Cheney: U.S. Won't Back Down In Iraq

Vice President Tells Troops In Japan That U.S. Will Complete The Mission

(CBS/AP)  Vice President Dick Cheney reaffirmed the Bush administration's commitment to the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq on Wednesday, saying the U.S. wants to finish its mission, then "come home with honor."

Cheney, who arrived in Japan on Tuesday, was given a 19-gun salute as he boarded the USS Kitty Hawk at this U.S. Navy base just south of Tokyo.

"The American people will not support a policy of retreat," Cheney told about 4,000 troops in the hangar bay. "We want to complete the mission, we want to get it done right, and then we want to come home, with honor."

Cheney said his brief visit to Japan was a gesture of appreciation for Tokyo, which has been one of Washington's most valuable allies in the war on terror by offering non-combat troops to assist U.S. efforts in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Japan pulled its troops out of Iraq last year. The country still operates airlifts in the region in support of the U.S.-led forces, a mission set to end in July. Japan's navy has also provided fuel for coalition warships in the Afghan war since 2001.

Cheney also commented on British Prime Minister Tony Blair's announcement that Britain would begin withdrawing its troops from southern Iraq, calling it a sign of progress.

"Well, I look at it and see it is actually an affirmation that there are parts of Iraq where things are going pretty well," Cheney said in an interview with ABC.

Cheney said he had spoken with a friend who traveled recently from Baghdad to Basra and "found the situation dramatically improved from a year or so ago."

In Japan, Cheney met with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko and Foreign Minister Taro Aso before holding talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Cheney and Abe discussed their countries' stances on North Korea, which has rattled the region with its nuclear ambitions but earlier this month agreed to shut down its main nuclear reactor in exchange for energy aid and other incentives.

"We are cooperating to protect our countries from the dangers of nuclear proliferation," Cheney told Abe at a photo session prior to their talks. Earlier, Cheney said the accord with North Korea was "a correct first step," but pledged to keep up pressure on the communist regime to dismantle its nuclear program.

Despite the breakthrough, Japan has declined to contribute aid to the North until the issue of past abductions of its citizens is resolved. North Korea has admitted kidnapping Japanese in the late 1970s and '80s, but Japan believes it has not provided a full accounting of the victims.

Cheney told Abe at the photo session that the U.S. respects Japan's position and wants "to seek a resolution of the tragic case of Japanese abductees." He was to meet the parents of one of the abductees on Thursday before flying to Guam and then on to Australia, his final stop.

Cheney and Abe also discussed China's anti-satellite weapon test last month. They agreed it demonstrated the country's lack of transparency over its military and that Beijing needed to become a more "responsible and constructive force in international society," a Foreign Ministry official said later at a briefing on customary condition of anonymity.

Cheney relayed an invitation from President Bush for Abe to visit the U.S., the Foreign Ministry official said.

Also Wednesday, Cheney and Tokyo's top government spokesman, Yasuhisa Shiozaki, reiterated their countries' intentions to collaborate closely on missile defense and the realignment of U.S. troops stationed in Japan.

The U.S. has about 50,000 troops stationed in Japan under a mutual security pact that dates back to the 1960s. Tokyo and Washington have been reworking that alliance to make the presence more effective. They are also developing a joint missile defense shield.

[mh4cbs1]

lars008:

You should read a little history of how Christian (so-called) fundamentalists butchered millions through the middle ages, genocide against non-believer indeginous Americans, and more recently have started numerous wars and coups, dropped cluster bombs, used cancer-causing depleted uranium, left hundreds of thousnads of land mines that blow up kids, sanctions killing hundreds of thousands. And now, lied us into a needless WAR of Death and Destruction in Iraq.

So stop with your self-righteous self-serving ignorant racsist proclomations and clean your own House of Bush - a most vile, deceitful and evil a regime as any you may find in a muslim nation.

[vincan-2009]

Until cheney is removed from office he is a loaded bomb. The Iraq War was his plan and he is going to stick with it forever. Americans are more endangered by our leaders than we are from anyone else. Bush/Cheney are getting away with having their Iran propaganda announced on the nightly news as fact when everyone should question anything and everything they say about Iraq or Iran. How long will it take to realize they have lied and will continue to lie? I don't believe they have a true regard for this country or the world. Cheney will go done fighting but we don't have to let him take our country with him. Be Smarter this time.

