Exceptional

by Dick Cheney

  bin Laden and al Qaeda: George Tenet, At the Center of the Storm (New York: HarperCollins, 2007), loc. 2044.

  bin Laden was involved: Ibid., loc. 2064.

  “country we’re aware of”: Stephen F. Hayes, “The Clinton View of Iraq-al Qaeda Ties: Connecting the Dots in 1998 but Not in 2003,” Weekly Standard, December 29–January 5, 2004.

  chemical weapons experts: Ibid.

  Americans overseas: United States v. Usama bin Laden, et al., Indictment no. S(9) 98 Cr. 1023 (S.D.N.Y. 1999), http://fas.org/irp/news/1998/11/98110602_nlt.html.

  “someday, nuclear weapons”: Nicholas Lemann, “The Quiet Man: Dick Cheney’s Discreet Rise to Unprecedented Power,” New Yorker, May 7, 2001.

  “first line of defense”: Ibid.

  “share their fate”: President George W. Bush, Address to a Joint Session of Congress, September 20, 2001, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010920-8.html.

  “secret even in success”: Ibid.

  arrived in Afghanistan: Gary C. Schroen, First In: How Seven CIA Officers Opened the War on Terror in Afghanistan (New York: Random House, 2005), loc. 1157.

  purchased and upgraded: Ibid., loc. 460.

  “until it was too late”: President George W. Bush, Weekly Radio Address, December 17, 2005, http://georgewbushwhitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051217.html.

  to stop them: Max Boot, “The Price of Liberty,” Commentary, May 25, 2015. https://www.commentarymagazine.com/2015/05/25/the-price-of-liberty/.

  “identified them as such”: General Mike Hayden, Director of the NSA, Remarks at the National Press Club, January 23, 2006, https://www.press.org/speakers/transcripts-2006.

  back in the fight: Jeryl Bier, “Four More Gitmo Terrorists Returned to Battlefield,” Weekly Standard, March 6, 2014.

  to Syria and Iraq: Thomas Joscelyn, “Gitmo ‘Poet’ Now Recruiting for Islamic State,” Weekly Standard, November 19, 2014.

  wrote the Guardian: Declan Walsh, “Return My Work, Says Guantánamo Poet,” Guardian, April 3, 2006.

  al Qaeda operations expert: Tenet, At the Center of the Storm, loc. 247.

  how best to attack: George J. Tenet, Porter J. Goss, Michael Hayden, John E. McLaughlin, Albert M. Calland, and Stephen R. Kappes, “Ex-CIA Directors: Interrogations Saved Lives,” Wall Street Journal, December 10, 2014, http://www.wsj.com/articles/cia-interrogations-saved-lives-1418142644.

  “inside the United States”: Central Intelligence Agency, “Khaled Sheikh Muhammad: Preeminent Source on Al-Qa’ida,” July 13, 2004, http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/documents/Khalid_Shaykh_Muhammad.pdf.

  “tactics that were used”: Secretary Leon Panetta, NBC Meet the Press, February 2013.

  “before the war”: Interview with David Kay, NPR Weekend Edition, January 25, 2004.

  to do so: Duelfer, Comprehensive Report, vol. 1, “Regime Strategic Intent, Key Findings,” September 30, 2004, and “Realizing Saddam’s Veiled WMD Intent,” September 30, 2004.

  Iowa caucuses: Robert M. Gates, Duty (New York: Knopf, 2014), p. 376.

  be based on fact: This and following appeared previously in Dick Cheney and Liz Cheney, “The Truth About Iraq and Why It Matters,” Weekly Standard, July 21, 2014.

  gas chambers: Jeffrey Goldberg, “The Great Terror: In Northern Iraq, there is new evidence of Saddam Hussein’s genocidal war on the Kurds—and of his possible ties to al Qaeda,” New Yorker, March 25, 2002.

  “homicidal dictator pursuing WMD”: George W. Bush, Decision Points (New York: Crown, 2010), loc. 5208.

  “re-establish Iraq’s WMD programs”: Director of Central Intelligence, National Intelligance Estimate, “Prospects for Iraq: Saddam and Beyond,” December, 1993, p. vii, http://www.foia.cia.gov/docs/DOC-0001188931/DOC-0001188931.pdf.

  “its nuclear weapons program”: quoted in Charles S. Robb and Laurence H. Silberman, The Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, Report to the President of the United States, March 31, 2005, part 1, p. 54, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/wmd/pdf/full_wmd_report.pdf.

