Fear-Mongering and Fiction: Cheney Addresses West Point Grads
The veep last spoke at West Point four years ago. He is still peddling the phony link between Iraq and Al Qaeda.
With the poise and purpose that has been drilled into them during the past four years, the cadets filed slowly into West Point's Michie Stadium in crisp lines, standing at attention as they reached their seats. Here stood the graduates of the nation's premier military academy, nearly a thousand of them, who would soon swear the oath of the United States Army and be commissioned as second lieutenants.
The class of 2007, the first to enter the academy after the invasion of Iraq, has chosen the motto "Always Remember, Never Surrender" and a crest that includes these words emblazoned above a scene that shows the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Before long, it's likely that many of these men and women will deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan, complex and asymmetric battlefields that have forced the military to rethink its approach to warfare. The nature of the war on terror has caused the staid military academy itself to revisit its curriculum. In Iraq and Afghanistan these soon-to-be officers will lead platoons, where they will be called upon to carry out their missions not just as soldiers, but as diplomats and cops and sometimes a combination of the three.
Vice President Dick Cheney, on hand to deliver this year’s commencement address, acknowledged that this crop of West Point grads is unique. “It is rare in West Point history for a class to have joined during war time and graduate in the midst of that same war,” he said. Addressing the academy’s graduates, the vice president, who drew a crowd of protestors outside one of West Point's gates, relied on the same brand of doomsday rhetoric that has characterized his remarks since 9/11. "We know," he told the audience at one point, that Al Qaeda is “working feverishly to obtain even more destructive weapons and using every form of technology they can get their hands on. This makes the business of fighting this war as urgent and time sensitive as any task this nation has ever taken on.”
Not only is the threat real, he warned, it’s immediate. “The timeline is no longer a calendar, it’s a watch,” he said, quoting a line used recently by Mike McConnell, the director of National Intelligence. Cheney then claimed that the “enemy likely has cells inside our own country.”
As Cheney told the graduates of the enemies they may soon face — terrorists "who oppose and despise everything you know to be right, every notion of upright conduct and character" — there were moments when it seemed that he had simply recycled an old speech from 2002. Indeed, long after most members of the Bush administration have distanced themselves from some of the more insidious claims that propelled the U.S. into war with Iraq, the vice president continues to repeat them as fact. At one point today he cited the link between Iraq and Al Qaeda (which has been thoroughly debunked) as the reason why the U.S. invaded Iraq. "America is fighting this enemy in Iraq because that is where they have gathered," he told the West Point graduates. "We are there because, after 9/11, we decided to deny terrorists any safe haven."
In a subtle irony, the vice president last addressed graduating West Point cadets the very year the class of 2007 entered the academy, in 2003. It was close to a month after the president declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq and Cheney crowed that “the battle of Iraq was a major victory in the war on terror.” At the time, two West Point graduates had been killed in Iraq. Since then an additional 49 tombstones have risen on West Point's campus, marking the graves of graduates who were killed in Iraq, fighting a war the vice president had previously assured them they’d already won.
Page 1 of 1 
These are the kind of zombies the military requires in order to follow the lying, fearmongering, draft dodging, fascist mother****ers that are their bosses.
How blind you people are. Obviously you do not like the country you live in - as you keep trying to destroy it - obviously you are on the side of terror.
I am always amazed when a draft-dodger can side-step any time in uniform and then command the attention so of so many true patriots. Cheney should stay home like he always has.
I'm proud of these graduates. I am saddened that some of them will be injured or killed in the name of revenge.
Mel: I certainly hope you are being facetious - otherwise, you need to look up "McCarthyism."
I went to this site from Google News thinking it was a news site. Wrong. It is just another left-wing anti-US opinion site. This makes no contribution of value.
How can the V.P.tell a lie,and not be called a liar.
Paul McLeary's ignorance, shameless ranting and lies would fall on deaf ears were he making his views known at that graduation. The cadets represent the exact opposite of this "know-nothing"
I just finished watching a show on CNN about seven American soldiers who were killed in Iraq when their helicopter was shot down. The profiles of the seven showed seven decent and young (the oldest was born in 1975) people. Cheney is a monster- his lies (which he continued to spout at West Point today) led to the deaths of these decent smiling kids. He belongs behind bars- it's too bad he wasn't on that helicopter.
