Oh... My... GOTV: 'Dick Cheney Tells GOP It's Time To Restart The Iraq War Machine' - HuffPo [View all]

[WillyT]

Dick Cheney Tells GOP It's Time To Restart The Iraq War Machine
Jennifer Bendery & Michael McAuliff - HuffPo
Posted: 09/09/2014 1:36 pm EDT Updated: 2 hours ago


Former Vice President Dick Cheney spokes to Republicans Tuesday about next steps in Iraq. | The Washington Post via Getty Images

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WASHINGTON -- The United States needs to rev up the war in Iraq, former Vice President Dick Cheney told Republicans Tuesday on Capitol Hill -- and most lawmakers seemed to agree with the man perhaps best known as a lead architect of America's ill-fated 2003 intervention there.

Cheney met with the House GOP a day before President Barack Obama is set to address the nation on the threat posed by the Islamic State, the militant group also known as ISIS. Republican lawmakers trickling out of the meeting said Cheney warned that American security is jeopardized around the world and it's time to act.

Obama has been saying for the past year that "we're going to bring all the troops home, and that we're going to basically be out of Iraq and Afghanistan," said Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.). "Now the president's basically saying, one way or the other, we're going back into Iraq. Dick Cheney was here to support that."

Asked if he saw any irony in Cheney coming to talk to Republicans about next steps in Iraq, King said firmly, "No, because most of us think we did the right thing in Iraq."

Although a growing number of Republicans have expressed doubts in recent years over the United States' aggressive foreign policy actions, and some have criticized Obama for launching military strikes against the Islamic State in Iraq over the past couple of months, they were apparently silent in the meeting with Cheney.

"Really <there was> no controversy over the comments that were made," said Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.). "No one challenged the vice president. I think that his analysis and the information he shared was accepted as pretty accurate."

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More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/09/dick-cheney-iraq_n_5791770.html