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.