The BBC has published these excerpts from Vice President Dick Cheney's speech to the Frontiers of Freedom Institute gala in Washington:
In Washington you can ordinarily rely on some basic measure of truthfulness and good faith in the conduct of political debate.
But in the last several weeks we have seen a wild departure from that tradition.
And the suggestion that's been made by some US senators that the president of the United States or any member of this administration purposely misled the American people on pre-war intelligence is one of the most dishonest and reprehensible charges ever aired in this city.
Some of the most irresponsible comments have, of course, come from politicians who actually voted in favor of authorizing force against Saddam Hussein.
These are elected officials who had access to the intelligence, and were free to draw their own conclusions.
They arrived at the same judgement about Iraq's capabilities and intentions that was made by this administration and by the previous administration.
There was broad-based, bipartisan agreement that Saddam Hussein was a threat... that he had violated UN Security Council resolutions... and that, in a post-9/11 world, we couldn't afford to take the word of a dictator who had a history of WMD [weapons of mass destruction] programs, who had excluded weapons inspectors, who had defied the demands of the international community, who had been designated an official state sponsor of terror and who had committed mass murder.
The saddest part is that our people in uniform have been subjected to these cynical and pernicious falsehoods day in and day out.
Those are facts. What we're hearing now is some politicians contradicting their own statements and making a play for political advantage in the middle of a war.
American soldiers and marines are out there every day in dangerous conditions and desert temperatures - conducting raids, training Iraqi forces, countering attacks, seizing weapons, and capturing killers - and back home a few opportunists are suggesting they were sent into battle for a lie.
The president and I cannot prevent certain politicians from losing their memory, or their backbone - but we're not going to sit by and let them rewrite history.
We're going to continue throwing their own words back at them. And far more important, we're going to continue sending a consistent message to the men and women who are fighting the war on terror in Iraq, Afghanistan, and many other fronts.
We can never say enough how much we appreciate them, and how proud they make us.
They and their families can be certain: that this cause is right... and the performance of our military has been brave and honorable... and this nation will stand behind our fighting forces with pride and without wavering until the day of victory.
Sounds about right.
According to the Financial Times, this is part of a sustained attack to prevent the rewritnig the history of how we decided to liberate Iraq:
Dan Bartlett, counselor to the President, told reporters in Gyenongju that the White House fight-back would be “sustained,” to prevent the charges about the misguided way the administration led the country to war becoming “conventional wisdom.”
“We saw the antics of the Senate shut down and when you say enough is enough….In the last couple of weeks it has reached critical mass. So we needed to respond,” he said. “Third party groups and liberal allies are calling Bush a liar. There is a whole apparatus behind the comments of Democrats.”
He denied the administration was too slow in responding, noting: “It is never too late to tell the truth,” and predicted the defence would continue “as long as they are willing to attempt this political manipulation of the facts. Since we have become engaged in this debate it has become clear how transparent the attacks are. Democrats are finding they have to defend their past quotes.”
Bush in Asia - Caroline Daniels’ online diary
Click here
The Financial Times also points out that this "debate" about who is lying is becoming personal:
There are signs too that the attacks are becoming increasingly personal. Mr Cheney in his speech noted, “I’m sorry we couldn’t be joined by Senators Harry Reid, John Kerry, and Jay Rockefeller. They were unable to attend due to a prior lack of commitment.”
Like the Democrats calling President Bush a liar isn't personal.
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