At long last, Dick Cheney is finally the right man at the right time.

It's too late for Dick Cheney to rehab his legacy. The American people have made their decision about the Iraq War. Today, we are looking to a future where we use our military only when necessary and instead use America's leadership role to create free and just societies, and it is in the contrast of Cheney’s gruff style with Obama’s cool pragmatism that the former Vice President proves most useful.

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, presents the U.S. with a new, post-al Qaeda enemy that has destabilized a region from Palestine to Baghdad. ISIL has kidnapped the Turkish consul general in Mosul, a clear incursion against a NATO ally. We have real interests in this region and are the only ones capable of leading a multilateral coalition to prevent Iraq’s collapse.

But we will accomplish nothing if our only two options are Cheney’s invade-first strategy and Paul’s isolationism. Thank God for Dick Cheney. Before this week, Obama’s options were limited by a public justifiably tired of international entanglements. Now all he has to do is jab a thumb at the lot of Cheney, John McCain, and the rest of the Iraq War apologists and promise that whatever happens, he’s not repeating their mistakes. At long last, Dick Cheney is finally the right man at the right time.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/dick-cheney-iraq