"I think that the proposition of going to Baghdad is also fallacious. I think if we we're going to remove Saddam Hussein we would have had to go all the way to Baghdad, we would have to commit a lot of force because I do not believe he would wait in the Presidential Palace for us to arrive. I think we'd have had to hunt him down. And once we'd done that and we'd gotten rid of Saddam Hussein and his government, then we'd have had to put another government in its place. What kind of government? Should it be a Sunni government or Shi'i government or a Kurdish government or Ba'athist regime? Or maybe we want to bring in some of the Islamic fundamentalists? How long would we have had to stay in Baghdad to keep that government in place? What would happen to the government once U.S. forces withdrew? How many casualties should the United States accept in that effort to try to create clarity and stability in a situation that is inherently unstable? I think it is vitally important for a President to know when to use military force. I think it is also very important for him to know when not to commit U.S. military force. And it's my view that the President got it right both times, that it would have been a mistake for us to get bogged down in the quagmire inside Iraq."
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Businesspeople from the United StatesMembers of the United States House of RepresentativesVice Presidents of the United StatesUnited States Secretaries of DefenseRepublican Party (United States) politicians
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At the Washington Institute's Soref Symposium, April 29, 1991
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dick_Cheney
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Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney (January 30, 1941 β November 3, 2025) was the 46th vice president of the United States, serving under President George W. Bush. Previously, he served as White House chief of staff, member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wyoming, and Secretary of Defense. In the private sector, he was the chairman and chief executive officer of Halliburton Energy Services.
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