Cheney: Obama Has "A Pretty Good Team"

By: Kevin Hechtkopf
Topics: White House

(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Vice President Dick Cheney, in his first televised interview since the November election, said this of President-elect Barack Obama's national security team: "I must say, I think it's a pretty good team."

In particular, the vice president lauded Mr. Obama's decision to keep Robert Gates as Defense Secretary and said retired Gen. Jim Jones would be "very, very effective" as national security adviser. He also weighed in Sen. Hillary Clinton's selection as secretary of state.

"While I would not have hired Sen. Clinton, I think she's tough," Cheney said in the interview with ABC News. "She's smart, she works very hard and she may turn out to be just what President Obama needs."

"I'm not close to Barack Obama, obviously, nor do I identify with him politically. He's a liberal. I'm a conservative," he added.

In the interview, the vice president also defended the actions of the Bush Administration in regard to waterboarding and the decision to go to war in Iraq. He disagreed with former Bush adviser Karl Rove who said last week that he didn't think the U.S. would have gone to war if the prewar intelligence said Saddam Hussein didn't have weapons of mass destruction.

"I disagree with that," Cheney said. "As I look at the intelligence with respect to Iraq, what they got wrong was that there weren't any stockpiles… What they found was that Saddam Hussein still had the capability to produce weapons of mass destruction. He had the technology, he had the people, he had the basic feed stock."

On the use of waterboading in the questioning terror suspects, Cheney told ABC News it was an appropriate and a "successful" means at getting information from alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

"There was a period of time there, three or four years ago, when about half of everything we knew about al Qaeda came from that one source," Cheney said.

He also disagreed with those who have called for closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

You can read more from the interview here.

Kevin Hechtkopf
Kevin Hechtkopf is CBSNews.com's politics editor.
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by libh8er December 17, 2008 1:16 PM EST: I''m going to approach the Obama years the same way liberals handled the Iraq war. Just as they claimed to support our troops while opposing the war, I''m going to support my country while opposing Obama and what he stands for in every way that I can. It''s only four years and with the astute Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky as Senate minority leader, Republicans can stop the Obama extremists for two years until mid-term elections in 2010 give Republicans the boost in Congress that inevitably will come.; Reply to this comment


by daisyjingles December 16, 2008 10:55 PM EST: *** Cheney has once again shown himself to be a man without ethics.; Reply to this comment


by daffy64 December 16, 2008 10:53 PM EST: Saddam Hussein still had the capability to produce weapons of mass destruction. He had the technology, he had the people, he had the basic feed stock."

---

What utter nonsense.; Reply to this comment


by daffy64 December 16, 2008 10:46 PM EST: People seem to hate this guy (justifiably so) more than Bush. Yet Bush hired this ogre. What does that tell you?; Reply to this comment


by trillion1 December 16, 2008 10:21 PM EST: Who cares what this thug thinks. He shot a hunting partner and covered it up. He like all the other criminals bush gave jobs to will get off scott free.; Reply to this comment


by solarrays247-2009 December 16, 2008 10:21 PM EST: No Dicky, Obama is a human being and you''re a sociopath and a torturer.

That''s the difference between you two.

Posted by jumkey at 03:45 PM : Dec 16, 2008

Well put!!

Posted by irmcvet971 at 03:57 PM : Dec 16, 2008

Good post!; Reply to this comment


by jsd330 December 16, 2008 10:13 PM EST: Cheney just wants to stay on the good side of Obama, so his buddies at Haliburton and Blackwater keep their big doller government contracts.; Reply to this comment


by inventagod2 December 16, 2008 9:27 PM EST: DlCK CHENEY is still alive???; Reply to this comment


by babooph December 16, 2008 9:27 PM EST: Ask him again when he sobers up.; Reply to this comment


by tonfrac December 16, 2008 9:08 PM EST: Wow, Mr Cheney you were an awesome Secretary of Defense under H.W. Bush. What has happened to you since then? You''ve defended Donald "Do-Dumbsfeld''s" policies which were totally off base and plain stupid. You''ve supported torture and still won''t tell the truth about Iraq. I don''t understand. With all that said, I still have to thank you for your service as SECDEF. Please go back to being and honorable public servant.; Reply to this comment