Retired U.S. General calls Dick Cheney: "Incompetent War Fighter"

by TheCameraObscura | October 23, 2009 at 02:15 pm

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Earlier this week, Dick Cheney lashed out at the Obama administration (again) for planning to pull out of Iraq based on an agreement neogtiated and signed by the Bush/Cheney administration. Cheney also claimed the President wasn't moving fast enough regarding Afghanistan; both wars that continued after Cheney left office. In response, Cheney got a taste of his own medicine from a General who served under him in Iraq.

Retired U.S. General Paul Eaton who served more than 30 years in the U.S. Army and helped train Iraq’s military between 2003 and 2004 called former Vice President Dick Cheney an “incompetent war fighter.”

National Security Network Senior Adviser and Retired General Paul Eaton made the comments after Cheney criticized Obama in a Wednesday night speech for “dithering” about whether to substantially increase the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Obama has been under pressure from his top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, to add as many as 40,000 to 60,000 U.S. troops on the ground.

“The record is clear: Dick Cheney and the Bush administration were incompetent war fighters,” Eaton said in a statement released Thursday. “They ignored Afghanistan for 7 years with a crude approach to counter-insurgency warfare best illustrated by: 1. Deny it. 2. Ignore it. 3. Bomb it. While our intelligence agencies called the region the greatest threat to America, the Bush White House under-resourced our military efforts, shifted attention to Iraq, and failed to bring to justice the masterminds of September 11.”

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a211423

at 14:29 on October 23rd, 2009

Bush White House under-resourced our military efforts, shifted attention to Iraq, and failed to bring to justice the masterminds of September 11.”

Thanks to Cheney we get another chance to discuss the real reasons the U.S. continued in Iraq without a plan except to line the pockets of oil interests and Halliburton.

nanute

at 14:50 on October 23rd, 2009

What? No mention of Cheney's hunting skills?

albertacowpoke

at 18:22 on October 23rd, 2009

This is not about the past and whether or not the Bush/Cheney team was competent in the conduct of the two wars they got the U.S. and NATO and other coalition of the willing members involved in. Rehashing that should be left to historians.

The question that remains is what to do about Afghanistan now. Today NATO Defence Ministers and the NATO Secretary General stated that they support General McChrystal's plan. That also includes the UN Secretary General who uttered the same sentiment.

In my mind the question to be answered in this story is whether or not Cheney is right. Is Obama dithering? Many, including me believe he is. Is the dithering due to his fear of not passing a health care bill, the slipping away of the Cap and Trade Bill, in other words political, or is it incompetence?

Obama has a rare opportunity with the support of NATO and the world community to show true leadership. Will he?

As for Cheney's hunting skills, for nanute only, WE ALL KNOW WHAT THEY ARE. Some people just shouldn't handle weapons.

The_Cynic

at 21:40 on October 23rd, 2009

I have to disagree with you, ACP.

After a long discussion with 2 very able friends of mine - one now retired from the British Army and one still serving (they both asked me to keep their names out of a blog post I was writing so have, because of that, decided to leave it off the internet completely).

As the current CiC Obama has, along with many other problems, inherited a great many that the former administration left behind. We have to reiterate - again - that Obama has only been president for a matter of months. Anyone involved in or with the military knows that a strategy must be made before you can act on it. Bush and Cheney didn't have one because they simply believed that once America attacked the opponents would roll over and die - Obama cannot allow that to happen.

We, all of us, do not have any real insight into what is happening both domestically or internationally re: what Obama's plan is. We will simply have to wait. Some call it dithering - I call it coordinated planning which will, firstly, bring about an end to the Afghan war ASAP and more importantly, second, the least amount of deaths in doing so.

No matter how easy it is for some Americans to allow their young to die in due support of Bush and Cheney - it was the latter that attacked and because of them several thousand Americans are dead. That, in itself, makes it "about the past".

TheCameraObscura

at 22:12 on October 23rd, 2009

albertacowpoke, interesting how you do not want to recall Dick Cheney's sordid and criminal past, but are very quick to recall (and rewrite) Obama's past.

I am amazed that Obama's hesitancy to commit troops to Afghanistan, whose present government leadership was most likely the result of a corrupt election, is seen as "dithering." albertacowpoke, perhaps you can explain that logic for those of us shaking our heads in bewilderment.

Why, oh, why won't Obama resort to a kneejerk military decision that worked so well for the US from 2000 to 2008? That's the American way, right?

General McChrystal's plan is to place 40,000 US troops at various outposts in Afghanistan, not to actually hunt down al qeada terrorists (who are based in Pakistan), but rather defend certain areas from the Taliban, who are actually welcome in much of Afghanistan.

Somehow, McChrystal can't explain specifically, this defensive measure is supposed to eradicate all terrorists in Afghanistan and turn all those Muslims against the Taliban and side with a white non-Muslim country, all within the next 12 months.

Anybody here on NowPublic willing to die for that? Suit up and enlist.

Oh, did I forget to mention, Afghanistan has never been controlled by a foreign country in the history of the world. But albertacowpoke, I'm sorry, I forgot, you're not interested in the past.

gk (not verified)

at 19:56 on October 23rd, 2009

unfortunately this *is* about the past when a *former* vice president continues to publicly criticize the acting administration in handling open-ended quagmires created by the *former* administration.aside from that, how can you begin to characterize the administration as "dithering"?... maybe you've already forgotten the near collapse of the entire global economy and the fact that iraq has monopolized our military resources--or should all that be left to historians?

t k kidwai

at 20:00 on October 23rd, 2009

The first question in the cart is:is Dick Chenny a fighter at all?Competent or incompetent is can be discussed later.When 9/11,masterminded a by a Bush team and Dick Chenny was a member(most incompetent,of course)of that false-flag operation team,happened this most competent coward hid himself in bunker.

Moral of the story:'a coward can never be a fighter', nither competent nor incompetent.

Roy C

at 20:53 on October 23rd, 2009

Bush and Co. made a lot of errors. Obama and his group seem to be making their version of errors in war.

Such a strong condemnation is meant to negate any validity of Cheyney's criticism of Obama. Obama, though, has yet to show some real leadership here.

Obama's errors precede his presidency. They began with declaration that the "surge" would never work, and he furthered it by refusing to acknowledge that the surge had, in fact, worked.

So, that is who is president now.

TheCameraObscura

at 22:24 on October 23rd, 2009

Roy, if the surge worked as you claim, why did Bush not pull US troops out?

I'm constantly amazed by this non-victorious victories that mean we cannot leave, but must stay and continue fighting... as if we never won.

What really happened, wasn't the surge, but rather the formation of the Sahawah Al Anbar, or Anbar Awakening, the grouping of Anbari tribes and former insurgents opposed to al Qaeda's Taliban like rule.

Obama has shown wise leadership in contrast to 8 years of tough talk, premature claims of victories and reckless action by Bush/Cheney.

I think my favorite Dick Cheney moment was when he said in 2005, "the insurgency is in its last throes."

nanute

at 03:49 on October 24th, 2009

Well said. If a former VP of the Democratic Party had given this kind of speech during the Bush Cheney tenure, what would the reaction have been? During the run up to the conflict in Iraq, anyone that questioned the saneness and wisdom of a pre-emptive solution was labeled as un-patriotic or a DFH. Criticizing the CIC in a time of "war" was totally out of bounds. My how things have changed. This is just a case of Cheney trying to cover up for the mistakes made when his policy planners were in charge. I sincerely hope he keeps running his mouth. Eventually he'll make a serious mistake, and it will cost him, in his words, "BIG TIME."