Reply #24: Cheney Says U.S. Underestimated Iraq Insurgency

[quaoar]

There is another thread on Cheney's speech but this is from a Q&A after the speech.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=alTj0kZnWubQ&refer=us

June 19 (Bloomberg) -- Vice President Dick Cheney said that while the administration underestimated the strength of anti- American violence in Iraq, he still believes the insurgency is in its ``last throes,'' as he asserted last year.

``I don't think anybody anticipated the level of violence we encountered,'' Cheney said in a question-and-answer session following a speech today at the National Press Club in Washington.

The past 18 months will be viewed by history and a crucial period for democracy in Iraq as ``Iraqis increasingly took over responsibility for their own affairs,'' Cheney said.

Asked if he still believed the insurgency was in its final throes, as he said in a CNN interview on May 31, 2005, Cheney said, ``I do.'' He cited election of an interim government, a constitutional referendum and parliamentary elections in December that established a unity government as evidence the insurgency is being pushed to the margins.