I just watched this beautiful video clip from a 1994 interview with Dick Cheney. “Gulf War I : Desert Storm” had just concluded and he was asked to defend the Father’s decision not to take it to Saddam. He responds eloquently, presenting a case which is well thought out and entirely correct. Basically, he has two main points:
- There’s nothing good to do with Iraq once you’ve deposed Saddam, and the country will collapse and be dismembered ultimately by regional forces. (he actually uses the term quagmire, which I thought was nice)
- Americans have no appetite for the additional casualties which would ensue. The salient quote being:
“[The question was] how many additional dead Americans was Saddam worth? And our judgment was not very many. And I think we got it right.”
Touching.