  “the Persian Gulf region”: quoted in Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, July 24, 2004, p. 144, http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/108301.pdf.

  “grave threat to our security”: John Kerry, statement on the Senate Floor, October 9, 2002, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1240102/posts.

  “including al Qaeda members”: Hillary Clinton, statement on the Senate Floor, October 10, 2002, http://www.c-span.org/video/?173141-1/senate-session.

  “effort led by the United States”: Joe Biden, Washington Post 1998 op-ed, quoted in Michael Warren, “Reminder: Biden Supported Iraq War in 2002, October 13, 2012, http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/reminder-biden-supported-iraq-war-2002 654352.html.

  “action to prevent it”: Jay Rockefeller, statement on the Senate Floor, October 10, 2002, http://www.c-span.org/video/?173141-1/senate-session.

  “weapons inspections process”: Nancy Pelosi, statement, December 16, 1998, quoted in Mark Goldblatt, “The Final Piece of the Puzzle,” National Review, November 15, 2007, http://www.nationalreview.com/arrticle/222830/final-piece-puzzle-mark-goldblatt.

  “he will use them”: Bill Clinton, statement on Iraq strikes, December 16, 1998, http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/12/16/transcripts/clinton.html.

  “intelligence yield”: General Stanley McChrystal, U.S. Army (Ret.), My Share of the Task (New York: Penguin, 2013), p. 146.

  “will not fail”: President George W. Bush, Address to a Joint Session of Congress, September 20, 2001, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010920-8.html.

  THE APOLOGY TOUR

  “secured our nation”: Remarks by Barack Obama, St. Paul, Minnesota, June 3, 2008, http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4988344.

  “bottom-up economic growth”: Interview of Barack Obama by Fareed Zakaria, CNN, July 13, 2008, http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/13/zakaria.obama/.

  “land of my childhood”: Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (New York: Crown, 2006), p. 329.

  “world’s sole superpower”: Ibid., p. 330.

  “corrupting effects of fear”: Ibid., p. 337.

  “enormous military buildup”: Ibid., p. 338.

  leaders view the world: Ibid.

  closing it: President Barack Obama, Remarks at Strasbourg Town Hall, April 3, 2009, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-obama-strasbourg-town-hall.

  “to battle terrorism”: Ibid., Q&A following remarks.

  “proliferate nuclear weapons”: Ibid.

  “Greek exceptionalism”: President Barack Obama, News Conference, Strasbourg, France, April 4, 2009, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/news-conference-president-obama-4042009.

  “to do the same”: President Barack Obama, Remarks in Prague, April 5, 2009, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-barack-obama-prague-delivered.

  “against these missiles”: Ibid.

  canceled the very missile system: “Obama’s Missile Offense,” Wall Street Journal, September 18, 2009, http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204518504574418563346840666.

  “three months old”: Major Garrett, “Obama Endures Ortega Diatribe,” Fox News, April 18, 2009, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/18/obama-endures-ortega-diatribe/.

  “to the Muslim world”: President Barack Obama, Remarks in Cairo, June 4, 2009, https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/newbeginning/transcripts/.

  “long-gone Cold War”: President Barack Obama, Remarks at the United Nations General Assembly, September 23, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/us/politics/24prexy.text.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

  “is a ‘non-starter’ ”: “Apology Not Accepted,” Investor’s Business Daily, October 10, 2011.

  disavowed the plan: Jake Tapper, “
Japanese Government Nixed Idea of Obama Visiting, Apologizing for Hiroshima,” ABC News, October 12, 2011, http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/10/japanese-government-nixed-idea-of-obama-visiting-apologizing-for-hiroshima/.

  bowing deeply: Photo here: http://news.investors.com/photopopup.asp?path=ISS2c_111012.jpg&docId=587698&xmpSource=&width=3963&height=2826&caption=In+November+2009%2c+Barack+Obama+became+the+first+U.S.+president+to+bow+to+Japan%26%2339%3bs+emperor.&id=587715.

