Retired General calls Cheney ‘incompetent war fighter’

By Kathleen Miller
Friday, October 23rd, 2009 -- 8:07 am
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cheney4 7241042 Retired General calls Cheney incompetent war fighter

A retired General who served more than 30 years in the U.S. Army and helped train Iraq's military between 2003 and 2004 called former Vice President Dick Cheney an "incompetent war fighter."

National Security Network Senior Adviser and Retired General Paul Eaton made the comments after Cheney criticized Obama in a Wednesday night speech for "dithering" about whether to substantially increase the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Obama has been under pressure from his top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, to add as many as 40,000 to 60,000 U.S. troops on the ground.

"The record is clear: Dick Cheney and the Bush administration were incompetent war fighters," Eaton said in a statement released Thursday. "They ignored Afghanistan for 7 years with a crude approach to counter-insurgency warfare best illustrated by: 1. Deny it.  2.  Ignore it. 3. Bomb it. While our intelligence agencies called the region the greatest threat to America, the Bush White House under-resourced our military efforts, shifted attention to Iraq, and failed to bring to justice the masterminds of September 11."

Cheney's criticisms of Obama came during his Wednesday night acceptance speech for the Center for Security Policy's "Keeper of the Flame" award.

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“President Obama now seems afraid to make a decision, and unable to provide his commander on the ground with the troops he needs to complete his mission,” the former vice president said of the current administration's approach to Afghanistan.

Eaton rejected those comments, adding that "the only time Cheney and his cabal of foreign policy 'experts' have anything to say is when they feel compelled to protect this failed legacy. While President Obama is tasked with cleaning up the considerable mess they left behind, they continue to defend torture or rewrite a legacy of indifference on Afghanistan. Simply put, Mr. Cheney sees history throughout extremely myopic and partisan eyes."

Eaton said he appreciates the "profound deliberations" that Obama and military commanders are having about Afhgan war strategy, and would "dismiss men like Cheney who inject partisan politics" into those discussions.

Rachel Maddow is joined by Ret. Major General Paul Eaton to discuss why former Vice President Dick Cheney is the last person anyone should listen to about successful prosecution of war and productive foreign policy.

This video is from MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show, broadcast Oct. 22, 2009.



Download video via RawReplay.com

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Story comments are below...

  • Eyeball_Kid
    WTF is wrong with Holder? Why isn't he slamming Cheney into a federal prison? The evil bastard outs a CIA NOC, orders the military to ignore the Geneva Conventions, commits war crimes, and he's an honored public speaker??? WTF is wrong with the DOJ??? They make a big deal out of getting Polanski from Switzerland for a sex crime from over thirty years ago, but they turn away from a mass murder, a war criminal, and a traitor and pretend he's a legitimate celebrity. Holder needs to get his ducks in a row and behave like an Attorney General. Among prosecutors, he's got to be the object of constant jokes and sneers.
  • LiberalTexasDemocrat
    It should take about what, wait a minute, I'm sure the right wing noise machine is probably planning on questioning General Eaton's patriotism and most likely his sexuality. It's all they ever have
  • dennycrane
    Holder should be replaced with Vincent Bugliosi. Now were talking
  • progchris
    WOW, Incompetent war (monger) I mean fighter.That's harsh!!! Probably fighting words!!!

    I just call him "Treasonous War Criminal who somehow up to now hasn't been hung" Go figure.
  • StevenWells
    Cheney's remarks fairly dripped with irony, hypocrisy and self-delusion. Seeing persons such as Donald Rumsfeld listening with rapt attention, it became very clear to me that this is nothing more than a desperate attempt by inept, irrelevant old men to convince each other that they were anything but the spectacular failures they were. Emulating Karl Rove, Cheney and company manufacture their own "truth" to create an "official story," which - rather than what actually happened - will be their only recollection.
  • I liked your thoughts but NEVER those b'stards 'old men or irrelevant'. They are more dangerous now than then.
  • texasaggie
    Consider that Obama's tortureless policy has had a much better record finding actual terrorists, not some gang that can't find their butts with both hands, than Cheney ever did. If you don't mind, dick, I would rather have a policy that actually does some good rather than one that feeds some sadistic need to abuse people.

