Rand Paul: Dick Cheney 'Wrong' About Almost Every Foreign Policy Decision

[Dexter]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rand-paul-dick-cheney-iraq_55e86077e4b0aec9f3563f73

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) criticized former Vice President Dick Cheney on Thursday, calling nearly all of his foreign policy decisions spanning the last three decades a "disaster for this country." "I think Dick Cheney has probably been wrong about almost every foreign policy decision over the last 20 or 30 years," Paul told conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham. "The only time he was actually right about something in foreign policy is when he advised the first George Bush that taking Baghdad would lead to chaos, civil war and destabilizing a region. That's ultimately what happened."

[Relic]

Says the guy who is notoriously weak on foreign policy.

Dick Cheney made mistakes, that's for sure. But Rand Paul is a member of the political elite, and an isolationist to the point of irrationality. Rand Paul should just shut up and go away.

[Bigun]

Says the guy who is notoriously weak on foreign policy.

Dick Cheney made mistakes, that's for sure. But Rand Paul is a member of the political elite, and an isolationist to the point of irrationality. Rand Paul should just shut up and go away.

Dick Cheney should have been President! Rand Paul has no clue!

[Dexter]

Says the guy who is notoriously weak on foreign policy.

Dick Cheney made mistakes, that's for sure. But Rand Paul is a member of the political elite, and an isolationist to the point of irrationality. Rand Paul should just shut up and go away.

What's wrong with his foreign policy? Why is isolationism irrational?

[Relic]

What's wrong with his foreign policy? Why is isolationism irrational?

Because we are fortunate enough to be wealthy and powerful. We need to do it to protect our own interests, and in some cases, be the policeman for the world. Please don't trot out the UN, it's corrupt, and impotent.

Read.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/michael-gerson-us-isolation-is-bad-policy-even-if-americans-say-they-want-it/2014/10/13/651fad6c-5300-11e4-892e-602188e70e9c_story.html

[Dexter]

Because we are fortunate enough to be wealthy and powerful. We need to do it to protect our own interests

We need to do what to protect what interests?

and in some cases, be the policeman for the world.

We don't have the money to police the world. It's also not worth the lives it would cost.

Read.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/michael-gerson-us-isolation-is-bad-policy-even-if-americans-say-they-want-it/2014/10/13/651fad6c-5300-11e4-892e-602188e70e9c_story.html

I disagree with most of the author's opinions.

[ABX]

Just as Rand Paul is getting higher on my list, he goes and channels his father.

[Relic]

We need to do what to protect what interests?

We don't have the money to police the world. It's also not worth the lives it would cost.

I disagree with most of the author's opinions.

It's your prerogative and custom to be wrong. 

[MBB1984]

Cheney made a horrible decision on Iraq that has cost thousands of lives and approximately a trillion or more dollars.   ISIS' rise to power is directly attributable to that terrible decision along with election of Obama.

[truth_seeker]

Cheney has never been C in C.

[Bigun]

Cheney made a horrible decision on Iraq that has cost thousands of lives and approximately a trillion or more dollars.   ISIS' rise to power is directly attributable to that terrible decision along with election of Obama.

I respectfully but strongly disagree.

[bkepley]

The mistake, in my opinion, was in trying to nation-build there but under the circumstances (911, Sadaams effort to assassinate Bush sr., etc) I thought at the time it was worth a try.

[Relic]

The mistake, in my opinion, was in trying to nation-build there but under the circumstances (911, Sadaams effort to assassinate Bush sr., etc) I thought at the time it was worth a try.

I was for the Iraq invasion too. In hindsight, we should have gone into Afghanistan, killed as many of the bad guys as we could, and gotten out. Saddam, was a stabilizing force for Iraq, and a counterbalance to Iran.

Invading Iraq was a big mistake.

[MBB1984]

I was for the Iraq invasion too. In hindsight, we should have gone into Afghanistan, killed as many of the bad guys as we could, and gotten out. Saddam, was a stabilizing force for Iraq, and a counterbalance to Iran.

Invading Iraq was a big mistake.

Fully agree.

[MBB1984]

Cheney has never been C in C.

Technically, no, but he was the primary draftsman and motivating figure in Bush's foreign policy for the first few years of the Bush II presidency.

[truth_seeker]

Technically, no, but he was the primary draftsman and motivating figure in Bush's foreign policy for the first few years of the Bush II presidency.

He was one along with Rumsfeld, Powell etc.

Cheney and Powell were in key positions for Iraq I, which used "overwhelming force" and succeeded. Over 500,000 troops if I recall correctly.

