Cheney Stands by His ‘Last Throes’ Remark By Thomas E. Ricks, Washington Post Staff Writer

Vice President Cheney yesterday defended his much-criticized claim a year ago that the Iraq insurgency was in its “last throes” and said he believes that Iraq “turned a corner” last year when its people held elections creating a constitution and a government. …

Cheney has repeatedly stood by his May 2005 declaration that the insurgency was waning….

The most famous optimistic assessment came nearly three years ago, when President Bush stood on an aircraft carrier off California under a banner that read “Mission Accomplished.” “We have seen the turning of the tide,” he said then. Since that statement, more than 2,300 Americans have died in Iraq.

Despite Cheney’s assertion that no one foresaw how difficult the post-invasion phase would be, defense and Middle East experts have said that administration officials during the run-up to the war ignored their warnings about potential obstacles ahead.
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Bush said that the “Democrats are good talkers, we’re good doers.”