    Speaking of dithering, Cheney was asked to send 30,000 troops while in office and he decided to fob the responsibility off on Obama. Now he all of a sudden is concerned about the safety of our troops??? Please.

    dick seems to think that somewhere there is evidence that torture works that is being ignored. I really wish he would come up with it. The two documents that he claims would show it works turned out to do nothing of the kind. It's sort of like him telling the inspectors that he knew where the WMD were being held, but then never told them. Also, that there was firm evidence that Saddam and al Qaeda were linked, but refused to turn that evidence over to the 9/11 panel. The guy is just disgusting.

    A record of success in the GWOT??? Are you kidding me? What would failure look like if this is success? Everything from our deficit to the loss of over 4000 soldiers in Iraq alone and who knows how many contractors plus the deaths of over a million Iraqis and the displacement of 5 million more who now can't go home under threat by the people we put in office plus the tens of thousands of permanently wounded soldiers, both physically and mentally, who will suffer for the rest of their lives, all of this is Cheney's responsibility, and it doesn't bother him at all.

    As for his wonderful plan that he sat on for seven years, he has a long record of error. (Speaking of which, is there any record of Cheney having been correct in one of his pronouncements?) Even Reagan ignored him and instead talked with Gorbachev.
  • pitbullstew
    as a viet vet? let me be clear? cheney and those like him?

    ARE CHICKEN HAWKS ALL!

    They are all the same though cheney is a apricularly decorated 5 time draft defered one! Entitled to wear 5 bird splats insted of stars on his collar.
  • thepoliticalcat
    Wouldn't I love to be the bird that donated those splats!
  • terrymo1
    I thought "chicken hawks" were men that liked little boys?
  • decora
    this is grade a horse shit. now we have generals publically arguing with each other... wonderful for our troops.
  • jlewd
    Once again, decora, you miss the point entirely -- no suprises there.

    The reason we hear about this now is because our generals are allowed to express themselves more freely than they were under Bush. During that crap regime, the military was simply told to lockstep and march without thinking for themselves, which is something no self-respecting, patriotic Commander-in-Chief would do. Unfortunately, with arrogant assholes like Bush and Cheney in command, ego superseded intelligence, which is why you had the likes of a chickenshit chickenhawk and an AWOL National Guardsman who didn't even complete his tour of duty running the show into the ground.

    Cheney was an idiot. The wars he and his organgrinder's monkey got us into were ill-planned and mismanaged. To hear this asswad complaining now about the very problems he created makes me sick to my stomach. I'd much rather hear this asshole's death rattle than the current crop of crap that issues from his mouth like an endless sea of sewage.

    Fuck Cheney. The best he can provide America is his obituary. I, for one, look forward to reading it. It'll be due cause for celebration: a day I'll take off work to drink shots in celebration.
  • thepoliticalcat
    Hey, I'm buyin', when that happens. Be sure to bring your booteh.
  • And when his demise occurs I bet you my life savings - ha! - that every cable channel will broadcast for days, his funeral. Even the blogosphere will chatter away.
  • rxgary
    theres no call for language like that. the man served his country for 30 years , he is entitled to his opinion. we in america , the true americans have been force fed the bush line of sh-t for way too long. and the vast majority want these war criminals executed.
  • rxgary
    decora no one likes your comments and no one likes you. why dont you slither away like the snake in the grass you are, hell awaits dead souls like yours, war mongering torturer approvers
  • Foxhunter
    Perhaps if Cheney and Rumsfeld and Bush had been more circumspect in their approach to Iraq and Afghanistan in 2002, 2003 and 2004 they would not have created such a complete disaster in the first place. Though nearly every American wants to support our troops in harms way, Obama is wise to contemplate this crucial crossroads in our country's history. Complex decisions take time. Obama, though younger than Cheney by decades, is innately wiser.
  • truebluecoondog
    Shame on Barack Obama for messing up Afghanistan after dubya and uncle dick painstakingly put everything in meticulous order before leaving office. Even after 9 years, I STILL can't believe those idiots were voted in - even if they weren't.
  • crookpatriots
    The bums and cowards will never show up on Rachel's show because they know she holds tape.

    Remember, you can't embarrass neocon chicken hawks because there is strength in numbers.

    Five deferments should have made it illegal for cheney to recite the pledge of allegiance much less become vice president.

    Could there be anything more dishonest and putrid when neocons take credit for the US not being hit since 911, when keeping the borders wide open for their US Chamber of Commerce buds made it possible for any terrorist that can walk enter the country.... that's not protecting it's facilitating the enemy.
  • bigmikemcgee
    America has the memory of a flea..The backbone of a snake..
    and the staying power of a 90 year old dick...9/11/2001
    kill them all.......9/11/2009 oh the poor babys Wake up
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