Dick Cheney rips Rand Paul, Obama for being 'dead wrong' on Iraq


Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday swiped back at Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), saying in an interview with ABC that "with all due respect, [Paul] is basically an isolationist." The two have, unsurprisingly, taken opposing sides on the crisis in Iraq, with Paul blasting the 2003 U.S. intervention as deeply flawed, and Cheney defending it as essential to American security.
Cheney also on Sunday furthered his critique of President Obama's handling of the situation, claiming that Obama was "dead wrong" and that the U.S. was "in for big trouble in the years ahead because of his refusal to recognize reality." However, when asked by host Jon Karl to discuss the Bush administration's own missteps in and incorrect presumptions about Iraq a decade ago, Cheney deflected the question.
"If we spend our time debating what happened eleven or twelve years ago, we’re going to miss the threat that is growing and that we do face," he said. --Jon Terbush
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Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.
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