[vincan-2009]

Until cheney is removed from office he is a loaded bomb. The Iraq War was his plan and he is going to stick with it forever. Americans are more endangered by our leaders than we are from anyone else. Bush/Cheney are getting away with having their Iran propaganda announced on the nightly news as fact when everyone should question anything and everything they say about Iraq or Iran. How long will it take to realize they have lied and will continue to lie? I don't believe they have a true regard for this country or the world. Cheney will go done fighting but we don't have to let him take our country with him. Be Smarter this time.

[gkc99]

Maybe the Aussies can take Cheney out trolling for croc-oh-dials with that pissant little 28 gauge he shot his Texas lawyer pal with . . .

[rheola-2009]

Curiously it has not reached at least CBS, but there were violent protests against that murderous Cheney in Sydney last night Aust EST, WITH MORE EXPECTED TODAY, CONTINUING UNTIL HE GETS OUT OF aUSTRALIA SUNDAY.

[abbe7]

"Cheney Slams Iraq Plan Advocated by Dems" ...
and this coming from somebody who outed a CIA front
company ...
Time to get rid of this felon.

[long_rider]

The writing is on the wall. Is anyone listening?

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022107R.shtml

"The U.S. won't backdown"

[long_rider]

at our Reps. in Washington are sticking it to us again. I wander if anyone reads any of the legislation that is being proposed? This bit of legislation is a knife at every Americas throat.

Of course the American news media has not said one word about it.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022107C.shtml

You have got to love this system, a liar runs this country, and undoes 200 yrs. of constitutional law, and the American sheep keep grazing.

We get what we deserve.

[lars008-2009]

RIDICULOUSLY BACKWARD BARBARIC SCUM!!!
HOW MUSLIMS TREAT MODERATES
http://masada2000.org/kill-collaborator.mpeg

RUSSIAN PRISONER OF WAR
http://www.dafka.org/ContentFiles/videos/m-mpg.asx

HOW MUSLIMS TREAT RUSSIAN CIVILIANS
http://masada2000.org/Execution%20-Russian.asf

HOW MUSLIMS TREAT ORIENTALS
http://masada2000.org/shosei-koda-beheading-video.wmv

HOW MUSLIMS TREAT EUROPEANS
http://www.abrahamic-faith.com/audio/eugene-armstrong-beheading-video.wmv

HOW MUSLIMS TREAT YOUNG GIRLS
Search Three Indonesian Girls Beheaded
http://www.ogrish.com/archives/three_indonesian_girls_beheaded_images_Oct_30_200 5.html

How Muslims Treat Farm Animals
http://muzzybeastiality.org
http://masada2000.org/impalement.asx
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.241172591&par=0
http://www.faithfreedom.org/Gallery/8.htm

Iran to Stone 13 Year Old Incest Victim
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/008354.html
http://www.wfafi.org/wfafistatement12.htm
http://www.zhilaa.com/english.htm
VIDEO!!!!
http://www.apostatesofislam.com/media/stoning.htm
http://www.apostatesofislam.com/

[lars008-2009]

I was talking today to a woman from Bosnia, she so many horrific inhuman things were dont by the Muslims to her people. She would only tell me a couple of what she thought was the least of the horrific things that were done... she said that the Muslims would take the pregnant women and asked them if they wanted to know what the *** of their baby is and even if the woman said NO, they would then proceed to cut the baby out of the womb then hold the baby up and tell the dying woman the *** of her baby... and to the men they would put him over a very sharp pointed stake, and eventually he wouldn't be able to hold his weight up and he would fall and impale himself through the bowels and die a horrific death...
These people say that Allah is all merciful, Allah will let people submit and live, but if they dont submit they die, simple...so we either submit or we die,, just as the quran says, and our leaders seem hell bent in putting us in more and more danger, they have allowed the enemy to not only get behind enemy lines but to multiply like flies... They have to deal with the fast growing ever increasing Muslim problem at home and in every country that they have adopted...all other religions come and live happily all except Islam,,
Posted by Gaye5 at 02:41 AM : Feb 22, 2007