Biden Wanted Cheney Out Too

(CBS)  Bob Woodward's new book, "State of Denial," is not the only source of criticism of the Bush Administration – particularly Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld – for its handling of the war in Iraq.

On CBS News's Face the Nation Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said he thinks Rumsfeld should lose his job because of what he sees as mismanagement of the war.

Biden also said that, in an Oval Office meeting, he told President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney that he wanted Cheney to step down for the same reasons.

"The present said to me, quote, 'Why do you keep picking on Rummy?' I looked at the president, and I said, 'Mr. President, with all due respect' – and I looked at the vice president – 'Mr. Vice President, I would call for your resignation as well, were you not a constitutional officer,'" Biden told host Bob Scheiffer.

"And the president said, 'Why would you say that?' And I said, 'Mr. President, not one piece of advice either Don Rumsfeld or Dick Cheney has given you has turned out to be correct with regard to Iraq.' And the president just seems completely wedded to the notion," Biden said.

Biden said that the president has to change the course in Iraq. Despite the presence of more than 600,000 troops in the war-torn nation, violence is increasing.

But when Schieffer asked if Biden thinks the vice president should resign, Biden said no.

"I was making the point that these guys just don't know what they're doing," he said. "And no one takes them seriously anymore except the president, apparently."

Woodward's book claims that former White House chief of staff Andrew Card and First Lady Laura Bush wanted the Defense chief to resign.

Appearing on the show after Biden, White House counselor Dan Bartlett said the president still has confidence in Rumsfeld.

"He's the right man to do this job. It's a very difficult job. There are a lot of armchair quarterbacks, but he's the right man," he said.

Also in Woodward's book is the revelation that two months before the Sept. 11 attacks, then-CIA director George Tenet asked for an emergency meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was then serving as National Security Adviser. The CIA feared an attack was coming by al Qaeda.

According to Woodward, this meeting was not mentioned in testimony before the 9/11 Commission.

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[hamiltongrad]

Say Fud - your last line indicates that America is responsible for the attack of 9 11 killing over 3000 of our own, and nearly crippling NYC . You have to be a nut case to believe that.And may I add a "how dare you!"

Flight 767 Egytp Air - The piolet brings down his plane by all evidence killing hundreds. Since "face" is so important in the Arab world, and since they blame Isreal for everything, I suppose you deny any Arab responsibility for that too. That is pathetic. In this modern civilizations the truth is important. The backwardness of some cultures is truly amazing.

[trueprogress]

You need to look at where we were. 1. We removed a brutal dictator, and freed the millions of people of Iraq. 2. Iraq had been a miliary threat to Saudia Arabia, and Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, and now no longer is. 3. We have tapes of Saddam planning to use chemical and biologic weapons in NYC. He would have had he been in power. 4. There is good evidence that Saddam was behind the OK Fed building bombing, and he would have done more. 5. We now have a strong miliary experienced in combat. 6. Librya stood down, without a shot. 7. And most importantly we have planted the seed for free press, democracy in other countries of the Middle East, such as Syria and Iran. Long term , this may be most important. 8. We are killing Al Quaida operatives, and leaders almost daily. Best source for this is not US press by Al Jazerra. We are clobbering them in so many ways, but the main stream press is not reporting ? biased. We have brought the fight to them and have gained tremendous information on their operations, already disrupting attacks here on the homeland.
Remember, more Democrats voted to liberate Iraq than not.
The problem is, Americans, esp. Liberals do not like to confront evil. It was beyound our understanding to plan for passengers slitting the throats of sterwardess, so too that Arabs and now blowing up other Arabs, children and women targets, is also beyound our world. But, it is not our doing.

[trueprogress]

SAY FUD - With all due respect, you are guided by your "feelings" and that is no way to make policy decisions. How do you think the people in the WTC "felt" jumping out of those sky high buildings ?

