Cheney to seek help on Iraq, Iran (AFP)

[Up2Late]

Source: AFP

Cheney to seek help on Iraq, Iran

08/05/2007 05h41

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Vice President Dick Cheney heads Tuesday to the Middle East, seeking help from sometimes wary US allies for stabilizing Iraq and hoping to enlist them to counter Iran's growing regional influence.

But Cheney -- who will visit the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan -- will leave the diplomatic heavy lifting on the Arab-Israeli peace process to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a top aide said Monday. "I'm not sure that getting another cook in that kitchen makes much sense," a senior Cheney aide told reporters in a pre-trip briefing held on condition that he not be named.

"So my sense is that the division of labor on this was really the vice president would be focused on Iraq and some of the other security challenges that we have in the region," the aide said.

Instead, Cheney will aim to convince Iraq's mostly Sunni neighbors to back the four-month US-led crackdown and convince their fellows in Iraq to end support for the insurgency and embrace the country's shaky political process.

(more at link)

Read more: http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/070508053156.7cdbwz3r.html

---

Humm, "...a senior Cheney aide told reporters in a pre-trip briefing held on condition that he not be named."

I guess that's the kind of "loyalty" you get when you have a 9% approval rating, it seems.

[maddezmom]

1. wonder if it's the mystery briefer again

Cheney himself :D

Mystery official briefs press on Cheney (was it Super Secret Cheney himself !?1)
Edited on Wed Feb-28-07 04:51 AM by maddezmom
WASHINGTON - Who was the mystery official on Vice President Dick Cheney's plane? There were plenty of clues about his identity if you read a transcript of his remarks.

The rules were simple. The official who briefed reporters on Cheney's plane could be identified only as a senior administration official. But the high-ranking official wasn't very careful about concealing his identity as Cheney wrapped up his round-the-world trip with surprise stops in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pay attention to the pronouns — me and I — that the official uses in describing the vice president's mission.

~snip~

"The reason the president wanted me to come, obviously, is because of the continuing threat that exists in this part of the world on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border," the senior administration official said Tuesday.

~snip~

Let me just make one editorial comment here," the official said. "I've seen some press reporting says, `Cheney went in to beat up on them, threaten them.' That's not the way I work. I don't know who writes that, or maybe somebody gets it from some source who doesn't know what I'm doing, or isn't involved in it. But the idea that I'd go in and threaten someone is an invalid misreading of the way I do business.

"I would describe my sessions both in Pakistan and Afghanistan as very productive. We've had notable successes in both places. I've often said before and I believe it's still true that we've captured and killed more al-Qaida in Pakistan than anyplace else. And I think we're making progress in Afghanistan."


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=265673

[Adsos Letter]

2. Good points maddezmom!

Sounds like the VP is doing the spin/damage control thing. Just what is it he could be expected to beat them up with, anyway?

I don't know...these problems seem too big for my feeble mind...the genie is out of the bottle and I'll be darned if I know how they'll ever get it back in. I think the current administration has mounted a tiger and doesn't have a clue as to how to get off...I think these guys have added several million people to the roles of those who hate us...how will we ever even begin to repair the damage we've caused in the middle-east, or the damage to our own country in the name of "security"?

It's a new world, I'm afraid.

Maybe I'm just tired.

Where is FDR...?

[spotbird]

5. Trying to build support for the Iranian attack?

Timings right.

Whatever it is it's huge. He's still not physically recovered from his last ME trip. He rarely travels internationally, so another trip so quickly is indicative of a crisis of the highest order.

Sadly, it can't mean anything good.

[bdamomma]

8. yea, that clot may re surface again.

[Xipe Totec]

3. Why Cheney?

Where's the Secretary of State?

Where's the Secretary of Defense?

Where's the Commander in Chief?

What's the spare tire doing on the road?

[spotbird]

6. Where?

1. Boot shopping.

2. Boot licking.

3. Boot polishing.

[Xipe Totec]

7. Kick Ass!

:rofl:

[maddezmom]

4. from an AP article: What can Cheney bring to the region that Rice couldn't?

What can Cheney bring to the region that Rice couldn't?

A senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the trip publicly, said President Bush asked Cheney to go because of his close ties with leaders in each of the four countries.

But some Mideast experts outside the administration suggested that Cheney's visit also might be an attempt to try to clear up what might be viewed as mixed messages from Rice by some leaders in the region.

"Some of these people wonder if Condi Rice really speaks for the president when she decides she's going to talk to the Syrians, or when she agrees to go to a conference that includes the Iranians," said David Mack, a retired diplomat who was deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs and a consultant to the bipartisan Iraq Study group.

"They wonder if the president is going to pull out the rug from under her. The vice president, who is generally identified as having opposed a lot of the things that we've been increasingly doing, can assure them that she speaks for the president as well," said Mack, now vice president of the Middle East Institute, a group devoted to fostering knowledge of the region.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070508/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cheney

[cliss]

9. I hate to say it, but Dick Cheney

lost all his Macheesmo about 1 year ago. This was during the hunting accident, with his attorney friend from Houston.

After that, Cheney became the butt of jokes, for weeks on end. Even Putin and other leaders got a lot of mileage out of that. They saw him as a stupid fool who can't even aim.

I think a lot of Cheney's reputation has been like a Darth Vader type. He's hated here in the US, but he's been feared around the world. It's served him quite well.

But now - he's just seen as a disgusting fool who shoots his friends in the face. He's lost all his Bad Ass reputation.