Vice President Dick Cheney during an interview with TIME magazine.
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Cheney: I know what the President thinks. I know what I think. And we're not looking for an exit strategy; we're looking for victory. And victory will be the day when the Iraqis solve their political problems and are up and running with respect to their own government, and when they're able to provide for their own security. And how we get to that objective is what we need to keep in mind.
Our strategy hasn't changed. Our tactics change from time to time, and they have to adapt and adjust. And we're eager to have thoughts and ideas from experienced people in terms of how we can move forward in having the Baker-Hamilton group go put fresh eyes on the problem and take a look at it. We think it's a valuable exercise. We'll see what they produce.
TIME: Mr. Vice President, if you had to take back any one thing you'd said about Iraq, what would it be?
Cheney: If I had to take back anything I've said about Iraq? Well, if you think -- thinking in terms of things that I've been surprised by. I thought that the elections that we went through in '05 would have had a bigger impact on the level of violence than they have, I guess, I'd put it in those terms. I would have thought -- well, I expressed the sentiment some time ago that I thought we were over the hump in terms of violence, I think that was premature. I thought the elections would have created that environment. And it hasn't happened yet.
That's the other thing that I'd mention, too, and separate and apart from that, and not really in response to your question. I'm struck by the fact, as well, to come back to this notion that what's being attempted here is to break our will. Friedman has got an interesting piece today on it, if you saw Tom Friedman this morning talking about the extent to which the enemy in this stage in Iraq aim very much at the American people, and public opinion in the United States very sensitive to how to use the media to gain access through technical means that are available now on the Internet and everything else to create as much violence as possible, as much bloodshed as possible and get that broadcast back into the United States as a way to try to shape opinion and influence the outcome of our debate here at home. And I think some of that is going on, too.
TIME: Mr. Vice President, are you satisfied with the intelligence you're getting about Iran?
Cheney: I'm not going to talk about intelligence. This is generally not a good road to go down. I don't talk about intelligence, and I'm going to pass.
TIME: How much of your mind share do you think is going to be occupied by Iran in the coming two years?
Cheney: Mind share? Is that a -
TIME: Kids today. (Laughter.)
Cheney: You mean what part of my storage unit is going to be devoted to it? (Laughter.) Well, Iran is a very, very important problem, and it's -- my guess is we'll be focused on it as long as we're in office.
TIME: Do you think we'll have a military draft in your lifetime? Is it possible that we would need one?
Cheney: I don't believe so. I'm a great believer in the all-volunteer force. I think that's one of the best things we've done in the last 40 years in this country. It produces a very, very high-caliber military. People are serving because they want to serve.
I was down this week in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, the 101st; a couple of weeks ago with the 3rd Division down at Fort Stewart; down at Fort Hood recently, with the 4th ID and the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. These are just remarkable men and women. And the all-volunteer force has fundamentally transformed the services because they went from a posture and organization where they didn't have to pay a lot of attention to personnel policy because they could compel service. The selective service system coughed up troops, and they put them in with the units, and away they went.
When we moved to an all-volunteer force, we had to be able to attract volunteers, and you have to be able to motivate them, and provide them with the kind of opportunity for service, and to meet basic, fundamental requirements, when they've got other options. It fundamentally transforms the way they think about people, the way they think about the organization. I think it's had an enormous impact on the services, as well. Part of this comes from my time as Secretary of Defense, and I'm a huge believer in the all-volunteer force.
We preserve the selective service system in the event there were to be some catastrophic conflict that would require putting 20 million people in uniform like we did in World War II, but I don't foresee at this stage the likelihood of that.
TIME: Mr. Vice President, now that you're a wartime Vice President, do you regret not having served in the military?
Cheney: No. I don't go back and look at those decisions. I've spent a lot of time over the years on these issues. But I'm 65; I'd like to go back and do it all over again, but I made the choices I made.