  CHAPTER 4: ENDING WARS

  “Taliban in Afghanistan”: Senator Barack Obama, Acceptance Speech, Democratic National Convention, August 28, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/28/us/politics/28text-obama.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

  “IS [IS] and Iran”: Thomas E. Ricks, “Ryan Crocker on Iraq, and on Whether We Are Seeing the Arab State System Fragment,” Foreign Policy, May 26, 2015, http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/05/26/ryan-crocker-on-iraq-and-on-whether-we-are-seeing-the-arab-state-system-fragment/.

  from Iraq: Robert M. Gates, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War (New York: Knopf, 2014), loc. 5869.

  enhanced interrogation program: George J. Tenet, Porter J. Goss, Michael Hayden, John E. McLaughlin, Albert M. Calland, and Stephen R. Kappes, “Ex-CIA Directors: Interrogations Saved Lives,” Wall Street Journal, December 10, 2014, http://www.wsj.com/articles/cia-interrogations-saved-lives-1418142644.

  “interrogation techniques”: Leon Panetta, Worthy Fights (New York: Penguin Press, 2014), p. 223.

  “attacking this country”: “Statement from Director Brennan on the SSCI Study on the Former Detention and Interrogation Program,” Central Intelligence Agency, December 9, 2014, https://www.cia.gov/news-information/press-releases-statements/2014-press-releases-statements/statement-from-director-brennan-on-ssci-study-on-detention-interrogation-program.html; Peter Baker, “Banned Techniques Yielded ‘High Value Information,’ Memo Says,” New York Times, April 21, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/us/politics/22blair.html.

  take this step: Marc Thiessen, Courting Disaster (Washington, DC: Regnery, 2010), p. 13.

  release of the memos: Panetta, Worthy Fights, p. 218.

  “how we learn”: Transcript of President Obama Remarks at the Central Intelligence Agency, April 20, 2009, https://www.cia.gov/news-information/speeches-testimony/president-obama-at-cia.html.

  “ ‘the sacred principles’ ”: President Barack Obama, Remarks on National Security, National Archives, May 21, 2009, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-national-security-5-21-09.

  “of innocent people”: Former vice president Dick Cheney, American Enterprise Institute, May 21, 2009, http://www.aei.org/publication/remarks-by-richard-b-cheney/.

  overpowered him: David Ariosto and Deborah Feyerick, “Christmas Day Bomber Sentenced to Life in Prison,” CNN, February 17, 2012, http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/16/justice/michigan-underwear-bomber-sentencing/.

  his Miranda rights: Transcript, Robert Gibbs interview, Fox News Sunday, January 24, 2010, http://www.foxnews.com/story/2010/01/24/transcript-robert-gibbs-on-fns.html.

  “at a higher level”: Stephen F. Hayes, “System Failure: The Christmas Day Bomber Was Never Asked Specific Questions Based on the Intelligence the U.S. Government Had Already Collected on Him,” Weekly Standard, January 21, 2010, http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/title-goes-here.

  “fully operational”: Ibid.

  “foment the attack”: Briefing by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security John Brennan, and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, January 7, 2010, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/briefing-homeland-security-secretary-napolitano-assistant-president-counterterroris.

  “overseas contingency operations”: Scott Wilson and Al Kamen, “Global War on Terror Is Given New Name,” March 25, 2009, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/24/AR2009032402818.html.

  “man-caused disasters”: Tim Graham, “Obamaspeak: Homeland Security Secretary Replaces ‘Terrorism’ with the Term ‘Man-Caused Disaster,’ ” Newsbusters, March 29, 2009, http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2009/03/19/obama-speak-homeland-security-secretary-replaces-terrorism-term-man-caus.

  “isolated extremists”: Stephen F. Hayes, “An ‘Isolated Extremist’? Obama Gets It Dead Wrong,“ Weekly Standard, January 18, 2010, http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/%25E2%2580%2598isolated-extremist%25E2%2580%2599.

  “workplace violence”: Michael Daly, “Nidal Hasan’s Murders Termed ‘Workplace Violence’ by U.S.,” Daily Beast, August 6, 2013, http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/06/nidal-hasan-s-murders-termed-workplace-violence-by-u-s.html.

  “deliberately, but decisively”: Peter Baker and Thom Shanker, “Obama Meets with Officials on Iraq, Signaling His Commitment to Ending War,” New York Times, January 21, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/us/politics/22prexy.html.

  on which he had campaigned: Gates, Duty, p. 324.

  “chilling effect on Iraqis”: “U.S. Envoy Warns Against ‘Precipitous’ Withdrawal from Iraq,” CNN, January 22, 2009, http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/22/iraq.withdrawal/.

  “devastating attacks”: Ibid.

  “take in Iraq”: Elisabeth Bumiller, “Military Planners, in Nod to Obama, Are Preparing for a Faster Iraq Withdrawal,” New York Times, January 14, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/us/politics/15policy.html.

