Amid the guffaws and sarcasm surrounding the Vice President’s hunting mishap (which, in itself, was far from funny), some commentators and comedians have made the obvious connection between Cheney’s reckless hunting style and his approach to foreign policy. Tom Engelhardt has dug a bit deeper into the quail-hunting episode and has found resonance not only in the current misadventure in Iraq, but in the first Iraq war.
The image of big brave Cheney picking off pathetic little ranch-raised birds reminded Engelhardt of something—the denouement of Desert Storm in 1991:
The final act of this “war” involved an out-and-out slaughter of Iraqi troops (and the wholesale destruction of their vehicles) as they fled Kuwait City on what came to be known as “the highway of death.” American pilots over that highway famously referred to the battle as “a turkey shoot” or as “shooting fish in a barrel,” though (had they been rich enough) they might, even then, have said, “Like quail at the Armstrong ranch.” Later, Desert Storm Commander Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf would complain that the President had cut off the “turkey shoot” and ended the war too quickly.
When the time came to invade Iraq in 2003, some of the desk-jockey warriors predicted a “cakewalk,” a euphemism designed for delicate souls and network news anchors. What they meant was “turkey shoot.” What they got was something else, but it would behoove us to think about the “hunter mentality” shared by our illustrious leaders. Engelhardt has taken us partway there.
