Once you got to Iraq and took it over, took down Saddam Hussein's government, then what are you going to put in its place? That's a very volatile part of the world, and if you take down the central government of Iraq, you could very easily end up seeing pieces of Iraq fly off: part of it, the Syrians would like to have to the west, part of it -- eastern Iraq -- the Iranians would like to claim, they fought over it for eight years. In the north you've got the Kurds, and if the Kurds spin loose and join with the Kurds in Turkey, then you threaten the territorial integrity of Turkey.

It's a quagmire if you go that far and try to take over Iraq.

The other thing was casualties. Everyone was impressed with the fact we were able to do our job with as few casualties as we had. But for the 146 Americans killed in action, and for their families -- it wasn't a cheap war. And the question for the president, in terms of whether or not we went on to Baghdad, took additional casualties in an effort to get Saddam Hussein, was how many additional dead Americans is Saddam worth?

Our judgment was, not very many, and I think we got it right.

Well, keep in mind, David, that Cheney has a long history of telling people - in the Senate, on TV, etc,  to "fuck off" and flipping them the bird and working against the will and interests of the public.

This isn't a lame duck act - this is his character.

I am curious as to who the "great team of advisors" would have been. I know there was a time that Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Rice were considered to be exactly that. I know he always talks about taking advice from the"Generals on the ground" , and then ignores any advice that strays from his"vision" and gets rid of them. So, and I am being serious, who are the advisors he ignored?

Former Army Chief of Staff General Shinseki stated before the Iraq invasion that it would take a force of 300,000 troops to stabilize the country.  He was asked to resign.  We used 130,000 and you know how that turned out. 

We also just had the recent forced resignation of the US Central Commander Admiral William Fallon because he doesn't believe that going to war with Iran would be very prudent.  His predecesor wasn't in favor of invading Iraq either.

We all remember former FEMA chief Michael Brown with snickers because of Bush's "You're doing a heck of a job Brownie" remark as the relief effort during Katrina turned into a joke, but what about the video of planning sessions prior to Katrina's arrival that showed Mr. Brown warning of all the bad things that would happen if the government was slow to respond?  He called it and then was later asked to fall on his sword.

There's Dr. John Marburger III, Bush's science advisor in title only because Mr. Bush ignores everything he says in regard to a wide range of subjects from Intelligent Design, Global Warming, and stem cell research.

This list could get long!  This is an administration that doesn't want advice.  They want people who tow the party line.  Period.  That's how they get appointies like George Duetsch, who resigned his post at NASA over a fake resume and lots of odd memos (like mandating that the word "theory" follow every mention of the Big Bang). 

The Impact of Pastor Wright and THE SPEECH on Election 2008

QUOTE: Two days after Barack Obama gave the most important speech of his life, it remains unclear what impact the controversy over Pastor Jeremiah Wright will have on the race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination. However, early data suggests that it has already had a negative impact on Obama's chances of winning the general election against John McCain. The good news for Obama is that his numbers have stopped falling since his speech on Tuesday. The bad news is that they haven't bounced back.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/rasmussen/20080320/pl_rasmussen/past orproblemsobama20080320;_ylt=AlOQG7utqqdfvorszDh7o5utOrgF

Clinton takes lead over Obama in Gallup poll

QUOTE: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has moved into a significant lead over Barack Obama among Democratic voters, according to a new Gallup poll. The March 14-18 national survey of 1,209 Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters gave Clinton, a New York senator, a 49 percent to 42 percent edge over Obama, an Illinois senator. The poll has an error margin of 3 percentage points

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080320/ts_nm/usa_politics_gallu p_dc