  America’s combat operations: Michael R. Gordon and Bernard E. Trainor, The Endgame: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from George W. Bush to Barack Obama (New York: Pantheon Books, 2012), p. 565.

  “window of greatest risk”: Ibid., loc. 11085.

  “organizational capacities”: Ibid., 566.

  suggested by Secretary Gates: Gates, Duty, pp. 324–25.

  50,000–55,000 troops: Gordon and Trainor, The Endgame, p. 567.

  point at all: Ibid.

  “dealt a serious blow”: President Barack Obama, “Responsibly Ending the War in Iraq,” Remarks at Camp Lejeune, February 27, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/us/politics/27obama-text.html?pagewanted=all.

  shape its future: General Jack Keane, interview, “Leaving Iraq was an absolute strategic failure,” PBS Frontline, July 29, 2014, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/iraq-war-on-terror/losing-iraq/jack-keane-leaving-iraq-was-an-absolute-strategic-failure/.

  with Iraqis himself: Gordon and Trainor, The Endgame, p. 626, and Emma Sky, The Unraveling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq (New York: Public Affairs, 2015), p. 312.

  “or Iraq”: Anthony Shadid, “Ambassador Leaves Iraq with Much Still Unsettled,” New York Times, August 12, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/world/middleeast/13iraq.html.

  “play lacrosse”: Sky, The Unraveling, p. 313.

  “pervasive Iranian influence”: Embassy Baghdad cable, “U/S Burns’s and U/S Flournoy’s meeting VP Hashemi and the IIP,” May 20, 2009; quoted in Gordon and Trainor, The Endgame, p. 587.

  “growing interest in Iran”: Ibid.

  “for the short term”: Ibid.

  “discussions with Iran”: Ibid.

  until 2020: Tim Pearce, “Iraqi General Says Iraq Not Ready for US Pullout,” Reuters, August 12, 2010, http://abcnews.go.com/International/lt-gen-babakir-zebari-iraqi-army-unable-cope/story?id=11382246.

  “strength of our own nation”: President Barack Obama, Address to the Nation on the End of Combat Operations in Iraq, August 31, 2010, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/31/remarks-president-address-nation-end-combat-operations-iraq.

  20,000 and 24,000: Gordon and Trainor, The Endgame, p. 655.

  3,500 troops: Ibid., p. 670.

  memorandum of understanding: Ibid., loc. 13059.

  “our shared security”: President Barack Obama, Remarks at Joint Press Conference with Prime Minister Maliki of Iraq, December 12, 2011, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/12/12/remarks-president-obama-and-prime-minister-al-maliki-iraq-joint-press-co.

  “march toward h
ome”: President Barack Obama, Remarks at Fort Bragg, December 14, 2011, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/12/14/remarks-president-and-first-lady-end-war-iraq.

  “of the U.S. forces”: Gordon and Trainor, The Endgame, p. 671.

  “were my decision”: President Barack Obama, Statement on Iraq, August 9, 2014, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/08/09/statement-president-iraq.

  “end of the year”: President Barack Obama, Address to the Nation on the End of Combat Operations in Iraq, August 31, 2010, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/31/remarks-president-address-nation-end-combat-operations-iraq.

  “of the Middle East”: Obama-Romney Third Presidential Debate, October 22, 2012, http://debates.org/index.php?page=october-22-2012-the-third-obama-romney-presidential-debate.

  “Ending the war”: President Barack Obama, State of the Union Address, January 24, 2012, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/01/24/remarks-president-state-union-address.

  “job against the Taliban”: Senator Barack Obama, Remarks to Veterans of Foreign Wars, August 19, 2008, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/19/AR2008081901532.html.

  “must be achieved”: President Barack Obama, Remarks on a New Strategy for Afghanistan, March 27, 2009, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-a-new-strategy-afghanistan-and-pakistan.

  recommendations for resources: McChrystal, My Share of the Task, p. 294.

  “mission failure”: Bob Woodward, “McChrystal: More Forces or ‘Mission Failure,’ ” Washington Post, September 21, 2009, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/20/AR2009092002920.html.

  “best military advice”: Ibid., p. 351.

  “needed or appropriate”: Gates, Duty, p. 371.

  “poll numbers will be stronger”: Ibid., p. 378.

  “July of 2011”: President Barack Obama, Address to the Nation on the Way Forward in Pakistan and Afghanistan, December 1, 2009, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-address-nation-way-forward-afghanistan-and-pakistan.