Hope you send your kids Mel. Cause ... you know ... the enemy is following us home here. You have obviously been listening to a tad too many of those talking points pushed at you from yer little Fox news. No...WAIT! Could it be ... "if you are not with us, you are against us." Repeat after me ... "talking points do not equal rational thought, talking points do not equal rational thought."
once again cheneys comments show that he
has lost touch with reality.
well, Mel, if you want to see a blind man, look in the mirror. Read the history lesson delivered by Jim McDermott last Wednesday May 23rd on the house floor.
My father served with honor in WWII, fighting a war to keep evil and dictators from enslaving an entire planet.
I served in the Cold War era, helping win a war we never had to fight on TV.
My son is now active duty, putting his life on the line, fighting for the same freedoms his grandfather and father were willing to lay down their lives to protect.
On this Memorial Day weekend, we remember all those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for a country whose virtue, nobility and freedom are unique in the world.
None of us should underestimate the horrors of war. Nor should we underestimate the horrors of a world where terror is allowed to run rampant.
When will this administration finally be put where they belong?...IN JAIL
Why doesn't our Congress listen to us? WE WANT THEM UNDER ARREST FOR WAR CRIMES AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY!
Russell called this a "Left-wing, anti-US opinion site."
Let us all ponder this a moment. If we have a brain and ask a few questions (has anyone seen those WMD's?), we are labelled anti-US. Anti-US is allowing our great country to further deteriorate under this 'Roveing' band of idiots, bandits and crooks at the helm now, and not asking questions and standing UP in support of TRUTH.
He is still telling lies - He told the grads that it was rare for a class to start West Point during a war and graduate during the same war.
Seems to me that since the Vietnam war started in 1959 and ended in 1975 there were maybe 11 classes that did the same thing. Maybe the Veterans in Bush's inner circle can give him a heads up - oh wait a minute there aren't any. As a disable combat veteran from a family of veterans I am now telling my grandchildren - there are other ways to be of service.
peace
OK One more thing...We were told we went to Iraq because Saddam had WMDs, then they said he was trying to make them, then they said we have no evidence that Saddam was ever involved in 9/11. They made it up. Plain and simple. "Fight them over there instead of here, blah blah, blah". Our military has been exploited, lied to and sent to their deaths so a relatively small number of rich people can get richer. Why can't the nay sayers and radical right wing conservatives just take a look at whats been happening? Terrorism is exponentially worse since Bush tried to make Iraq the 51st state. A true Republican knows just by observing that the Party has completely strayed from their platform. Remember fiscal responsibility and personal responsibility? It's non-existent now.
Well said, Renato, (5/26/2007, 8:30:06). It's horrifying to think how much worse off we'd all be if all AMERICANS went along with that way of thinking.... "talking points do not equal rational thought, talking points do not equal rational thought."
..borrowed from Melba (May 26, 2007 8:20:53) PM
As a great granddaughter of a veteran and widow of a veteran I want my grandsons to avoid serving in a killing machine.Lets save the planet and human beings instead.
Let's hope that this new class of cadets are not draft dodging cowards like Dick Cheney.
Nor that they will greedily trade lives for profits from the reconstruction of a sovereign nation's destruction.
More importantly still we hope that they use their minds to seek the full facts first and be insistent for the truth. Let's hope that instead of yielding blind obedience to arrogant neocon bullies and fabricators they will depart from these American terrorists whose arrogance blinds them to their own theocratic and meglomaniacal ambitions.
Mr Cheney, who obtained 5 deferments from service in the military, has no business being in the same room as any soldier. The arrogance & self-deception of Cheney is of historical proportion.
