Obama Adviser Calls Out Cheney: You Walked Away From Afghanistan (VIDEO)

Former Vice President Dick Cheney said he "basically" didn't think he or his old boss held any responsibility for the current state of affairs in Afghanistan. On MSNBC today, National Security Council Chief of Staff Denis McDonough pointed out that not only does Cheney bear some responsibility for ignoring Afghanistan for the past eight years -- he also "walked away" from the country when he was Secretary of Defense in the 1990s.

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Comments

[mrsbee]

03:46 PM on 12/03/2009

We have to trust Obama on this ...he reflected for a long time and made a tough decision...he looked ery troubled to me...this was not done lightly..this is another Bush/Cheney mess he has to clean up...his whole four years will be cleaning up their garbage..we should all be praying for him and be grateful he took this job on...he could be making millions in some famous law firm right now instead...as for Cheney I just wish his pacemaker would stop running...and he would fade into oblivion.

[bigfated]

01:15 AM on 12/03/2009

As bad as they were....the Bush/Cheney gang COULD have been perpetuated as McSame/Palin! Talk about a nightmare!

[Safire]

11:34 PM on 12/02/2009

Given how defensive he is, and constantly spouting-off, tells me that he has been the power behind the throne, is not enthroned all along. It sure seems like he ran eveything, and the other was just his mouthpiece.

[dfranz]

06:55 PM on 12/02/2009

The only thing Cheney has been successful with was getting Halliburton set for life and picking up some sweet stock options.

[publicenemy2009]

06:35 PM on 12/02/2009

I'm not go to lose any sleep once this cre ep takes the dirt nap that he deserves.

[KIVPossum]

03:11 PM on 12/02/2009

It's a sad commentary on America that he came into power, stayed on the edge of power so long, then resurfaced at the height of power when all he has done is screw up. Never once has any policy with his hand on it worked.

[zendem1]

11:29 AM on 12/02/2009

This is a guy who has spent 40 years of a political career being wrong on just about everything. His voting record in Congress was a tad short of insanity, having actually voted against the banning of cop killer bullets. The only thing he's ever done successfully is start wars and profit by them. He is a nasty, p.athetic excuse for a human being and if there is a h.ell I hope he rots in it.

[SkelDaddy]

12:04 PM on 12/02/2009

The only guy with a record to match that comes to mind is William Kristol.

[SPQR1775]

09:54 AM on 12/02/2009

Cheney=OIL lots of it and yes there isn't any readily available in that part of the world

[BlackTom]

11:29 AM on 12/02/2009

It's the gas pipeline.

[SkelDaddy]

12:05 PM on 12/02/2009

And we are not talking about his c0lon, either.

[MadeandBakedintheUSA]

08:37 AM on 12/02/2009

And POLITICO defends cheeeneys position because he knows so much !

I say the UK Report is released- IRAQ cooked up by cheeeeny

[jalaroc]

08:05 AM on 12/02/2009

In cheney's defense on afghanistan and pakistan, there wasn't any oil there so why bother? Being facetious, of course.

[ohiotechie]

07:59 AM on 12/02/2009

This is a horrible mistake that's being made. More young lives will be wasted for nothing in a country that doesn't even want us there in order to support a puppet who has no real authority with his countrymen. I never thought we'd find ourselves back in Vietnam but here we are. No way to win, no way to leave without admitting it was all a big mistake making it grind on and on and on and on.

Obama, just like Nixon, could have pulled the plug on this war and blamed it on his predecessor. Just like Nixon, he will be judged harshly by history for escalating a conflict that surely someone of his intellect knows cannot be won through military conflict. What can the military do in this situation? Bomb them into the stone age? They're already there!

The British, at the height of their empire tried what we are doing and failed. The USSR, at the height of their empire tried what we are doing and failed. We will fail also because Afghanistan will not suffer foreign invaders. This is a tragic mistake.

[GranE]

12:11 PM on 12/02/2009

A mistake to try and keep terrorists from getting hold of Pakistan's nuclear warheads? Your logic escapes me.

