Cheney In '92: "How Many Additional American Lives Is Saddam Worth...Not Very Damn Many"

A recently-unearthed video from 1992 shows Vice President Dick Cheney predicting the mess that occupying Iraq would create:

If you get into the business of committing U.S. forces on the ground in Iraq, to occupy the place, my guess is I'd probably still have people there today instead of having been able to bring them home...The bottom line question for me was: How many additional American lives is Saddam Hussein worth? The answer: not very damn many.

Read more from Think Progress.

Watch the video here:

Comments

[zizyphus]

02:06 PM on 09/29/2007

What I want to know is, who had that video all these years? Who was the one who released it at this time? Does anyone know?

I think that is a story in itself.

[1differentdrummer]

05:49 AM on 09/29/2007

The man's a chameleon.

[StillAmused]

03:34 AM on 09/29/2007

Old news.

A stint with Halliburton took care of whatever shallow principles were once exhibited by this hunched-over demon with the battery-operated heart.

[CheneysACoward]

05:26 AM on 09/29/2007

How many American lives is Cheney worth...NONE!

[Veleria29]

09:17 AM on 09/29/2007

What happened to Cheney after 1992??? I know he had a pacemaker installed but did he have a lobotomy also?

[LorettaSingbiel]

10:30 AM on 09/29/2007

"How many American lives is Cheney worth...NONE!"

And if HE didn't have HIS "UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE" at TAX PAYERS' EXPENSE, HIS life may have ENDED with the FIRST heart attack...and perhaps HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of lives would NOT have ENDED!

Stay safe, healthy and happy,
Love, Loretta

[ROBOT8]

03:25 AM on 09/29/2007

THE AUDACITY OF HANNITY & HIS LIFE PARTNER COMBS! BILL O'REALLY,who by the way, only needs a $9 allura wig to look like an old drag queen and GOTTA RUSH TO MY DRUG DEALER LIMBAUGH! TO CRITICIZE ANYONE FOR ANYTHING.....THESE SCUM SUCKING PROPOGANDISTS ARE THE EQUIVALENT OF HAVING TOKYO ROSE BROADCASTING FROM THE MIDWEST DURING WORK WAR ll...........WASH OUT YOUR EARS AMERICA THEY'RE FULL OF CRAP IF YOU LISTEN TO THE CORPORATE BITCHES. AND WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO ANN "MAN HANDS" COULTER? YOU CAN'T GET RID OF THAT EXTRA MALE CHROMOSONE LIKE YOU DID YOUR EXTRA EYELID SKIN though i do get a kick out of the way only her mouth can move on tv from the perpetual bo-tox overdosing..SHE'S THE BARRY BONDS OF BOTOX.....AS FOR SAVAGE? PUSSYS GET PIT BULLS AND TOUGH NAMES SO THEY CAN BE CLOSER TO REAL MEN! how could he be gay with a name like SAVAGE?????????? OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH! YOU SAVAGE BRUTE! I BET HE GOES TO THE GYM IN SPEEDOS

WAKE- UP BRO! NEO CONS LOVE USING OPPORTUNIST MINORITIES TO DO THEIR CRIMES. YOU, ALBERTO GONZALEZ AND CUNDI RICE............THEY NEVER RESPECTED YOU FOOLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND YOU ARE FOOLS! THERE WAS AN OPPORTUNITY TO DO SO MUCH GOOD AND NOW YOU'VE ALL JUST FURTHERED THE INTERESTS OF THE WHITE ELITIST FEW!....WHAT YOU SAY WILLIS???????? THAT'S YOUR PLACE IN HISTORY FOOL!

[iswearington]

03:21 AM on 09/29/2007

how many granules of salt on a saltine cracker is cheney worth....not very many.

[truthyguy]

01:23 AM on 09/29/2007

How many lives is Saddam worth?
I would have given Cheney's life. So the answer for me is one.

[dolphy]

12:11 AM on 09/29/2007

Dick is not worth a single drop of blood of any soldier. GFY Dick should be given as many lives as there are dead soldiers and killed after a week of torture for each life.

