May 21, 2009 12:01 PM

Cheney: Ending Enhanced Interrogations "Unwise In The Extreme"

By
Stephanie Condon
Topics
(CBS)
Moments after President Obama appealed for the need diverge sharply from Bush era policies with respect to national security, former Vice President Dick Cheney sought to defend the policies he and President George W. Bush enacted -- and to explain why they are still needed.

"When President Obama makes wise decisions, which I believe he has done in some respects... he deserves our support," Cheney said in a speech at the conservative thinktank the American Enterprise Institute. "When he faults or mischaracterizes the national security decisions we made in the Bush years, he deserves an answer."

Cheney said he remains a strong proponent of the interrogation programs employed by the CIA against detainees in the war on terror, calling them "legal, essential, justified, and successful, and the right thing to do."
Analysis:
Daniel Farber: Mr. Spock Vs. Jack Bauer
Andrew Cohen: Humility And Oversight
Mark Knoller: Speeches Underscore "Great Dividing Line"
To label enhanced interrogation techniques torture "is to libel the professionals who have saved American lives," Cheney said. He said to consider stopping such methods of interrogation is "unwise in the extreme" and "recklessness cloaked in righteousness."

He said waterboarding was only used on three detainees and that all methods used to interrogate detainees were given careful legal review before they were approved.

"Interrogators had authoritative guidance on the line between toughness and torture, and they knew to stay on the right side of it," he said.

The president in his speech earlier in the morning said the Bush administration made decisions "based upon fear rather than foresight and all too often trimmed facts and evidence to fit ideological predispositions."

(Read the president's entire speech here>.)

Cheney, however, called protests from Washington politicians against tactics like waterboarding nothing more than "contrived indignation and phony moralizing."

He pointed out that Mr. Obama has reserved for himself the right to order enhanced interrogations after an emergency.

"He and his administration speak as if they have resolved some great moral dilemma," he said. "Instead, they have put the decision off while assigning a presumption of moral superiority to any decision we make in the future."

Cheney also defended the Bush administration's other means of attempting to pro-actively combat terrorists, such as secret surveillance programs and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"You can look at the facts and conclude the comprehensive strategy has worked," he said, "or you can look at the same set of facts and conclude 9-11 was a one-off event... not sufficient to justify a sustained wartime effort."

He also said criticized the president's plan to shut down the prison at Guantanamo Bay with "little deliberation and no plan," saying that it would be difficult to close the prison in a way that serves the interests of justice and America's national security.

The president this morning insisted that the prison will be shut down, saying that its opening "set back the moral authority that is America's strongest currency in the world."

Mr. Obama also emphasized the need to balance national security with transparency. He pointed to his decision to release CIA interrogation memos, saying there was "no overriding reason to protect them."

Cheney, however, said the memos were redacted to leave out information about what the government learned from its interrogations while other documents with such information were not even considered for release.

"For reasons the administration has yet to explain, they believe the public has a right to know the method of the questions, but not the content of the answers," Cheney said.

As he continued his criticisms over the current administration's policies, Cheney said that debates in Washington over national security tactics would embolden terrorists.

"When they see the American government caught up in arguments about interrogations or whether foreign terrorists have constitutional rights, they don't stand back in awe of our legal system and wonder whether they had misjudged us all along," he said. "Instead, the terrorists see just what they were hoping for: our unity gone, our resolve shaken, our leaders distracted."

Along those lines, he criticized Washington politicians for their disputes with the CIA and for suggesting that those who recommended and approved enhanced interrogation techniques be prosecuted.

"It's hard to imagine a worse precedent filled with more possibilities for trouble and abuse than to have an incoming administration criminalize the policy decisions of its predecessor," he said. "For all the partisan anger that still lingers, our administration will stand up well in history, not despite our actions after 9-11, but because of them."

Obama Vs. Cheney: More Coverage And Analysis



Add a Comment See all 96 Comments
by Audrey_Dern May 23, 2009 10:32 PM EDT
Dear stupid dhutch88~ First of all...if I recall...Cheney was on the watch when the terrorists hit us on 9/11. Secondly, you have the nerve to say that PESIDENT OBAMA is stupid???? Do YOU have a degree from Harvard? President Obama is doing the best he can with what was dumped in his lap by bush and your precious cheney!!!!! AND...do you have a better solution as to what to do to get us out of this mess???? If so, please let us know....but...be a little respectful of our president and call him by his name unless your not only stupid but disrespecful, too!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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by estai777 May 22, 2009 10:30 PM EDT
The more he talks the deeper he digs. Keep digging dick.
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by estai777 May 22, 2009 9:59 PM EDT
Why does anyone give this man a platform? Every time I see or hear him, I feel less safe.
Reply to this comment
by spirit076 May 22, 2009 4:55 PM EDT
How do you know when Dick Cheney is lying? His lips move.

Lie:
"This was the world in which al-Qaeda was seeking nuclear technology, and A. Q. Khan was selling nuclear technology on the black market."