Iraq II OTOH used fewer troops, failed in the long run, and involved Bush II and Rumsfeld.

It would interest me to hear Cheney expound on those aspects. Because somebody seriously miscalculated what it would take to hold the initial "victory" in Iraq.

At the very root of these conflicts for the USA, is having political will to use enough troops to insure permanent victories, or don't bother to stir up hornets nests.

Having enough troops might mean having a draft, so that rules out most situations, where we would use sufficient resources to insure permanent victories.

[Dexter]

He was one along with Rumsfeld, Powell etc.

Cheney and Powell were in key positions for Iraq I, which used "overwhelming force" and succeeded. Over 500,000 troops if I recall correctly.

Iraq II OTOH used fewer troops, failed in the long run, and involved Bush II and Rumsfeld.

It would interest me to hear Cheney expound on those aspects. Because somebody seriously miscalculated what it would take to hold the initial "victory" in Iraq.

At the very root of these conflicts for the USA, is having political will to use enough troops to insure permanent victories, or don't bother to stir up hornets nests.

Having enough troops might mean having a draft, so that rules out most situations, where we would use sufficient resources to insure permanent victories.

What exactly do you think more troops would have accomplished? Say we quadrupled the force we had in Iraq at the peak of our occupation. What would that have allowed us to do?

[DCPatriot]

What's wrong with his foreign policy? Why is isolationism irrational?

For one thing, Europe wouldn't be having this migrant nightmare if Hillary and Barack wouldn't have bombed Libya back to the Stone Age.

The entire blame should be placed upon those who decided that the USA should withdraw from the world stage.

[massadvj]

I think Rand Paul is right.  Cheney's foreign policy has been an unmitigated disaster.  I think most Republicans agree with him that the Iraq War was a mistake.  Paul needs to keep differentiating himself on this issue and the NSA, and I think maybe he can recover the ground he has lost.  The GOP is not an interventionist party anymore.  Most Republicans see that the neocons ruined the party, which is why people like Rove, Kristol and even Krauthammer are diminished this election cycle.  Paul's problem is that he makes non-interventionism look weak.  He needs to also highlight the importance of "carry a big stick" and "don't tread on Me."

But, fundamentally, he is not wrong that we have been way, way too involved in policing other countries' issues, and needlessly paying other countries foreign aid.

[libertybele]

Cheney made a horrible decision on Iraq that has cost thousands of lives and approximately a trillion or more dollars.   ISIS' rise to power is directly attributable to that terrible decision along with election of Obama.

ISIS rise to power was averted due to the Bush administration's actions in the Middle East. I think it needs to be remembered that in response to the attack on U.S. soil on September 11, 2001, with unanimous Congressional authorization and along with various U.N. "coalitions"  the U.S. under president Bush went  into Iraq.

Obama was elected to office with his promise of withdrawing troops in Iraq.  It wasn't until he was up for his second term that he again promised withdrawing troops against the advice of his military advisors (including former military advisors) .  He was told by those advisors that an early withdrawal would be a disaster and would destabilize the region. In brief; the fiasco in Benghazi took place which allowed weapons to move into a jihadist "madhouse" in the Syria-Iraq region.  In essence the Obama administration armed Syria; allies of ISIS.  There is little doubt that the early withdrawal of troops and disengagement in the Middle East by Obama in order to get re-elected opened the door for ISIS.

Currently, there are more than 100 pages of previously classified Department of Defense and Department of State documents that seem to greatly implicate the Obama administration in a cover-up to conceal the role Hillary Clinton and the State Department played in the rise of ISIS.

[EdinVA]

ah, yes, the good old arm chair quarterbacks with 20/20 hindsight are always right.
Where were they when the buildings were falling down?  Most were hiding, including Rand Paul.... Where was the VP?  working his butt off.

[bkepley]

ah, yes, the good old arm chair quarterbacks with 20/20 hindsight are always right.
Where were they when the buildings were falling down?  Most were hiding, including Rand Paul.... Where was the VP?  working his butt off.

Not only that but I still don't know what should have been done other than kill Sadaam.

[Dexter]

ISIS rise to power was averted due to the Bush administration's actions in the Middle East. I think it needs to be remembered that in response to the attack on U.S. soil on September 11, 2001, with unanimous Congressional authorization and along with various U.N. "coalitions"  the U.S. under president Bush went  into Iraq.

Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and we didn't invade until 2003.

[Dexter]

Not only that but I still don't know what should have been done other than kill Sadaam.

We could have left him alone and prevented the rise of ISIS completely.

[evadR]

Not only that but I still don't know what should have been done other than kill Sadaam.

A special ops group could have done that.