Liberators or Conquerors?
Dick Cheney was interviewed on Meet The Press March 16, 2003, as part of the Bush Administration program to sell Americans on invading Iraq. After Cheney presented the administration position that we would be welcomed by the Iraqis with open arms, Tim Russert asked the “but what if” question. Here is the question and the Cheney response, which has not held up well over time.
MR. RUSSERT: If your analysis is not correct, and we’re not treated as liberators, but as conquerors, and the Iraqis begin to resist, particularly in Baghdad, do you think the American people are prepared for a long, costly, and bloody battle with significant American casualties?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: Well, I don’t think it’s likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators. I’ve talked with a lot of Iraqis in the last several months myself, had them to the White House. The president and I have met with them, various groups and individuals, people who have devoted their lives from the outside to trying to change things inside Iraq. And like Kanan Makiya who’s a professor at Brandeis, but an Iraqi, he’s written great books about the subject, knows the country intimately, and is a part of the democratic opposition and resistance. The read we get on the people of Iraq is there is no question but what they want to the get rid of Saddam Hussein and they will welcome as liberators the United States when we come to do that.
Professor Makiya is not likely to be a name Cheney is dropping nowadays, because Makiya has been very critical of the way the US has been operating in Iraq. In an interview on NPR’s All Things Considered, May 26, 2004, the Professor said, “The development of events in the last year has shown that the idea of occupation did not fit Iraq well. And let me say, many of us opposed it very vigorously back when it was first espoused before the war. And I think the United States and the coalition in general has now realized that that was not the way to go, and the quicker we end what is technically an occupation regime, the better.” When asked what went wrong in the relationship between the expatriates and the Americans and the Iraqi people, Makiya responded, “Very many things. There is the strategic error of occupation, which essentially translated into non-reliance on Iraqis.” He added, “I think the route that we have gone down is very unfortunate and sad, and I have forebodings, to be honest.”
A Transcript of the full Cheney Meet the Press interview is at:
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/bush/cheneymeetthepress.htm
MR. RUSSERT: If your analysis is not correct, and we’re not treated as liberators, but as conquerors, and the Iraqis begin to resist, particularly in Baghdad, do you think the American people are prepared for a long, costly, and bloody battle with significant American casualties?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: Well, I don’t think it’s likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators. I’ve talked with a lot of Iraqis in the last several months myself, had them to the White House. The president and I have met with them, various groups and individuals, people who have devoted their lives from the outside to trying to change things inside Iraq. And like Kanan Makiya who’s a professor at Brandeis, but an Iraqi, he’s written great books about the subject, knows the country intimately, and is a part of the democratic opposition and resistance. The read we get on the people of Iraq is there is no question but what they want to the get rid of Saddam Hussein and they will welcome as liberators the United States when we come to do that.
Professor Makiya is not likely to be a name Cheney is dropping nowadays, because Makiya has been very critical of the way the US has been operating in Iraq. In an interview on NPR’s All Things Considered, May 26, 2004, the Professor said, “The development of events in the last year has shown that the idea of occupation did not fit Iraq well. And let me say, many of us opposed it very vigorously back when it was first espoused before the war. And I think the United States and the coalition in general has now realized that that was not the way to go, and the quicker we end what is technically an occupation regime, the better.” When asked what went wrong in the relationship between the expatriates and the Americans and the Iraqi people, Makiya responded, “Very many things. There is the strategic error of occupation, which essentially translated into non-reliance on Iraqis.” He added, “I think the route that we have gone down is very unfortunate and sad, and I have forebodings, to be honest.”
A Transcript of the full Cheney Meet the Press interview is at:
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/bush/cheneymeetthepress.htm
posted by Tom Blake | 1:54 PM
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