Cheney: Bush "failed" on Iran

The Cheney in question would be Liz, not Dick. On Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace challenged Cheney’s assertion that President Obama is doing nothing at all to prevent Iran from getting the bomb. As Wallace pointed out, wouldn’t it be fair to say that the Bush administration also did nothing to prevent Iran from getting the bomb.

(Forgive the absence of direct quotes. FNS now seems to be hiding the transcripts of its roundtable discussions. But you can listen to the relevant exchange at 44:23 of the FNS podcast for April 11.)

Although Dubya’s critics might enjoy Cheney the Younger’s dismissal of the Bush administration policy as a failure, there will be no agreement on the substance of Cheney’s criticism. Her point was that just like Obama, Bush’s main effort consisted of seeking UN resolutions designed to stop Iranian weapons development.

Of course, the liberal argument is that Bush failed because of his belligerent refusal to talk to the Iranians. Yet even though there were no direct talks with Iran then (just as there aren’t any now), working through the UN was the real focus of the Bush administration’s diplomatic effort to prevent Iran from getting the bomb. Perhaps Obama’s effort to work through the UN is more sincere. But since when has sincerity counted for much at the UN?