Wire: Biden Says Iraq War Wasn't Worth It

Off the Wire:

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2010 -- Newswire services today reported that Vice President Joe Biden says the Iraq war hasn't been worth its "horrible price."

He claims the war was mishandled from the outset and that the U.S. took its eye off the ball. As a result, he says the U.S. was left in a more dangerous position in Afghanistan.

Biden told NBC's "Meet the Press" that the war also has cost the United States support from other nations.

Earlier this week, Biden stated on CNN's Larry King Live that "Iraq could be [the Obama] administration's greatest achievement."

Responding to Biden's CNN comments, Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, a member of the Armed Services Committee, said you cannot oppose the surge and then claim it for your legacy.

"When Joe Biden was in the Senate and Obama was in the Senate, they authored and were the chief architect of the resolution opposing the surge," he said.

The vice president also took credit for the troop drawdown.

"You're going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer," he said. "You're going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government."

But the drawdown was negotiated in the Status of Forces Agreement before the Obama administration took office.

Then Senator Joe Biden said in 2002: "We have no choice but to eliminate the threat. This is a guy who is an extreme danger to the world."

(Report from newswire sources.)