Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) lashed out at former Vice President Dick Cheney during an interview on MSNBC Thursday, expressing dismay that the Iraq War architect would "raise his ugly head" to criticize President Barack Obama over his handling of Iraq.
"[Cheney] led this country down a road with his irresponsible decisions when he was in office and trying to take us back there, when clearly we lost 4,500 lives as a result of the bad decisions," Meeks said in response to Cheney's op-ed in the Wall Street Journal Tuesday, blaming "the collapsing Obama doctrine" for the escalating crisis in Iraq. "How dare he come and even raise his ugly head at this time."
"He was dead wrong then and dead wrong now and he's never been right. I just wish that we'd stop covering him," Meeks, who voted against the 2002 authorization to invade Iraq, continued. "The guy should just go stay retired, take care of his health and just keep his mouth shut."
The Democratic lawmaker also went after Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who recently called for the president's entire national security team to resign over the situation in Iraq.
Meeks dismissed McCain's analysis Thursday. "If anybody should fire anybody ... Cheney should fire all of his people and McCain should fire all of his because they haven't been right on anything," the congressman said.
In March, Meeks advised Cheney to "just keep his mouth shut and stay at home" after the former vice president said during an interview on CBS’s "Face the Nation" that there was "no question" that Russian President Vladimir Putin viewed Obama as weak.
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