The IAEA says that there have been about 375 cases of nuclear smuggling over the past decade, but none have involved anything close to enough fissionable material to construct a nuclear weapon. Also, WHY DID THEY MAKE ABSOLUTELY NO SUBSTANTIAL MOVES TO SECURE OUR PORTS?

As for Khan selling nuclear technology 'on the black market':
Facts:
"Nuclear technology" is not a small undertaking. The thought of Al Qaeda setting up centrifuges and other required elements to construct a nuclear weapon is completely LUDICROUS.

Khan now says that it was actually our supposed ally Musharraf who was behind the attempts to sell nuclear technology, and the IAEA for one, is looking into this.

Lie:
In seeking to guard this nation against the threat of catastrophic violence, our Administration gave intelligence officers the tools and lawful authority they needed to gain vital information.

There still has been no CREDIBLE threat of 'catastrophic violence'... NOT EVEN CLOSE!

The claim of lawful authority is completely empty:

The senate has the authority to ... make rules concerning captures on land and water. - Article one, section 8 This is the 'Capture Clause' This power covers enemy persons as well as property.

No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture. -Reagan's signing statement on the UN Convention Against Torture (ratified into US law by Reagan)

The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or INVASION the public safety may require it. - Article one, section 9 The United States Constitution

...nor shall any PERSON...be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. - Amendment V, The United States Constitution

Military code of conduct: It is a violation of the Geneva Convention to place a prisoner under physical or mental duress, torture or any other form of coercion in an effort to secure information. I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free.
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by billcholee May 22, 2009 3:56 PM EDT
this proves beyond a doubt that this man is insane. a psychopath in a politicians clothing, like a rabid animal he can not understand reason of any kind, and he can infect others with his bite. the only real cure is euthanasia. what is the political equivalent to that.? just ignore the bastard maybe he will just shrivel up and blow away
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by actornaught May 22, 2009 12:16 PM EDT
...and still more heretofore Swing Voters vow NEVER to vote republican again...
Reply to this comment
by rednomo May 22, 2009 9:20 AM EDT
Cheney's speech contained omissions, misstatements

By Jonathan S. Landay and Warren P. Strobel, McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON ? Former Vice President Dick Cheney's defense Thursday of the Bush administration's policies for interrogating suspected terrorists contained omissions, exaggerations and misstatements.

In his address to the American Enterprise Institute , a conservative policy organization in Washington , Cheney said that the techniques the Bush administration approved, including waterboarding ? simulated drowning that's considered a form of torture ? forced nakedness and sleep deprivation, were "legal" and produced information that "prevented the violent death of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of innocent people."

He quoted the Director of National Intelligence, Adm. Dennis Blair , as saying that the information gave U.S. officials a "deeper understanding of the al Qaida organization that was attacking this country."

In a statement April 21 , however, Blair said the information "was valuable in some instances" but that "there is no way of knowing whether the same information could have been obtained through other means. The bottom line is that these techniques hurt our image around the world, the damage they have done to our interests far outweighed whatever benefit they gave us and they are not essential to our national security."

A top-secret 2004 CIA inspector general's investigation found no conclusive proof that information gained from aggressive interrogations helped thwart any "specific imminent attacks," according to one of four top-secret Bush-era memos that the Justice Department released last month.
FBI Director Mueller Robert Muller told Vanity Fair magazine in December that he didn't think that the techniques disrupted any attacks.

? Cheney said that President Barack Obama's decision to release the four top-secret Bush administration memos on the interrogation techniques was "flatly contrary" to U.S. national security, and would help al Qaida train terrorists in how to resist U.S. interrogations.

However, Blair, who oversees all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, said in his statement that he recommended the release of the memos, "strongly supported" Obama's decision to prohibit using the controversial methods and that "we do not need these techniques to keep America safe."

? Cheney said that the Bush administration "moved decisively against the terrorists in their hideouts and their sanctuaries, and committed to using every asset to take down their networks."

The former vice president didn't point out that Osama bin Laden and his chief lieutenant, Ayman al Zawahri , remain at large nearly eight years after 9-11 and that the Bush administration began diverting U.S. forces, intelligence assets, time and money to planning an invasion of Iraq before it finished the war in Afghanistan against al Qaida and the Taliban .

There are now 49,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan fighting to contain the bloodiest surge in Taliban violence since the 2001 U.S.-led intervention, and Islamic extremists also have launched their most concerted attack yet on neighboring, nuclear-armed Pakistan.

cont
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by rednomo May 22, 2009 9:17 AM EDT
cont

Cheney made no mention of al Qaida operative Ali Mohamed al Fakheri , who's known as Ibn Sheikh al Libi , whom the Bush administration secretly turned over to Egypt for interrogation in January 2002 . While allegedly being tortured by Egyptian authorities, Libi provided false information about Iraq's links with al Qaida , which the Bush administration used despite doubts expressed by the DIA.
A state-run Libyan newspaper said Libi committed suicide recently in a Libyan jail.

? Cheney accused Obama of "the selective release" of documents on Bush administration detainee policies, charging that Obama withheld records that Cheney claimed prove that information gained from the harsh interrogation methods prevented terrorist attacks.