You cannot compare WWII nor Vietnam to the threats we face today. WWII was won because it was just as big a threat to the world then as Pakistan and Irans' nukes are today. Nuclear disarmament is the only way out of wars now.

[jqcitizen]

12:42 PM on 12/02/2009

GranE-

So now Iran has nukes? Sounds like John McCain talking. Pakistan and neighboring India have them. So what? Is the solution to the nuclear bomb problem as simple as sending US troops into Isreal, Russia, N.Korea, Pakistan or India?

Attacking a sovereign nation because some politician says they have a nuclear capability hardly promotes world peace.

[Safire]

11:24 PM on 12/02/2009

Thank you so much! I believe you may be the first I have seen post that this time the threat is REAL! People are getting so caught up in minutae, but fail to get that we are in real danger this time. The Taliban are in Pakistan. Pakistan has nuclear warheads. Pakistan's govt. is weak, and they just barely staved off a Taliban takeover. Who knows if this strategy will work, but I applaud him for trying to save our butts.

[jamaicalover]

06:44 PM on 12/02/2009

I think what was horrible was 3,000 men, women and children dying on 9/11/01. I am no fan of war and I mixed feelings about this, but I will trust our President to do the right thing.

If he just pulls the plug then what?

[ohiotechie]

06:58 AM on 12/03/2009

We're going to end up leaving Afghanistan the same way the Russians did; it's just a matter of how long it will take, how many lives and how much money we'll waste in the interim.

The mission was supposed to be to go after Bin Laden, not create a Mini-USA in Afghanistan. Bin Laden is no where in sight and no longer on the radar. We have disrupted their training camps but as we focus on other goals and dig in there, the terrorists simply move somewhere else; Pakistan today, Somalia tomorrow. We simply can't invade and occupy the entire world; it just isn't feasible.

We've created an open ended mission that keeps changing, and Obama is doubling down on a war that cannot be won. This is madness.

[alumcreek]

07:41 AM on 12/02/2009

Cheney has always been about Cheney and nothing else except for possibly wealth accumulation.

He has never been concerned with America's welfare or even about the Republican party. He is the posterchild for solipsism.

[fairness4all]

09:25 PM on 12/02/2009

Re: ..."posterchild for solipsism."

You nailed it!

[msgirlintn]

05:13 AM on 12/02/2009

I saw this on msnbc today and yelled out "YES". Finally somebody had the guts to say it on the teevee machine. My daughter was in bed with a migraine but came out to see what I was yelling about.

[gtt]

04:23 AM on 12/02/2009

I don't trust Cheney to give any truthful account of his handling of matters of foreign policy or bird hunting.

On both accounts he is dangerous.

[dadw5boys]

05:15 AM on 12/02/2009

unable to do either one.

[zest]

10:15 AM on 12/02/2009

Even his children are a lie.

[Querent]

04:06 AM on 12/02/2009

If you all support President Obama's war escalation, fine, but I wish you would all stop telling us that we should have known he was going to do this, and that we don't have enough top secret information to know that he's made a wrong decision. None of that is relevant. Just own this war, if you support it. You're welcome to it.

[tierone]

10:41 AM on 12/02/2009

Querent if you think none of that is relevant than you're just not very smart.

Get off my lawn.

[Jonny38103]

04:52 PM on 12/02/2009

Actually he's keeping a campaign promise......

From a speech in Richmond VA in October 2008:

“It’s time to heed the call from General McKiernan and others for more troops. That’s why I’d send at least two or three additional combat brigades to Afghanistan. We also need more training for Afghan Security forces, more non-military assistance to help Afghans develop alternatives to poppy farming, more safeguards to prevent corruption, and a new effort to crack down on cross-border terrorism. Only a comprehensive strategy that prioritizes Afghanistan and the fight against al Qaeda will succeed, and that’s the change I’ll bring to the White House.”

–Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), in a speech Wednesday in Richmond, Virginia on national security policy.