[Not Blind]

11:31 PM on 09/28/2007

What's the point of this video, if not to prove that invading a foreign soverign nation for its natural resources was then and is now wrong? It is a matter of international law.
Just like the Geneva Convention and our Bill of Rights and Constitution, these are but pieces of paper written hundreds of years ago and do not apply to the reality and vision of the world today. We must support Israel no matter what, right or wrong according to the AIPAC and fundamentalist Christian evangelicals who want Israel's kingdom resotred and Armageddon. We must dominate and control the world's depleting oil reserves to keep our "way of live" SUV's running as we pollute the environment. We must deregulate industries to remove safe-guards which protect investors, employees and pensions so our friends-their CEO's can pillage the corporate coffers. We must award no-bid contracts to our own and our friend's businesses to boost profits while avoiding all accountability or responsibility for their acts since they aren't part of the government, even though they reap grotesque profits and subsidies from it. We must use signing statements and recess appointments to avoid the pesky checks & balances, oversight or inquiry. We must operate in total secrecy, and when-if we're found to be violating the law, invoke "privelege" with which to show contempt of subpoenas, not devulge evidence or testimony about what we've actually done. We must give generous tax breaks to the wealthiest and large corporations while raiding Social Security and Medicare trust funds with secret "off budget" spending. We must tell people how fiscally responsible we are while denying veteran's adequate pay or benefits, denying children health care, lowering funding for public education and infrastructure, as we spend billions to fund an illegal and immoral war. We should tell people how much "safer they are" with fewer rights and liberties, even though we can't handle a disaster with a semblence of competency. But this is all right, loyal and patriotic and but a small price to pay for which we should all be willing to share the sacrifice.

[outnow]

12:16 AM on 09/29/2007

Welcome to the New World Order where up is down and down is up. It's a topsy turvy world, really, said the Queen.

By the way, you can drive your SUV to McDonalds to "super-size" your kid. His diabetes, type II can be treated by a new wonder drug that also treats ADHD and causes weight loss.

[thepeoplechoose]

10:53 PM on 09/28/2007

As is reflected in various posts, deposing SH in 1992 or 1994 or anytime prior to 9/11 wasn't worth the cost in $ or lives. DC Dick even said so. And even after 9/11 it is clear that Iraq did not pose a significant (or even minor) threat to the U.S.

What changed?

The cost of oil and the fact that Iraq has a lot of it. That is what changed.

We are in Iraq as a wedge against spiraling energy costs. The Bush administration had a choice to make. Try and secure a supply of oil by invading Iraq or launch a national policy to develop alternative energy sources. Bush opted for the former because he has a lot of buddies in the oil business that stood to make a lot of money if he chose that course. It made not a bit of difference that there would be a cost that would be borne by the American people. We pay twice. With our blood and at the pump.

If the federal government mandated the use of energy efficient light bulbs we could have saved a big chunk of the money Iraq has cost us. That is just one example of the things we could be doing to address our energy needs. Many things like that could be done but certain persons or corporations wouldn't make money on those.

[jdcccc]

11:03 PM on 09/28/2007

Do you have any figures on the amount of oil we have stolen from Iraq and its effect on the price at the pump in the USA.

[bushmocker]

11:10 PM on 09/28/2007

No,why don't you research it and report back to us.

[LorettaSingbiel]

10:52 AM on 09/29/2007

"Do you have any figures on the amount of oil we have stolen from Iraq and its effect on the price at the pump in the USA."

Had we tried PURCHASING (instead of PILLAGING) their OIL, we CERTAINLY would have had LESS CORPSES and LESS CORPORATISTS!!!

Stay safe, healthy and happy,
Love, Loretta

[jdcccc]

10:31 PM on 09/28/2007

In 1992 all the people that worked in the World Trade Center thought it was a safe place to work.

In 1992 we didn't know cigarettes caused cancer and had to sue the industry for a gazillian dollars to prove it.

In 1992 we didn't know Bill Clintoon was a cereal female abuser and his wife was OK with it.

