Dick Cheney, US vice president
"When you think about what we've accomplished in terms of ... launching an attack into Iraq, destroying the Iraqi armed forces, taking down the government of Iraq, getting rid of Saddam Hussein, capturing 42 out of the 55 top leaders, and beginning what I think has been fairly significant success in terms of putting Iraq back together again, the price that we've had to pay is not out of line, and certainly wouldn’t lead me to suggest or think that the strategy is flawed or needs to be changed." September 14, 2003
"What we did in Iraq was exactly the right thing to do. If I had it to recommend all over again, I would recommend exactly the same course of action. The world is far safer today because Saddam Hussein is in jail, his government is no longer in power. And we did exactly the right thing." October 7, 2004
"The level of activity that we see today from a military standpoint, I think, will clearly decline. I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency."
"We will succeed in Iraq, just like we did in Afghanistan. We will stand up a new government under an Iraqi-drafted constitution. We will defeat that insurgency, and, in fact, it will be an enormous success story." June 24, 2005
"[If US forces withdrew from Iraq] we would simply validate the terrorists' strategy that says the Americans will not stay to complete the task ... that we don't have the stomach for the fight. That's the biggest threat."
"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 there for less than a year, far too soon for you guys [journalists] to write them off." January 25, 2007
"Well, I look at it and see it [British troops withdrawing from Iraq] is actually an affirmation that there are parts of Iraq where things are going pretty well." February 21, 2007
Cheney: "On the security front, I think there's a general consensus that we've made major progress, that the surge has worked. That's been a major success."
Interviewer: Two-thirds of Americans say it's not worth fighting.
Cheney: So?
Interviewer: So? You don't care what the American people think?
Cheney: "No. I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls." March 19, 2008
