Liz Cheney’s Opposition to Trump Aimed To Keep American Troops Dying in Afghan War
May 17, 2021 (EIRNS)—Glenn Greenwald, in a May 14 article, “Liz Cheney Lied About Her Role in Spreading the Discredited CIA ‘Russian Bounty’ Story” on his website, presents the evidence that Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), the new Congressional darling of liberals from the media, has been lying in interviews, denying that she pushed the “Russian bounties” story to make sure President Donald Trump did not succeed last year in ending U.S. troop deployments to the war in Afghanistan, America’s longest war. In a May 11 interview with Bret Baier on Fox News, Cheney heatedly denied ever having pushed the story that Russia paid Taliban fighters a bounty to kill American soldiers, now abandoned by the U.S. intelligence agencies but still flogged by Congressional neo-cons like Sen. Robert Menendez and Rep. Adam Schiff. And of course, Dick Cheney’s loyal warmonger daughter has been promoting the narrative that her determination to drive Donald Trump out of politics arises from constitutional concerns and his election “big lie.”
But Greenwald marshals the quotes from Cheney herself which prove the opposite, including this one from June 27, 2020, which is on her website:
“After today’s briefing with senior White House officials, we remain concerned about Russian activity in Afghanistan, including reports that they have targeted U.S. forces. It has been clear for some time that Russia does not wish us well in Afghanistan. We believe it is important to vigorously pursue any information related to Russia or any other country targeting our forces. Congress has no more important obligation than providing for the security of our nation and ensuring our forces have the resources they need.”
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) was the other part of “we” in the statement.
That same day, the New York Times had published the first lying article about the “Russian bounties,” not naming its sources. They may have been in the House Armed Services Committee—the way Dick Cheney would habitually leak a lie to the media and then “adopt it” from them.
Greenwald makes clear that the issue is not that Liz Cheney lied, which would hardly be news. Rather, he says, it was the Afghan War she was fighting for, just like her father.
“Cheney played the key role in forming an alliance with pro-war Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee to repeatedly defeat the bipartisan anti-war minority (led by Ro Khanna (D-CA), Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL)) to prevent any meaningful changes promised by Trump during the 2016 campaign to put an end to the U.S. posture of Endless War. As I reported about the House Armed Services Committee hearing last July, the CIA tale was repeatedly cited by Cheney and her allies to justify ongoing U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan.”
