Neither Iraq nor terrorism were issues in the 2000 presidential campaign, and in fact were hardly mentioned by the candidates of either party. Everything George W. Bush and Dick Cheney said during the campaign indicated that they thought Bill Clinton had used the military too much in his foreign policy, not too little. They outlined a stance of maintaining the policy of containment while being more selective about the use of force. Bush also argued against using the military in noncombat missions, hitting the issue hard in both debates of the presidential candidates. “He believes in nation building,” Bush said of Democratic candidate Al Gore at their first debate, on October 3, 2000. “I would be very careful about using our troops as nation builders. I believe the role of the military is to fight and win war and therefore prevent war from happening in the first place.” As a result of wanton Clinton administration policies, he added, “I believe we’re overextended in too many places.”

Bush emphasized this admonition at the next debate. “I don’t think our troops ought to be used for what’s called nation building,” he said on October 11. “I think our troops ought to be used to fight and win war. I think our troops ought to be used to help overthrow a dictator…when it’s in our best interests.”

During the campaign, vice presidential candidate Cheney also defended the decision during the 1991 war to not attack Baghdad. The United States, he said during an interview on NBC’S Meet The Press, should not act as though “we were an imperialist power, willy-nilly moving into capitals in that part of the world, taking down governments.” Cheney appeared to endorse the Clinton administration’s containment policy, saying that “we want to maintain our current posture vis-à-vis Iraq.”

-Fiasco: The American Military Adventure In Iraq, Thomas E. Ricks, pages 24-5

Seriously? Seriously.

I try, I really try, to respect the President. Regardless of personal opinion, he is our leader, and while I disagree with some of his choices, he is doing what he thinks is in the best interest of our entire country. He has also done good things for us. With any leader, I expect everyone under his command will like some of his decisions and dislike others.

But when the statements he makes while running for office prove to be such blatant lies from what he has actually done, I lose a lot of respect very quickly. Lying to get into office is definitely not appropriate.