Reuters: Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday the United States was close to achieving its aims in Iraq.
Interviewed on CBS's "Face the Nation," Cheney offered another spirited defense of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, of which he was a key proponent and architect.
"We are close to achieving most of our objectives. We have a significant reduction in the overall level of violence," said Cheney, who leaves office on January 20.
He also cited the removal of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, the new Iraqi constitution, the Iraqi elections, and a recent framework agreement providing for a U.S. military withdrawal by 2011 as successes.
"All of these things by anybody's standards would be evidence of significant success," Cheney said.
Cheney speaks on the Israel ground invasion of Gaza:
CBS: Vice President Dick Cheney said on CBS' Face The Nation Sunday that Israel did not seek approval from the U.S. before embarking on a ground invasion into Gaza.
“They didn’t seek clearance or approval from us, certainly,” he said.
“I think it’s important to remember who the enemy is here," Cheney continued, when asked if the ground attack was a mistake. "The enemy is not the Palestinians, from the perspective of the Israelis – it’s Hamas.”
“…You’ve got a U.N. member state being attacked by a terrorist organization," Cheney said. "And to go after that terrorist organization, I think they probably decided that an air campaign wasn’t enough, that they had to go in on the ground if they were going to take down the sites from which the rockets had been launched against Israel.”
Cheney called his comments “informed speculation.”
“If there’s to be a ceasefire, you can’t simply go back to the status quo anti, what it was a few weeks ago,” he said. “Where you had a ceasfire recognized by one side but not adhered to by the other. It’s got to be a sustainable, durable propsoiton, and Hamas has to stop rocketing Israel. And I don’t think you can have a viable ceasefire until their prepared to do that.”
Cheney also said that the administration’s surveillance program had been a success that “provided crucial intelligence for us. It’s one of the main reasons we’ve been successful in defending the country against further attacks.”