In 1992 we didn't know John Kerry was a war hero, we thought he was a traitor.

In 1992 we didn't think the students of Columbia would cheer a brutal dictator.

[bushmocker]

11:00 PM on 09/28/2007

The first one I'll give you,but in 1992 we knew cigarettes caused cancer,everyone knew except for politicians and Cigarette company execs,Bill Clinton had an affair,he wasn't one of those Republican creeps hanging out at the public restroom.We knew John Kerry was a war hero,Swiftboaters smeared him and when it was exposed how they lied, Republicans kept repeating the same lie and still do to this day.I didn't think there would be anyone still cheering our dictator today,but here you are.

[jdcccc]

11:49 PM on 09/28/2007

Please tell us what the people that served with Kerry lied about.

President Clintoon had an affair. He also had a cadre of women claim he sexually abused them.

As far as creeps hanging out in restrooms, I agree. How do you feel about Barney Frank.

And please tell us how President Bush can be defined as a dictator.

[bernarda]

03:46 AM on 09/29/2007

jdccc gives us another good example of wingnut knowledge and intelligence,

"a cereal female abuser"

Which cereals did Clinton abuse, or are you saying that Clinton is a cereal, if so, which one.

If a wingnut had a brain, it would have been discovered by now.

[phansen]

10:27 PM on 09/28/2007

Cheney's comments, while horribly hypocritical, are also remarkably prescient. Which proves that he knew EXACTLY how screwed we were going to be once we occupied Iraq. That must come as welcome consolation to those who bought into the "we'll be welcomed as liberators" nonsense. What a tragic and unnecessary waste of lives this war has been.

[smartstuart]

10:18 PM on 09/28/2007

....but it would be worth YOURS and Chimpy McCokespoon's!!!! You dirty mother****er!!!!

[Hirnlego]

09:44 PM on 09/28/2007

What's new about this quote? I've posted it for a couple of years..

[MajorKong]

09:32 PM on 09/28/2007

I was flying Northern Watch in late 2002. At that time the sanctions had so cut into their supply of spare parts that the Iraqi Air Force had maybe 10 flyable aircraft on any given day.

It's noteworthy that they didn't even put a single plane in the air when we invaded. The country was being invaded, the very existence of the regime was threatened, and they didn't sortie a single Mig. Not one. Think about that.

Yet somehow this was the country that was going to destroy the United States on a moment's notice if we didn't invade them? Does anybody else see just how completely ludicrous the propaganda was?

[bushdoescrack]

04:38 PM on 09/29/2007

Yet somehow this was the country that was going to destroy the United States on a moment's notice if we didn't invade them? Does anybody else see just how completely ludicrous the propaganda was?



yes, i do.

the war was sold to the american public based on fear. sadaam and his bloodthirsty soldiers, at the ready to attack americans with wmd, to rape and slaughter children.
as it turned out in bizzaro world, america, it was the americans who raped and slaughtered iraqi children. americans destroyed a proud country, a country that will never forgive or forget the atrocities committed.
and most americans bought bush's scam, hook, line and sinker, these americans have the blood of dead iraq's on their hands.

[JPHogan]

08:48 PM on 09/28/2007

I for one have been remembering those days and such newsspots for the past year of commenting on blogs still in support of Bush Administration sense of need to take down Saddam Hussein. In 1992 I thought it best as well not to go right into Baghdad after Saddam, after Saddam and risk likely use of Chemical weapons atleast against many thousands of Americans and international troops. We didn't have the necessary accuracy or tonage in our arsenal towards Iraqi Freedom then. That Clintons declared a peace dividend before Saddam was brought to justice is still unfathomable behavior. No wonder Cheney wanted to get back to lower paying higher stress job representing Americans.

[getoffmedz]

08:59 PM on 09/28/2007

JPHogan - back away from the Koolaide very slowly.

lol

[rras]

09:00 PM on 09/28/2007

This isn't news, hell he's always talked out of his ass, give us something new. How about his Lesbian daughter's new baby. Is it straight, going to be Fucked up like his Grandparents or just a common, ugly as all hell republican.