In an interview to air tonight on ABC, Dick Cheney claims that President Bush has carried the biggest burden of the Iraq war and dismisses the burden of families of soldiers in Iraq because they "voluntarily put on the uniform and go in harm's way for the rest of us."
Today Dick Cheney was interviewed by ABC's Martha Raddatz to mark the 5th anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war, which coincides with the recent milestone of 4,000 American deaths in Iraq. Overall, the interview is just another display of Cheney's callous indifference to human life. But one passage stood out to me when I read the story. When asked about the 4,000th American death, Cheney responded:
"It obviously brings home I think for a lot of people the cost that's involved in the global war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan," Cheney said in the interview, conducted in Turkey. "It places a special burden obviously on the families, and we recognize, I think — it's a reminder of the extent to which we are blessed with families who've sacrificed as they have."
But, he then immediately proceeded to compare the sacrifices of soldiers and their families to the "burden" carried by President Bush:
"The president carries the biggest burden, obviously," Cheney said. "He's the one who has to make the decision to commit young Americans, but we are fortunate to have a group of men and women, the all-volunteer force, who voluntarily put on the uniform and go in harm's way for the rest of us."
Now, if by "burden" Cheney means blame, then he is right. Bush does carry most of the blame. But by comparing President Bush's "burden" with the "burden" of Iraq soldiers and their family members, he clearly means to draw a parallel between the soldiers' sacrifices and President Bush's sacrifices in the war effort. It is preposterous and insulting to insinuate that President Bush has had to make the same kind of sacrifices as those families who have lost loved ones or continue to have loved ones in harm's way. It is even more insulting to flat out say that President Bush has carried a bigger burden than the soldiers in this war.
What exactly is the burden Bush has carried? Does he mean the burden on his conscience that he was responsible for sending 4,000 Americans to their death, plus the tens of thousands of other American casualties or the billions of dollars spent every month or the unspeakable damage to Iraq and its citizens? Does he mean the burden of being despised by 64% of his own country? Does he mean the burden of knowing that he will likely go down in history as the worst president this country has ever had? Because as far as I know, those are the only burdens Bush has carried during this war.
Now compare that burden with that of a family that has had to make ends meet while a husband or wife has been deployed to Iraq two, three or four times. Compare that to an American soldier who is in constant fear of being blown up by a roadside bomb. Compare that with a mother or father getting the news that they will never see their son or daughter again. Compare that to the American soldiers who will have to deal with the physical and psychological damage of this war for the rest of their lives.
Cheney downplays the sacrifices of these soldiers by pointing out that they "voluntarily put on the uniform and go in harm's way for the rest of us." However, when pressed about the military's stop-loss policy and the multiple involuntary deployments soldiers face after their initial voluntary commitment, Cheney came up with this brilliant non sequitur:
"A lot of men and women sign up because sometimes they will see developments," Cheney said. "For example, 9/11 stimulated a lot of folks to volunteer for the military because they wanted to be involved in defending the country."
Apparently he agrees with President Bush that these soldiers are lucky to have the opportunity to fight in this war, and it's really been unfair to the Republican war mongers who started the war and sat in Washington as 4,000 Americans died.
There is a lot more in the ABC story, and at this point Cheney's outrageous statements are almost like water off a duck's back. But, I thought that this particular statement was clearly beyond the pale, and I hope that people will see how outrageous and ridiculous these comments truly are.