Cheney: Obama Should Continue Interrogation Policies
4697423On CBS' Face The Nation Sunday, Vice President Dick Cheney urged the Obama administration to continue the Bush administration's interrogation policies.
"I would hope [Obama] would avoid doing what others have done in the past, which is letting the campaign rhetoric guide his judgment in this absolutely crucial area," Cheney said. "We were very careful, we did everything by the book, and in face we produced very significant results."
Host Bob Schieffer asked Cheney if he would make the same choices again despite the fact that some believe U.S. casualties occurred as a result of reaction to reports of the interrogation techniques at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.
"I would absolutely do it again, Bob," Cheney said. "I think the loss of life, if there had been further mass casualty attacks against the United States over the last seven-and-a-half years, fully justifies it."
"Think of what would happen if there had been an attack and we hadn't taken any of these measures," he continued. "And you'd be sitting here today, you know, grilling me, saying why didn't you guys do everything you could to stop it? Why didn't you find out what the enemy was planning to do? Why didn't you interfere with the attacks?"
Cheney noted that Mr. Obama had not seeked his advice on the issue.
"But if he were to seek my advice, I would say, look, before you go out and start to make policy based on the campaign rhetoric we heard last year, what you need to do is to sit down and find out what we've done, find out how we did it, what the justification was for it, what kind of results it's produced, and then make an informed judgment about whether or not you want to keep these things," Cheney said.
© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. "I would hope [Obama] would avoid doing what others have done in the past, which is letting the campaign rhetoric guide his judgment in this absolutely crucial area," Cheney said. "We were very careful, we did everything by the book, and in face we produced very significant results."
Host Bob Schieffer asked Cheney if he would make the same choices again despite the fact that some believe U.S. casualties occurred as a result of reaction to reports of the interrogation techniques at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.
"I would absolutely do it again, Bob," Cheney said. "I think the loss of life, if there had been further mass casualty attacks against the United States over the last seven-and-a-half years, fully justifies it."
"Think of what would happen if there had been an attack and we hadn't taken any of these measures," he continued. "And you'd be sitting here today, you know, grilling me, saying why didn't you guys do everything you could to stop it? Why didn't you find out what the enemy was planning to do? Why didn't you interfere with the attacks?"
Cheney noted that Mr. Obama had not seeked his advice on the issue.
"But if he were to seek my advice, I would say, look, before you go out and start to make policy based on the campaign rhetoric we heard last year, what you need to do is to sit down and find out what we've done, find out how we did it, what the justification was for it, what kind of results it's produced, and then make an informed judgment about whether or not you want to keep these things," Cheney said.
Popular in Politics
- Poll: Most think IRS targeting was deliberate 102 Comments
- IRS scandal highlights leadership vacancies
- Obama: "Full focus" is on recovery from Oklahoma tornado
- Va. GOP candidate: Planned Parenthood "more lethal" for blacks than KKK 805 Comments
- Former IRS chief: "I can't say" what led to IRS targeting
- Top Obama officials knew about IRS probe, says WH 63 Comments
- Letter to a young scandalmonger
- Benghazi-disciplined diplomat a prolific poet
3 Comments Add a Comment
- linkicon reporticon emailicon
- Contrary to popular belief, professional interrogators will tell you that torture doesn''t produce accurate information. Sure, people talk, they''ll say anything to stop the torture. But they deceive. It''s only on "24" that the bad guy, when tortured, tells the truth. So even if Cheney is waterboarded, he wouldn''t tell the truth. The TRAGEDY is that Cheney thinks that torture is OK, despite the MISINFORMATION. Don''t believe me? Read the numerous books, magazine articles, interviews, etc. by US interrogators on all the time wasted after "enhanced interrogation" yielded false leads.
- reply
- linkicon reporticon emailicon
- TORTURE POLICY - maybe a televised water-boarding of Cheney would do the country some good. It might be the only way to find out where the hundreds of billions of stolen ''War Funding'' is hidden.
- reply
- linkicon reporticon emailicon
- WHY WOULD *** "WATERBOARDING" CHENEY EVEN IMAGINE THAT BARACK WOULD WANT HIS ADVICE! DUH! YOU AND BUSH F!CKED UP THE COUNTRY! GO HOME AND TAKE A NAP OLD MAN!!
- reply
