WASHINGTON, April 8 (UPI) -- A video has emerged of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., accusing former Vice President Dick Cheney of pushing for the Iraq war to benefit his former employer Halliburton.
Cheney recently slammed the "isolationists" within the Republican party, whom he said concerned him greatly in the 2016 presidential election, and thereby pointed the finger at presidential hopeful Paul. Now a video from 2009 has emerged, in which Paul expressed some hefty accusations toward Cheney. In the video, Paul claimed Cheney exploited the 9/11 terrorist attacks to go to war in Iraq in order to benefit the giant military contractor Halliburton, of which Cheney was formerly CEO.
"[Dick Cheney's] being interviewed, I think, by the American Enterprise Institute, and he says it would be a disaster, it would be vastly expensive, it'd be civil war, we would have no exit strategy," Paul said. "He goes on and on for five minutes. Dick Cheney saying it would be a bad idea. And that's why the first Bush didn't go into Baghdad. Dick Cheney then goes to work for Halliburton. Makes hundreds of millions of dollars, their CEO. Next thing you know, he's back in government and it's a good idea to go into Iraq."
Cheney has often been criticized for his hawkish attitude and his approval of enhanced interrogation techniques on terrorist suspects. The Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq and the constant assertion that Saddam Hussein possessed WMDs that were never found also marred the Bush presidency.
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Paul's office has not commented on the reemergence of the video or the accusations, but has slammed certain members of the Republican party in a speech on foreign policy for promoting "neo-isolationism, in which diplomacy is distrusted and war is, if not the first choice, the preferred option."
[Mother Jones]
