Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday ripped House Republicans for meeting with former Vice President Cheney Tuesday to get his advice on how to deal with extreme Sunni militants in Iraq and Syria.
Reid panned Cheney as the architect of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which he called “the worst foreign policy decision in the history of the country.”
“Former Vice President Cheney was here yesterday giving the Republicans a pep talk,” Reid said on the Senate floor. “Please, taking advice on foreign policy from Dick Cheney?
{mosads}“That’s a terrifying prospect. We should be learning from our past mistakes, not repeating them,” he said.
Reid called on his colleagues to “stand back a little bit” and wait to hear what President Obama says in his address to the nation, scheduled for 9 p.m. Wednesday.
“The Bush-Cheney strategy of rushing into conflict doesn’t work. It didn’t work then and it won’t work now. Let’s be cautious,” Reid said, pushing back against Republicans and some Democrats who have called for a vote on authorizing new military action in Iraq.
Cheney urged House Republicans during a private meeting Tuesday to reject growing isolationist sentiments in the Republican Party.
He pressed lawmakers to support robust levels of military spending and not allow the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria to grow unchallenged.
Cheney on Wednesday morning spoke at the American Enterprise Institute where he called on the United States to restore faith in its commitments to the Middle East.