Yesterday, after a week of serious criticism, for claiming that the insurgency in Iraq was in its “last throes,” Cheney refused to back down, even after Gen. John Abizaid, our top military commander for the Middle East, proclaimed that the insurgency, in fact, was as strong as ever, and “a lot of work” remained to be done to defeat it."
That's a valid question: To test your knowledge, we put together a little quiz: Some of the following comments came from Baghdad Bob (circa spring of 2003), and some are more recent statements D.C. Dick ?
QUIZ: 'Baghdad Bob' or D.C. Dick ?
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"No, I am not scared, and neither should you be."
"We will succeed in Iraq, just like we did in Afghanistan"
"Be assured: Baghdad is safe, protected."
"We are doing what we believe is right. We're convinced it's right. We're convinced that in fact we'll achieve our objectives."
"We are in control, they are not in control of anything, they don't even control themselves!"
"we've got a pretty good idea of the general area where [he] is hiding, but I don't have the street address."
"The battle is very fierce and God will make us victorious."
"The point would be that the conflict will be intense, but it's intense because the terrorists understand if we're successful at accomplishing our objective, standing up a democracy in Iraq, that that's a huge defeat for them."
"They think that by killing civilians and trying to distort the feelings of the people they will win."
"Capturing Saddam wouldn't be worth additional U.S. casualties or the risk of getting bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern Iraq."
"I blame Al-Jazeera."
"All of a sudden you've got a battle you're fighting in a major built-up city, a lot of civilians are around, significant limitations on our ability to use our most effective technologies and techniques."
"Those are not Iraqis at all. Where did they bring them from?"
"I believe the chief of staff of the Army and the vice chief -- vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs have testified recently that all of our troops in Iraq are now properly equipped with the newest body armor."
"I can assure you that those villains will recognize in the future how they are pretending things which have never taken place."
"There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction, there is no doubt that he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies and against us, an aggressive nuclear weapons program."
"I would like to clarify a simple fact here: How can you lay siege to a whole country? Who is really under siege now?"
"Did I say 500 tons of sarin and 25,000 liters of anthrax? I meant `weapons of mass destruction-related program activities.'"
"We're giving them a real lesson today. Heavy doesn't accurately describe the level of casualties we have inflicted."
"Iraq is now the central front in the war on terror."
"The American press is all about lies! All they tell is lies, lies, and more lies!"
"Once we had rounded him up and gotten rid of his government, then the question is what do you put in its place? You know, you then have accepted the responsibility for governing Iraq."
"They are becoming hysterical. This is the result of frustration."
"We believe that he Saddam Hussein has in fact reconstituted nuclear weapons."
"I speak better English than Bush."
"I think it’s very important that we have a president with firm leadership who has the kind of track record of dealing straight with people, so that friends respect us and adversaries fear us."
"Just look carefully, I only want you to look carefully. Do not repeat the lies of liars. Do not become like them."
“There’s been a decision not to allow US firms to invest significantly in Iran, and I think that’s a mistake.”
"The United Nations...it is all their fault."
"The effort that we've mounted with respect to Iraq focused specifically on the possibility that this was the most likely nexus between the terrorists and weapons of mass destruction."
"Even those who live on another planet, if there are such people, would condemn them."
"Now what kind of government are you going to establish? Is it going to be a Kurdish government, or a Shi'ia government, or a Sunni government, or maybe a government based on the old Baathist Party, or some mixture thereof? You will have, I think by that time, lost the support of the Arab coalition that was so crucial to our operations over there,"
"This is unbiased: They are retreating on all fronts. Their effort is a subject of laughter throughout the world."
"A return of inspectors would provide no assurance whatsoever of his compliance with UN resolutions. On the contrary, there is a great danger that it would provide false comfort that Saddam was somehow 'back in the box.' "
"The force that was near the airport, this force was destroyed."
"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction."
"They are achieving nothing. Our estimates are that none of them will come out alive unless they surrender to us quickly."
"We learn more and more that there was a relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda that stretched back through most of the decade of the '90s."
"They hold no place in Iraq. This is an illusion."
"We've never been able to develop any more of that yet, either in terms of confirming it or discrediting it. We just don't know."
"Once again, I blame al-Jazeera. Please, make sure of what you say and do not play such a role."
“Halliburton is a unique kind of company. There are very few companies out there that have the combination of very large engineering construction capability and significant oil-field services.”
"Most of you probably saw the movie 'Wag the Dog'. I hope you remember it."
"If our commanders need more troops, they'll ask us."
"These cowards have no morals. They have no shame about lying."
"We've made significant progress in Iraq."
"You can go and visit those places. Everything is okay. They are not in Najaf. They are nowhere. They are on the moon."
"What we did in Iraq was exactly the right thing to do. If I had it to recommend all over again, I would recommend exactly the same course of action."
"Rumsfeld, he needs to be hit on the head."
"I had other priorities in the '60s."'
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