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Cheney latest to lash out at critics
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-18 00:06
Vice President Dick Cheney is joining President Bush and
other Republicans in accusing Democrats of foul play for asserting that the
administration misrepresented intelligence to build support for taking the
nation to war in Iraq.
Vice President Dick Cheney makes remarks to
honor retired Sen. Malcolm Wallop, R-Wyo., at the Frontiers of Freedom
Institute 2005 Ronald Reagan Gala, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2006, in
Washington. [AP] |
Cheney said Wednesday the accusation is "one of the most dishonest and
reprehensible charges ever aired in this city."
"Some of the most irresponsible comments have, of course, come from
politicians who actually voted in favor of authorizing force against Saddam
Hussein," Cheney told the Frontiers of Freedom Institute, a conservative policy
group.
"I agree with the vice president," Bush said Thursday in South Korea when
asked about Cheney's remarks. "I think people ought to be allowed to ask
questions. It is irresponsible to say that I deliberately misled the American
people.
"What bothers me is when people are irresponsibly using their positions and
playing politics," Bush added. "That's exactly what is taking place in America."
Cheney's speech was part of a GOP effort to push back against criticism on
Iraq that presidential counselor Dan Bartlett said will continue.
Traveling with Bush, Bartlett said: "There's a bright line there that the
Democrats have crossed. They have no facts on their side."
He said the administration to push back "will be sustained" because "in the
last couple of weeks it has reached a critical mass and we felt it was important
to respond."
Pushing back against the push-back, the Democrat's 2004 presidential nominee,
Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, said Cheney "continues to mislead America
about how we got into Iraqi and what must be done to complete the still
unaccomplished mission."
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Cheney was "playing politics
like he's in the middle of a presidential campaign."
Bush has made two speeches in recent days that painted Democrats as
hypocrites for criticizing the Iraq war after earlier supporting the idea that
Saddam should go.
Although critical of some administration tactics in prosecuting the war, Sen.
John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., said Sunday that "I think it's
a lie to say that the president lied to the American people" about prewar
intelligence on weapons of mass destruction.
The Republican National Committee has posted on its Web site a video
compilation of past statements by prominent Democrats — including several 2008
presidential hopefuls — who supported a hard line against Saddam.
On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld singled out a number of
Democrats, including President Clinton and his secretary of state, Madeleine
Albright, who had depicted Saddam as a threat because of weapons of mass
destruction.
Following up on that theme, Cheney said Wednesday that "these are elected
officials who had access to the intelligence, and were free to draw their own
conclusions. They arrived at the same judgment about Iraq's capabilities and
intentions that was made by this administration and by the previous
administration."
He said there was "broad-based, bipartisan agreement" that Saddam was a
threat, had violated U.N. Security Council resolution and had banned
weapons.
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