President Bill Clinton was impeached for having sex in the Oval Office and lying about it --ACCUSED, CONVICTED, IMPEACHED....High Crimes but no loss of life....The Bush Administration has told the American people and the world "false," "misleading," "untruth," stories better known as Lies -- APPROXIMATELY 3500 U.S. troops killed, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of IRAQIS killed, TENS OF THOUSANDS of soldiers missing limbs, eyes, maimed and injured physically and mentally as walking wounded -- NO ONE IMPEACHED OR CONVICTED....WOW!!!!
Smart? Fearless? Journalism?
Don't make me laugh.
The twin hallmarks of the Bush administration have been the egregious dishonesty and the remarkable incompetence of its officials. Vice President Cheney's comments would only be remarkable if he had in any way touched upon the truth. Repeating distortions and lies to receptive audiences is what Cheney does best. However, it is revealing that Cheney would think our Army officers incapable of distinguishing truth from lies after four years of war in Iraq. The US military deserves nothing but the truth from this or any other administration. The fact that the Bush administration has repeatedly failed the U.S. military in this respect is something these fine young officers should never forget. If that becomes the case, then Cheney will have delivered a life-long lesson upon the occasion of their commencement.
Just Truth's comments comparing Bush's black lies to Clinton's white lie are right on the money and a sad commentary on how easily manipulated the masses are.
They've wasted $400B on Iraq thru 2006, when Exxon's profits quadrupled to $40B. Their strategic plan has nothing to do with terrorism or patriotism: its to burn $10 of public money to give $1 to their business-buddies, who launder 15% back to help them buy another election.
Iraq and Al Qaeda are mutually exclusive. I guess Chaney has been in an undisclosed location, so he probably didn't get the news yet. Couldn't West Point find someone better than a loose canon like Chaney? I guess not.
By the way, congratulations grads. Bummer about the timing though.
To the dipstick who mocked the idea that of "the enemy following us home", you dumb bastard, they started it here on 9/11 by killing 3,000 Americans. They don't need to follow us, they're here, and you're on their side.
I would just like to thank "we serve with pride" writer. We have men defending our freedom and that is reality and i think our President and Vice President our very in tune to that. I am proud to be an American. As americans we have a right to be proud, if not, then seach your heart and actions, and then make a change.
Yo' Tink, Iraq was shooting at Americans every day for a decade. It's called the "No Fly Zone" and the Iraq military under Saddam fired on our patrols every day for a decade.
The ceasefire agreement said we were allowed enforceement patrols, yet Saddam shot at Americans anyway. You talk about negotiated settlements as a solution with these people? We that negotiated settlement wasn't worth spit.
You liberals are willing to let other people die for your beliefs. American military and diplomats died during the 90's and you didn't give a rat's ass. It was open season on them but you didn't demonstrate to stop their deaths. People of color, in this case yellow, died by the millions in Pol Pots killing fields for your beliefs. Boat people, again people of color, died on the seas trying to escape the hell your policies condemed them to. For every boat person who survived, one either drowned, straved, died of thirst or was murdered by pirates. Women were raped before being killed. And you guys said the North would be magnaomous in victory. They weren't. The killed hundreds of thousands. Look up "Vietnam" and "re-education Camps" in Google.
War Freed The Slave - War Saved The Jews - Antiwar Racists Go Home
Knowing some West point grads, This is not the crowd that will blindly accept Cheney's words as gospel. Just the fact that he constantly feels the need to state his argument....tells me they might not be buying into it. Me thinks Cheney dost protest too much.
Just one question. If our country was invaded and occupied by another world power, how would we behave?
As a former Marine, I am absolutely against this war built on nothing but lies and deceipt. It was started for one reason and one reason only - so Bush and Co. could get their greedy little hands on Iraqi oil profits. This was what Cheney discussed in his secret Energy conference. And when Whittington started to crack, Cheney took him out and shot him in the face as a warning to any others who might be tempted to admit their crimes. These people are criminals and belong in jail. Pure and simple.
To Raoul: War saved the Jews? Freed the slaves? Somebody must have forgotten to tell them.