"I've formally asked that (the information) be declassified so the American people can see the intelligence we obtained," Cheney said. "Last week, that request was formally rejected."

However, the decision to withhold the documents was announced by the CIA , which said that it was obliged to do so by a 2003 executive order issued by former President George W. Bush prohibiting the release of materials that are the subject of lawsuits.

? Cheney said that only "ruthless enemies of this country" were detained by U.S. operatives overseas and taken to secret U.S. prisons.

A 2008 McClatchy investigation, however, found that the vast majority of Guantanamo detainees captured in 2001 and 2002 in Afghanistan and Pakistan were innocent citizens or low-level fighters of little intelligence value who were turned over to American officials for money or because of personal or political rivalries.

In addition, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Oct. 5, 2005 , that the Bush administration had admitted to her that it had mistakenly abducted a German citizen, Khaled Masri , from Macedonia in January 2004 .

Masri reportedly was flown to a secret prison in Afghanistan , where he allegedly was abused while being interrogated. He was released in May 2004 and dumped on a remote road in Albania .

In January 2007 , the German government issued arrest warrants for 13 alleged CIA operatives on charges of kidnapping Masri.

? Cheney slammed Obama's decision to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and criticized his effort to persuade other countries to accept some of the detainees.
The effort to shut down the facility, however, began during Bush's second term, promoted by Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates .

"One of the things that would help a lot is, in the discussions that we have with the states of which they (detainees) are nationals, if we could get some of those countries to take them back," Rice said in a Dec. 12, 2007 , interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. "So we need help in closing Guantanamo ."

? Cheney said that, in assessing the security environment after 9-11, the Bush team had to take into account "dictators like Saddam Hussein with known ties to Mideast terrorists."
Cheney didn't explicitly repeat the contention he made repeatedly in office: that Saddam cooperated with al Qaida , a linkage that U.S. intelligence officials and numerous official inquiries have rebutted repeatedly.

The late Iraqi dictator's association with terrorists vacillated and was mostly aimed at quashing opponents and critics at home and abroad.

The last State Department report on international terrorism to be released before 9-11 said that Saddam's regime "has not attempted an anti-Western terrorist attack since its failed plot to assassinate former President ( George H.W.) Bush in 1993 in Kuwait ."

A Pentagon study released last year, based on a review of 600,000 Iraqi documents captured after the U.S.-led invasion, concluded that while Saddam supported militant Palestinian groups ? the late terrorist Abu Nidal found refuge in Baghdad , at least until Saddam had him killed ? the Iraqi security services had no "direct operational link" with al Qaida .
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by DefendLiberty May 22, 2009 2:45 AM EDT
Essential? Only essential in your futile effort to justify the ILLEGAL and UNCONSTITUTIONAL apostasy that was the Bush/Cheney Neo-GOP administration. These people were nothing short of TRAITORS. 5-deferment Cheney should shut up and crawl back under his slimy rock while hoping that America is too cowardly to prosecute him for his crimes. **** and disappear you CRIMINAL.
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by DefendLiberty May 22, 2009 2:27 AM EDT
5-Deferment Cheney is no American. He is a COWARD. Afraid of his own shadow, and willing to throw away OUR liberty and OUR PRINCIPLES in the name of a "perfect safety" that is unobtainable.

"If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom."
-- Dwight Eisenhower

Cheney justifies the lowest form of fear and totalitarian government based on the idea that it will protect us from all harm. This gutter slug has no moral compass. He is the worst of the type who will excuse EVERY EXCESS in pursuit of what their EXTREMIST VIEWS tell them is "right". Cheney is nothing but a DEMAGOGUE in support of DICTATORSHIP. he is an APOSTATE OF LIBERTY.

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
- Abraham Lincoln

"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficent....The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding." -- Justice Louis Brandeis,1928

To Cheney and the GOP neoCONs that loves him: The Constitution be damned. Law? Just an inconvenient barrier to doing whatever they want to do. Rule of law? Don't make the Cheney's and the GOP laugh. All is superseded (in their minds) by THEIR EXCUSES for what their twisted gonads want to do- THIER POWER, and their own COWARDICE.

"A fondness for power is implanted, in most men, and it is natural to abuse it, when acquired."
Alexander Hamilton, The Farmer Refuted, February 23, 1775

The Cheney wing of the GOP is a DANGER TO THE LIBERTY AND RULE OF LAW that IS what the USA stands for. They will SHRED THE CONSTITUTION in the name of EXPEDIENCY and THEIR OWN POWER while claiming to "act in the interests of the 'people' ".

"Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people, commencing (as) demagogues and ending tyrants."
Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 1, October 27, 1787

These people are TRAITORS. They speak the words of liberty while having NO understanding of sacrifice. Where does Cheney EVERY talk about the sacrifices of the troops he SENT TO DIE ON A FALSE MISSION TO IRAQ? Read the transcript. It is all about HIM, PROTECTING HIS AZZ, AND JUSTIFYING HIS LAW BREAKING. These people are DISGUSTING SLIME. They need to crawl back into their caves and die slow and painful deaths.
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