This morning Harry Reid had some choice remarks regarding Cheney's Op-Ed blusterpiece in the Wall Street Journal. These are the prepared remarks which differ slightly from the video.
[W]e’re stuck listening to the very same neocons who pushed us into the Iraq War in the first place, as they try to plunge our military into another foreign misadventure. And what is truly absurd is the fact that after all these years, their suggestions haven’t changed one bit. And who are these so-called experts, so eager to commit American service members to another war? Why is their advice so valuable?
How about former Bush Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who has accused President Obama of not taking a ‘strong position’ in Iraq? In 2003, Wolfowitz took a strong position on Iraqi sectarian violence, when he absurdly stated: “There’s been none of the record in Iraq of ethnic militias fighting one another.”
There’s also conservative pundit Bill Kristol, who infamously predicted that American soldiers would be welcomed as liberators, and that the Iraq war would last two months. He also claimed that there’s no evidence of discord among Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq. Yet, even in light of his incorrect assertions about Iraq, Kristol is beating the war drum alongside all of his neo-conservative friends.
This morning, an op-ed by former Vice President Dick Cheney appeared in the Wall Street Journal. If there is one thing we can all agree on here, it’s that we should not be taking advice on Iraq from Dick Cheney. To be on the wrong side of Dick Cheney is to be on the right side of history.
To the architects of the Iraq War who are now so eager to offer their expert analysis, I say: “Thanks, but no thanks.” Unfortunately, we already tried it your way and it was the biggest foreign policy blunder in United States history.
Politico's coverage of Reid's speech makes a whopping error:
Reid’s remarks represent the Democratic cringe at hearing from the same voices on Iraq that were loudest last decade...[.]
(emphasis added).
It's a lot more than the "Democratic cringe." It's the recoil of an American public suddenly and rudely reminded of a group of nasty, lying folks who abused their trust and started a contrived, destructive war that should have never, never occurred--and one that they really, really wanted to forget.