Tuesday, September 18, 2007

 

"I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency." - Dick Cheney May 31, 2005.

September 14th, 2007 7:40 pm
Cheney to Michigan: Progress being made in Iraq

By James Prichard / Associated Press

GRAND RAPIDS — Vice President Dick Cheney today reiterated the Bush administration’s case that progress is being made in Iraq while acknowledging that tough work lies ahead.

“The troop surge has achieved solid results and in a relatively short period of time,” Cheney said during a speech on Iraq and the global war on terrorism at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum.

Cheney’s remarks came a day after President George W. Bush’s speech to the nation on Iraq. On Thursday night, Bush defended the war, saying progress justifies preserving a large U.S. military presence there for at least 10 more months.

Noting this week’s sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Cheney said the war on terrorism doesn’t need to be endless. But he said conditions that breed and foster terrorism must be eliminated.

Cheney, who spoke for about a half-hour, said the president remains steadfast in his goal of achieving success in Iraq to help make the United States safer and won’t be swayed by political considerations or polls.

“President Bush will make his decisions based on the national interest and nothing else,” Cheney said.

Bush was to reinforce his message the United States is winning and that continuing the fight is crucial to American security during a trip Friday to a Marine base in Quantico, Va., just outside Washington.

Cheney’s speech was one of two planned by the vice president for Friday. He was to travel to MacDill Air Force Base in Florida for a speech on Iraq.

Cheney was chief of staff at the end of Ford’s presidency and was among the dozens of dignitaries who attended Ford’s funeral in January.


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