U.S. Must Stay Until Job is Done, Cheney Says in Iraq

American Forces Press Service ^

[SandRat]

WASHINGTON, March 17, 2008 – The United States must continue operations in Iraq until the job is done, Vice President Richard B. Cheney said today in Baghdad.

“I think given the enormous effort that's been made and the sacrifices that have been made -- both in terms of lives and national treasure -- to succeeding in Iraq, it's very, very important that we succeed,” he said, “(and) that we not quit before the job is done.

“We need to remember that our objective here is victory and that we need to be prepared to do whatever it takes in order to achieve that,” he added.

On his second trip to post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, Cheney today met with Iraqi and U.S. officials, including Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker.

The vice president noted significant security and governmental progress since his last visit, which came on the heels of a 33,000-troop surge designed to tamp down violence in Iraq and help prepare Iraq’s national forces to maintain security.

The deployment of the five additional combat brigades, which completed this time last year, coupled with an invigorated counterinsurgency effort has been considered by officials to be a largely successful U.S. strategic military shift.

“It's been a remarkable turnaround in the overall security situation and the level of violence, both in terms of military and civilian casualties,” Cheney said of the strategy during a news conference at the U.S. Embassy.

The Iraqi government has made some political progress, the vice president he said, but he also noted that Iraqi policymakers have been unable to pass legislation concerning the sharing of provincial power and the Iraqi oil revenues.

“I think they are seized with these issues,” he said. “My interest today was encouraging them to move rapidly and aggressively to get them resolved.”

Cheney said the timing of his trip is significant, as this week marks the fifth year since U.S. forces toppled Saddam and set Iraqis on the road to democracy.

“So if you reflect back on those five years, I think it's been a difficult, challenging, but nonetheless successful endeavor,” he said. “(I think) that we've come a long way in five years, and that it's been well worth the effort.”

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Related Articles:
Cheney Visits Iraq Ahead of Five-Year Anniversary of U.S. Operations

[SandRat]

I bet you didn't hear this from the MSM.

[SandRat]

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[the invisib1e hand]

I bet you didn't hear this from the MSM.

We really give them far too much credity by calling them "Main Stream."

They're the lunatic fringe with what used to be a monopoly on distribution.

[M. Dodge Thomas]

I guess we will be “done” when we know whether out blood and treasure bought us one “Islamic Republic of Iraq”, or two.

[pissant]

Or when they give us a 75 year lease on some major airfields and sign a peace treaty with the US.

[utherdoul]

and one million barrels of oil at half market price for fifty years. I’m all for this war but it’s bleeding us dry. We need our soldiers ready for trouble in the pacific.

[ventana]

Will there be trouble in the Pacific? I think that I want to hear one of the explain how we’re finally gonna get some oil for all the damn money we spent over there. I mean, why not?V’s wife

[KevinDavis]

If there is going to be a war in the Pacific, it is not going to last very long..

[trane250]

We need to remember that our objective here is victory and that we need to be prepared to do whatever it takes in order to achieve that.

Here is what it will take: A large scale U.S. draft in order to relieve current soldiers from multiple tours of duty; one million US troops on the ground; an income tax surcharge to pay for the war; the overthrow of the corrupt and ineffectual Maliki government and its replacement with a ruthless but benevolent dictator who will whip things into shape and last but not least the replacement of our own incompetent commander in chief.

[JasonC]

Say "must" a few million times and you will forget that long ago it meant something in English.

It doesn't anymore. Wishes. Horses.

[JasonC]

Nah, all it'd take it 2/3rds of Americans telling the democratic party to go jump in a lake, and we'd have it won yesterday.

[JasonC]

The war isn't bleeding us dry, it is the treason at home. The war is a cakewalk.

[Blind Eye Jones]

I thought the sharing of oil revenue was already accomplished.