HARRY REID: 'Being On The Wrong Side Of Dick Cheney Is Being On The Right Side Of History'
In the scathing op-ed, Dick Cheney - perhaps the most controversial of former Bush administration officials for his role as an architect of the Iraq war - and his daughter blast Obama for being "so wrong about so much at the expense of so many."
"Being on the wrong side of Dick Cheney is being on the right side of history," Reid said in response Wednesday.
Reid said Iraq is in the midst of a civil war between a Sunni Muslim minority and Shiite majority. The Sunni militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has made gains in recent days, including the capture of the second-largest city of Mosul.
Reid argued the U.S. has "had enough" of conflict, and he came out in vehement opposition to sending ground troops to the country.
"I do not support in any way putting our men and women in the midst of this civil war in Iraq," he said. "This is an Iraqi civil war, and it is time for the Iraqis to resolve it themselves."
With Cheney's op-ed as his focus, Reid ripped the "neocons" who are now criticizing Obama for leading the U.S. into war in the first place - Cheney, former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, who Reid clarified was "not the comedian."
"Republicans seem to have forgotten why President Obama initiated the troop drawdown in 2009, in June. Why? The Iraqis wanted us out. The Iraqi government didn't want American forces to stay," Reid said.