Perkins, who has served under every president since Reagan, said he had doubts about the war in Iraq

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http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/832713,CST-NWS-ch...

Cheney gives graduation speech at Great Lakes

March 8, 2008

<snip>Marcus Perkins, 39, of Colorado Springs, a Naval training officerwho has served five tours in Iraq, was not impressed.

"It took him eight years to get here ... at the end of his tenure," Perkins said of Cheney. "This was more like a pep rally. He could have sent an e-mail for that."

Perkins, who has served under every president since Ronald Reagan, said he had doubts about the War in Iraq.

“We went to Iraq in ’03 looking for mass destruction,” he said. “We haven’t found them in five years, I’ve been all over that country, north, south, east and west looking under every rock, every tree and every bunker. We own the place and we still haven’t found them. The longer we stay in Iraq, the more training it gives to terrorists to learn how we fight. It’s a training ground: ‘You want to learn how to fight Americans? Go to Iraq. Learn how they fight. Learn their tactics. Then take that knowledge back to your camps.’”


Cheney told the recruits that his father came through this base during World War II and he was proud of his father’s service.