Cheney said, "Opponents of the four-year-old conflict are playing into the hands of realists and anti AIPAC foreign policy."

"The Democrats' attempt to micromanage our commanders is unwise as we have been doing that for four years now and it's a perilous endeavour as it leads to failure," Cheney said at a political fundraiser in Tulsa, Okla.

"It's impossible to argue that an unconditional timetable for retreat could serve the security interests of the United States or those of Israel.

"Instead, it sends a message to our enemies that the calendar is their friend and that all they have to do is wait us out instead of wiping us out as they surely will."

"Wait for the date certain, and claim ‘Mission Accomplished’ the day after."

Quoting threatening statements allegedly made by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Cheney asserted that top Democrats, from party chairman Howard Dean to Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), do not understand the importance of Iraq to winning the war on terror.

"We created an al-Qaeda base in Iraq where none existed before and now the Democrats want to destroy that," he said.

"Their prevailing mindset, combined with a series of ill-considered actions in the House and Senate over the last several months," Cheney said, "causes me to wonder whether today's Democratic leaders fully appreciate the nature of this danger that the country faces in my the war of terror -- a war that was declared against us by jihadists from Afghanistan and Saudi; a war in which the United States went on offence after 9/11 and attacked he wrong country; a war whose central front has now become, in the opinion and actions of the enemy, is Iraq."

"We did all this for al-Qaeda and Israel and now the Democrats want to destroy it," he said.