[indvoter]

"Cut and run" Ooooohhh...original! Good parroting your party's talking points, using simplistic monosyllablic words for quick sound-bite digestion. So in fairness, let's use the same standard for all our Iraq options:

Let's see, the Bush plan would be "stay and lose", that is, lose more lives, more hundreds of billions of dollars (borrowed from the Chinese and Japanse against our grandchildren's economic futures), and more credibility--if we have any left.

Of course there is a third option: "Draft and crush". Triple the numbers of boots on the ground to 450,000 (as originally advised from the generals in the field) and impose brutual martial law, indefinitely.

But only if the U.S. public will support the military draft and the tax increases required to escalate the war. No passing the buck to unborn generations and to the predominantly lower-middle class military recruits.

Any bets on how well that solution would poll?

[trueprogress]

I agree 100 % with Hamiltongrad. We must stand together .

[marinemom05]

Were any of these people, including Rice, under oath when they testified? If not then it would be very convenient now for her to state that she has no memory of a meeting regarding this warning taking place. They have lied about everything else, what's one more. Also, if she does not recall this "warning" about an imminent attack, one has to wonder do they remember the PDB "Bin Laden Determined to Strike Inside The United States"? Doesn't that constitute a warning?

[rayhc]

My full name: Raymond Howard Carlson

My E-Mail: [e-mail]

Message:

Please get ALL the books by Joel C. Rosenberg and read them! Get a copy of the video and book entitled %u201CTHE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH%u201D by Hal Lindsey! Get a copy of the video of the controversial documentary film by Michael Moore that attacked the Bush Administration! Michael Moore%u2019s film was out in theaters about a year ago. Next, get a copy of a BIBLE (King James or New King James Versions)!

Unfortunately, more troops is better to secure IRAQ. Bottom line, we should NOT have invaded IRAQ. IRAQ never had weapons of mass-destruction!

CONTACT ME! Thank You.

[hamiltongrad]

What Senator Biden forgets, is that more Democrats voted for the liberation of Iraq than against it. The UN voted to back it.
As Americans we have trouble understanding true evil. We should not blame Clinton and his team for not anticipating the evil of Al Quida - cutting throats for Allah, tarketing women for death, submit or die,torture- and we should not blame President Bush either, because he brought liberation, Democracy, voting , power to the people to Iraq ! The terrible abuse of women and children under Saddam ended ! JFK would have approved . What Bush et al could not anticipate in Iraq- is the gross evil that exists in that part of the world. It is outside of our experience or comprehension. Who would have thought that liberation would result in Arab killing Arab, targeted child killing, women slaughter, putting ball bearings in bombs to put out eyes, and paralyze and much worse. This is violence their own people to cause terror and disrupt any freedom and democracy. Remember just after liberation the explosion of new newspapers, freee speech, and commerce ? That was too much for the evil enemy to tolerate.
Are we better off now ?
YES ! If we recognise this face of evil, and not turn away, deal with it, confront it, defeat it. Be stronger for knowing it.
Republicans and Democrats should unite to do so. Evil is the enemy. And the enemy is Radical Islam. Not ourselves. God Bless President Clinton and President Bush.

[drgoodwin12]

To mh4cbs1 you obviously have not been following Biden he has been a strong vocal opponet of Bush's handling of the war for some time.And it is a impossible job to try and get an investigation into all the numerous allegations let alone impeachemnt when your party does not control one of the houses and the media is soft on coverage.Had the media latch on to Clarkes book or O'Neils and follow through then G.W. would not be sitting in the oval office right now and you would not have a one party goverment.Read do your research before you speak.

[godfather052]

Dan Bartlett is just like the other Republicans. Tell a lie first, when that does not stick, blame it on Clinton, when that does not stick blame it on the so called liberal media. For the second time in history less than 30% of Americans and less than 20% of the world trust this administration or this Republican led Congress. They have absolutely no credibility what so ever. This is the most corrupt Administration and Congress in the history of America. Period