Thursday, August 16, 2007

Why did 9/11 change everything but who was running our country at the time?

Mary Ann Akers has the story of how the '94 Cheney "quagmire" video came to light again, and tells us why Cheney changed his views:
Asked what changed the vice president's mind about invading Iraq between 1994 and 2003, Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride said she was not authorized to comment.

She did, however, direct us to an interview that ABC News conducted with Cheney in February of this year in which Cheney was asked how his views had changed from 1991, when he also spoke of military action in Iraq as a "quagmire."

"Well, I stand by what I said in '91," Cheney told ABC. "But look what's happened since then -- we had 9/11."

Anyone surprised by this?

...I didn't think so.

But--aside from the facts that 9/11 didn't make Iraq any more susceptible to invasion, any less of a quagmire, it didn't reduce our casualties any, and it certainly didn't magically replace Saddam's government for us--we should also note that this is just more instance of the administration trying to tie Iraq to 9/11. He stands by what he said in '91 (and, we can only imagine, '94), in which conquering Baghdad would have been a quagmire, but being attacked by someone who had no ties to Iraq at all changed all that.

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