You are the man Clay...nobody has the balls to tell it like it is...it must be that good Marine training..Semper Fi
From the pothead, crackheaded hollywood elite to the stupid in America the left never stops their slander. Anyone with a brain the size of a pinhead knows what's in store for America. It is a never ending conflict with a "species" that hates us and our way of life. We are evil. Therefore we must die. In many ways I do hope we come home and run. It won't be long before 9-11 looks like a walk in the park. They are here and they are waiting for the liberals to get solidly in office where they don't have to worry about getting hit if they hit us.
When you are percieved as killers; (650,000 est. Iraqi civilian deaths) there will always be a response from people whom also feel God is on their side. The creation of more enemies is a self-fulfilling prophecy created by our leaders' own warped sense of how the world should look.
Wake me up when this nightmare of an administration is over. Repeat the same lies over and over and over again does not make them true. I just hope these future leaders of our military & our country see through his bullsh*t.
"Yo' Tink, Iraq was shooting at Americans every day for a decade. It's called the "No Fly Zone" and the Iraq military under Saddam fired on our patrols every day for a decade..."
Raoul, perhaps you should look at the fact that we have been starving Iraqi women and children and keeping saddam in power through the oil-for-food program. Or the fact that we provided the chemical weapons that saddam used to murder his own people. all of this is public information -- you know new york times, washington post articles... reports by the state department... that kind of stuff.
perhaps the reason people in the middle east hate our country is because we have been systematically murdering them (and many others) for decades.
spend some time. look it up. and stop posting nonsense
Himmler addressing the troops. The poor bastards who honor their country and do their duty even when their country is in the hands of evil lunatics.
Dick Cheney went to the wrong stadium. He's a very rich man. His net worth is roughly $100M. He should be at all Hannity freedom concerts to watch and to donate money to send the kids of US soldiers killed in Iraq to college.
Bush and Cheney sold the Iraq invasion based on weapons of mass destruction, principally and foremost, not al-quada; of course, there were none, so the honorable thing for them to do is resign instead of more lies.
You moron.......Lincoln freed the slaves.
as vet240 said ----it is a gross insult to the military that this creature should even be ALLOWED (much less requested) to speak to WP graduates/first insult was when he was made Secty. of Defense under previous bush------WHY do not MORE vet groups EVER comment on this ironci insult to those who risk their lives------
Cheney IS our president, not Bush who cannot form an intelligent sentence. I say IMPEACH THEM ALL.
and now watch google's 9/11 Justice video:
Gotta love a man who never lets reality interfere with a good delusion
I am the father of two young men who are Army officers. They also happen to be National Merit scholars. These two "zombies," as chazaroo describes them, will be the first to tell you they might not agree with chaz, but they are willing to lay down their lives to protect chaz's right to speak up and publish his/her bilious BS.
The world is made up of wolves, sheep and sheepdogs. Sheep like Chazaroo hate to be reminded it's the sheep dogs--the U.S. armed forces members--who risk their lives daily to allow the sheep to sleep safely in their beds each night and regurgitate such vitriol in complete freedom. Only an idiot who knows nothing about the fine men and women who serve in our armed forces is unable to separate the soldier from the politicians and foreign policy makers who send our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines into harm's way.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. This is Vietnam war era, knee jerk blame/hate the soldiers deja vu, all over again, as Yogi would say.
The real issue at hand is not that the terrorists have gathered in Iraq, which can be argued. But that Iraq, before the invasion was not a safe haven for Al Qaeda. The only reason they have gathered there is because the toppling of Hussein has created a safe haven. Al Qaeda is tolerated in Iraq. They want the US to stay. In fact, the US presence in Iraq is only prolonging these daily bombings. Yet the security forces that have been trained and established by the Coalition and Iraqi government have been infiltrated by fanatical Shiites. If there is a pullout of US forces, the country will very well go into civil war, if not already. The Democrats realize this. That is why they sent a bill to the president without timetables. The American public needs to be clamping down on politicians that use language which is fundamentally incorrect. Lets get to the issue at hand, properly informing the American public.
all this notable philosophizing aside, haven't ANY of you noticed this nazi's interesting similarity in looks to JABBA THE HUT? (not to mention their personal style)---
