The Vice President was in Oregon yesterday, and he gave his usual stump speech: five parts war on terror, two parts attack on Kerry, one part softball questions from the handpicked audience. During the war on terror part, Cheney referenced something he called the "Bush doctrine":
And he annunciated a new doctrine, a so-called Bush doctrine that we've adhered to ever since, and that was that not only would we go after the terrorists, but we would go after the terrorists, but we would also go after those who sponsor terror, and those who support terror, and those who provided sanctuary and safe harbor for terrorists.
If there is such a thing as a Bush doctrine, and the above is it, then the Administration has failed miserably in following its own doctrine. Given the above criteria, Iraq does not fit into the doctrine at all: Saddam Hussein did not sponsor the kind of terror we were interested in fighting, nor did he provide sanctuary for terrorists. In fact, the invasion of Iraq has hurt the war on terror more than it has helped:
* Terror attacks have increased throughout the world since we invaded Iraq
* Afghanistan essentially fell off the agenda
* Military resources are stretched perilously thin
* International distrust of America is at an all-time high
* More than 1,000 American lives have been lost
If this is the result of a "Bush doctrine," whether correctly followed or not, Cheney would be wise to stop advertising it.
