Harry Krause wrote:

Skipper wrote:
NOVEMBER 21, 2005

SPEAKER: RICHARD B. CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

Dick Cheney is a criminal. It's no wonder he appeals to you and your kind.

Carter turned his back on America's loyal friends in Iran. He had
Stansfield Turner decimate our intelligence community. He reduced our
military to the point they couldn't even rescue hostages. He brought on
stagflation while talking about America's "malaise". He gave away
America's canal. Bush and Cheney are restoring America's strength.

Cheney reminded us:

Some have suggested that by liberating Iraq from Saddam Hussein we
simply stirred up a hornet's nest. They overlook a fundamental fact: We
were not in Iraq on September 11th, 2001, and the terrorists hit us
anyway.

The reality is the terrorists were at war with our country long before
the liberation of Iraq and long before the attacks of 9/11. And for many
years, they were the ones on the offensive. They grew bolder in the
belief that if they killed Americans, they could change American policy.

In Beirut in 1983, terrorists killed 241 of our servicemen. Thereafter,
the United States withdrew from Beirut.

In Mogadishu in 1993, terrorists killed 19 American soldiers.
Thereafter, the U.S. withdrew its forces from Somalia.

Over time the terrorists concluded that they could strike America
without paying a price, because they did repeatedly: the bombing at the
World Trade Center in 1993, the murders at the Saudi National Guard
Training Center in Riyadh in 1995, the Khobar Towers in 1996, the
simultaneous bombing of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998
and, of course, the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000.

CHENEY: Believing they could strike us with impunity and that they could
change U.S. policy, they attacked us on 9/11 here in the homeland,
killing 3,000 people.

Now they're making a stand in Iraq, testing our resolve, trying to
intimidate the United States into abandoning our friends and permitting
the overthrow of this new Middle Eastern democracy.

Recently, we obtained a message from the number two man in Al Qaida, Mr.
Zawahiri, that he sent to his chief deputy in Iraq, the terrorist
Zarqawi. The letter makes clear that Iraq is part of a larger plan of
imposing Islamic radicalism across the broader Middle East, making Iraq
a terrorist haven and a staging ground for attacks against other
nations.

Zawahiri also expresses the view that America can be made to run again.

In light of the commitments our country has made, and given the stated
intentions of the enemy, those who advocate a sudden withdraw from Iraq
should answer a few simple questions: Would the United States and other
free nations be better off or worse off with Zarqawi, bin Laden and
Zawahiri in control of Iraq? Would we be safer or less safe with Iraq
ruled by men intent on the destruction of our country?

It is a dangerous illusion to suppose that another retreat by the
civilized world would satisfy the appetite of the terrorists and get
them to leave us alone.

In fact, such a retreat would convince the terrorists that free nations
will change our policies, forsake our friends, abandon our interests
whenever we are confronted with murder and blackmail.

--
Skipper