Editorial: Hollow words from Cheney

Tuesday, March 13, 2007 | 7:17 a.m.

Upon Vice President Dick Cheney's shoulders lie much of the responsibility for the near-anarchy and civil war that prevails in Iraq.

No one in the Bush administration pushed for invading the country more than he did, nor was anyone more selective in their use of intelligence while promoting war. When history writers assign blame for the war's inept planning, Cheney will be as prominent a culprit as President Bush and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Yet on the fourth anniversary of the war, the vice president has the audacity to say the work being undertaken by Congress to correct the mistake-riddled policies of the administration is "undermining" our troops.

In a speech Monday in Washington, before 6,000 members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Cheney spoke as if he had contributed to a flawless battle plan for Iraq. He was promoting an open-ended war run entirely from the White House, with Congress serving as a rubber stamp.

"The military answers to one commander-in-chief in the White House, not 535 commanders-in-chief on Capitol Hill," Cheney said.

Cheney characterized work by Congress to craft a bill reflecting the mood of the American electorate as an "anti-war" strategy. Such a bill would "hamper the war effort and interfere with the operational authority of the president and with our military commanders," Cheney charged.

How Cheney can call Congress "anti-war" is beyond us. Most of the Democrats and Republicans who are seeking to change the administration's mistake-riddled war policy voted to give Bush the authority to use military force against Iraq.

They are not anti-war, they are anti-incompetence. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the other top hawks in the administration failed spectacularly in their responsibility to plan for victory. From issuing troops insufficient armor to neglecting post-invasion security, they failed. And they are still failing.

Not everyone agrees with Congress' working proposals for how the war should be fought from here on. But in our view Congress should not be faulted by Dick Cheney - of all people - for at least trying to forge an alternate path.