Cheney says US can win in Iraq for 'worthy cause'

WASHINGTON: Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday the United States can win in Iraq and accused Democrats pushing for a US troop withdrawal of being "irresponsible".   

In an interview on US television, Cheney said he believed US forces in Iraq were making progress despite continuing violence and it was vital to support the establishment of a democratic government that could "defend itself".   

"I do believe we can win in Iraq. I think it is a worthy cause. I think it's absolutely essential that we prevail," Cheney told CBS's 'Face the Nation'.   

"I don't want to underestimate the difficulty of the task," said Cheney.

"But just because it's hard doesn't mean we shouldn't do it."   

Cheney spoke as more deadly bombing attacks were reported in Iraq, killing 35 people in Shiite shopping areas of Baghdad. Asked about opinion polls showing a majority of Americans supporting a withdrawal of US troops, Cheney said: "Well, you also get a majority who, I think, would prefer to have us win".   

Cheney repeated criticism of Democratic leaders in Congress for tying funding for the war to a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops.   

"I do believe that the positions that the Democratic leaders have taken ... are irresponsible," the vice president said. He demanded the Democrats support an emergency funding request without conditions and reiterated threats President George W. Bush would veto any bill with a deadline for a US pullout.   

"There's a fundamental debate going on here, in terms of whether or not our objective in Iraq is to, quote, 'withdraw,' or whether our objective in Iraq is to complete the mission," Cheney said.   

"And I think a majority of Americans would prefer the latter, if we can get it done."    

But Democratic Senator Carl Levin said Cheney's words carried no weight given his previous predictions on Iraq.   

"He has no credibility. He's been wrong consistently on Iraq. He has misled the people consistently on Iraq. He has misstated. He has exaggerated," Levin told Fox News on Sunday.

"And I don't think he has any credibility left with the American people."    

Levin said that while the Democrats wanted to send a message on troop withdrawal they would not withhold funding for US troops deployed in Iraq.   

Cheney also said he expected the Democratic majority would in the end support the funding request without any timetable. "I don't think that a majority of the Democrats in the Congress want to leave America's fighting forces in harm's way without the resources they need to defend themselves," he said.   

Cheney, echoing earlier statements from the White House, said it was crucial president's emergency funding request be approved quickly or else risk inflicting damage on the US military's "training and readiness".   

Failure to secure the funding "begins to have a significant impact in a relatively short period of time, on the forces," he said.   

"What happens is you have to pull money out of other accounts in order to fund the forces in combat," he said.   

"It affects our work of our depots that are heavily involved in refurbishing equipment that's been heavily used and needs to be refurbished before it can be used again," Cheney said.   

The vice-president said the United States was "perfectly capable" of winning in Iraq, and said a bombing attack on the Iraqi parliament last week was likely the work of Al-Qaeda.   

"These kinds of attacks in the past have been attributed to Al-Qaeda in Iraq," he said.