Washington, June 23: US Vice President Dick Cheney
warned today that a hasty US retreat from Iraq would have a
domino effect, helping terrorists and hurting US allies in the
Middle East and from Europe to Asia.
"It is absolutely the worst possible thing we could do at
this point," the Vice President told a television news channel in an
interview. "In fact, we will have set up the situation in
which the al-Qaeda types can win."
Cheney's comments came as the US Senate easily defeated
two democratic measures that would set deadlines for
withdrawing US troops from Iraq as the unpopular war becomes
a key election year issue.
Taking aim at calls for a withdrawal, the Vice President
said: "if we were to do that, it would be devastating from
the standpoint of the global war on terror."
"It would affect what happens in Afghanistan, it would
make it difficult for US to persuade the Iranians to give up
their aspirations for nuclear weapons. It would threaten the
stability of regimes like Musharraf in Pakistan and the Saudis
in Saudi Arabia," said Cheney.
Al-Qaeda has "a plan to establish a caliphate that
stretches from Spain all the way around to Indonesia, to kick
the Americans out of the middle east, to destroy Israel, to
take down most of those regimes in that part of the world,"
he said.
"They believe they can in fact force us to quit, that
ultimately we'll get tired of the fight, that we don't have
the stomach for a long, tough battle and that we'll pack it
in and go home," said Cheney.
"We can win -- we are winning -- but we've got to
stay at it," the Vice President said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Friday, June 23, 2006, 00:00