to plant “the idea that Hussein was allied with the
group responsible for the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.” As his
primary evidence, the vice pResident repeatedly has said terrorist Abu
Musab al Zarqawi was an associate of bin Laden and received safe haven
from Hussein, stating that Zarqawi “is an al Qaeda associate who took
refuge in Baghdad, found sanctuary and safe harbor there before we ever
launched into Iraq.” Today, a new CIA assessment — which Cheney himself
requested months ago – blew apart this claim. The report stated, “there
is no conclusive evidence that the regime harbored terrorist Abu Musab
al Zarqawi.” One U.S. official said, “The evidence is that Saddam never
gave Zarqawi anything.”



INTELLIGENCE DEBUNKS CHENEY:
It's the latest in a long line of intelligence that shows Cheney's
claim is false. Previously, the Sept. 11 Commission found no
“collaborative relationship” between Iraq and al Qaeda. CIA
interrogators found “Osama bin Laden had rejected entreaties from some
of his lieutenants to work jointly with Saddam.” The chairman of the
monitoring group appointed by the United Nations Security Council to
track al Qaeda found “no evidence linking Al Qaeda to Saddam Hussein.”



RUMSFELD'S MOMENT OF TRUTH:
Further damaging Cheney's unsupported claims of a link between Saddam
and Osama, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told an audience
yesterday at the Council on Foreign Relations that he knew of no
“strong, hard evidence” linking Iraq and al Qaeda. Immediately after
his candid comments to the group, however, Rumsfeld furiously
backtracked and tried to get back on message, saying he'd been
“misunderstood.”



'WE NEVER HAD ENOUGH TROOPS ON THE GROUND':
Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, the former U.S. official in charge of Iraq
after the invasion, said yesterday that the U.S. effort in Iraq was
handicapped from the beginning by a lack of adequate forces, flatly
stating, “We never had enough troops on the ground.” An insufficient
number of U.S. troops to keep the peace early on “established an
atmosphere of lawlessness,” he said in a speech yesterday. The White
House didn't adequately plan for the peace in Iraq, badly misjudging
the situation and relying instead on falsely rosy predictions. A prime
example: On 3/16/03, the week the invasion took place, Cheney said, “We
will, in fact, be greeted as liberators” and “I think it will go
relatively quickly… (in) weeks rather than months.”



THE ULTIMATE FLIP-FLOP:
The Seattle Post Intelligencer reports Cheney opposed invading Baghdad
before he supported it. In 1991, then-Secretary of Defense Cheney
cautioned against U.S. troops advancing into the city, “telling a
Seattle audience that capturing Saddam wouldn't be worth additional
U.S. casualties or the risk of getting 'bogged down in the problems of
trying to take over and govern Iraq.'” He added, “And the question in
my mind is how many additional American casualties is Saddam worth? And
the answer is not very damned many.” About 146 Americans died in the
first Gulf War. This time, more than 1,000 U.S. troops have been killed
in the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath.



IN BED
WITH THE AXIS OF EVIL: In recent stump speeches, Cheney has tried to
defend the invasion of Iraq by saying, “Iraq for years was listed by
the U.S. State Department as a state sponsor of terror.” What he
doesn't say: Although the U.S. “concluded that Iraq, Libya and Iran
supported terrorism and had imposed strict sanctions on them,” during
Cheney's tenure at Halliburton, he ignored that and “the company did
business in all three countries.” For example, with Cheney at the helm,
Halliburton signed contracts with Iraq worth $73 million through two
subsidiaries while that country was on the terrorism list. And
Halliburton is being investigated for doing business while Cheney was
CEO with Iran, a country also listed as a “state sponsor of terror” by
the State Department. “The grand jury has subpoenaed various documents
covering Halliburton's Iranian operations, a sign some evidence has
surfaced indicating the company “knowingly violated” U.S. anti-terror
sanctions.



CHENEY'S
DAYS IN COURT: Cheney, under the guise of “legal reform,” has attacked
his rivals for being too cozy with lawyers. Watch those stones you're
throwing from your glass house, Mr. Cheney. A watchdog site,
HalliburtonWatch.org, has found that, with Cheney in charge,
Halliburton filed 151 claims in 15 states around the nation,
petitioning America's legal system an average of 30 times a year; most
actions were filed against other corporations. (Halliburton currently
is suing former employees who complained when the giant corporation
sliced retiree health care benefits.)