.
A transcript of the 1992 appearance was tracked down by P-I columnist Joel Connelly, as reported in In the Northwest column.
“And the question in my mind is how many additional American casualties is Saddam worth?” Cheney said then in response to a question.
“And the answer is not very damned many. So I think we got it right, both when we decided to expel him from Kuwait, but also when the president made the decision that we’d achieved our objectives and we were not going to go get bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern Iraq.” About 146 Americans were killed in the first Gulf War.
…
Cheney foreshadowed a future in Iraq that is remarkably close to conditions found there today, suggesting that it would be difficult to bring the country’s various political factions together and that U.S. troops would be vulnerable to insurrection and guerrilla attacks.
“Now what kind of government are you going to establish? Is it going to be a Kurdish government, or a Shi’ia government, or a Sunni government, or maybe a government based on the old Baathist Party, or some mixture thereof?
The end result, Cheney said in 1992, would be a messy, dangerous situation requiring a long-term presence by U.S. forces.
cont’d …
When Blitzer asked whether the administration’s credibility had been hurt by “the blunders and the failures” in Iraq, Cheney interjected: “Wolf, Wolf, I simply don’t accept the premise of your question. I just think it’s hogwash.”
In fact, Cheney said, the operation in Iraq has achieved its original mission. “What we did in Iraq in taking down Saddam Hussein was exactly the right thing to do,” he said. “The world is much safer today because of it. There have been three national elections in Iraq. There’s a democracy established there, a constitution, a new democratically elected government. Saddam has been brought to justice and executed. His sons are dead. His government is gone.”
“If he were still there today,” Cheney added, “we’d have a terrible situation.”
“But there is,” Blitzer said.
“No, there is not,” Cheney retorted. “There is not. There’s problems — ongoing problems — but we have in fact accomplished our objectives of getting rid of the old regime, and there is a new regime in place that’s been here for less than a year, far too soon for you guys to write them off.” He added: “Bottom line is that we’ve had enormous successes and we will continue to have enormous successes.”
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
