Cheney: Talk of blunders in Iraq "hogwash"

Vice President Dick Cheney said Wednesday that the administration has achieved "enormous successes" in Iraq but complained that critics and the media "are so eager to write off this effort or declare it a failure" that they are undermining U.S. troops.

In a television interview that turned increasingly contentious as it wore on, Cheney rejected the gloomy portrayal of Iraq that has become commonly accepted even among Bush supporters. "There's problems" in Iraq, he said, but it is not a "terrible situation." And congressional opposition "won't stop us" from sending 21,500 more troops, he said, it will only "validate the terrorists' strategy."

The defiant tone contrasted sharply with Bush's State of the Union address Tuesday night, when the president told skeptics of his latest Iraq plan that he respects their arguments even as he asked them to give him one more chance to win the war. Bush acknowledged deep troubles in Iraq and made no effort to call it a success.

Cheney, on the other hand, rejected the idea that there has been any failure. He told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that the administration would disregard the resolution opposing the troop increase that was passed Wednesday by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "It won't stop us," he said.

When Blitzer asked if the administration's credibility had been hurt by "the blunders and the failures" in Iraq, Cheney interjected: "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.

"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."

Cheney bristled when asked to respond to critics who question the decision by his daughter Mary, who is a lesbian, to have a baby and raise it with her female partner.

"I'm delighted I'm about to have a sixth grandchild, Wolf," Cheney said. "And obviously, I think the world of both my daughters and all of my grandchildren. And I think, frankly, you're out of line with that question."

Cheney was terse about leading Democrats, too. Asked if he thought Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York would make a good president, Cheney said simply, "No, I don't."

"Why?"

"Because she's a Democrat. I don't agree with her philosophically and from a policy standpoint."

And how did it feel to sit next to Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the first woman to serve as House speaker?

"I prefer Dennis Hastert."

Material from McClatchy Newspapers and The Associated Press is included in this report