"I believe very deeply in the proposition that what we did in Iraq was the right thing to do. It was hard to do. It took a long time. There were significant costs involved"
About this Quote
Cheney’s sentence is built like a bunker: reinforced, spare, and designed to withstand incoming fire. “I believe very deeply” isn’t an argument so much as a preemptive strike against argument. He plants the flag in private conviction, where evidence can’t easily follow. In the post-Iraq debate, that move matters: when the record is messy, sincerity becomes a substitute for proof.
The phrase “the proposition that what we did in Iraq was the right thing to do” is tellingly abstract. “Proposition” turns a war into a policy memo; “what we did” blurs authorship and responsibility into a collective haze. No mention of weapons of mass destruction, intelligence failures, sectarian collapse, or the specific promises sold to the public. The grammar performs its own retreat, stepping back from particulars where accountability lives.
Then comes the moral alchemy: difficulty and duration are offered as evidence of correctness. “It was hard… It took a long time” reframes protraction as perseverance rather than as a sign of miscalculation. This is a familiar political gambit: if success is elusive, redefine virtue as stamina.
“Significant costs” lands with a chilling vagueness. Costs to whom? American troops and families, Iraqi civilians, regional stability, U.S. credibility? By keeping the bill unitemized, Cheney avoids the most corrosive question: whether the costs were necessary, foreseeable, or honestly disclosed. The intent isn’t to reopen the case; it’s to close it, presenting endurance as absolution and conviction as the final court of appeal.
The phrase “the proposition that what we did in Iraq was the right thing to do” is tellingly abstract. “Proposition” turns a war into a policy memo; “what we did” blurs authorship and responsibility into a collective haze. No mention of weapons of mass destruction, intelligence failures, sectarian collapse, or the specific promises sold to the public. The grammar performs its own retreat, stepping back from particulars where accountability lives.
Then comes the moral alchemy: difficulty and duration are offered as evidence of correctness. “It was hard… It took a long time” reframes protraction as perseverance rather than as a sign of miscalculation. This is a familiar political gambit: if success is elusive, redefine virtue as stamina.
“Significant costs” lands with a chilling vagueness. Costs to whom? American troops and families, Iraqi civilians, regional stability, U.S. credibility? By keeping the bill unitemized, Cheney avoids the most corrosive question: whether the costs were necessary, foreseeable, or honestly disclosed. The intent isn’t to reopen the case; it’s to close it, presenting endurance as absolution and conviction as the final court of appeal.
Quote Details
| Topic | War |
|---|
More Quotes by Dick
Add to List
