The Cheney Exit Interview

On "Face The Nation," Vice President Talks About Iraq, Executive Powers, And Why Obama Needs To Keep Gitmo

(CBS)  Cheney said that the actions of the NSA to intercept all Americans' electronic communications, which had been under strict legal parameters, fell under the president's constitutional authority as commander in chief, because of the resolution passed by the Congress immediately after 9/11. Subsequently, after news of the warrantless wiretap program was leaked, Congress modified the existing FISA statue in accordance with the administration's wishes.

While Cheney could not say whether any action by a president in wartime should be considered "legal," he pointed to historic precedents for presidents taking extra-legal measures in order, he said, to protect the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

"If you hark back in our history, you can look at Abraham Lincoln, who suspended the writ of habeas corpus in the middle of the Civil War."

"But nobody thinks that that was legal," Schieffer said.

"Well, no - well, it certainly was, in the sense he wasn't impeached," Cheney said. "And it was a wartime measure that he took that I think today, history says, yes, that was probably a good thing to do."

Cheney said other examples may have crossed a line, such as FDR's internment camps for Japanese-American citizens. "Most people now look back and say that was wrong. But what we did was modest by those comparisons."

Cheney also said everything the White House did was done with the "support and involvement" of the Justice Department. When Schieffer pointed out that some of the orders put out by Justice were flawed, Cheney said, "[Those were] the rules that we had to operate by. And the attorney general of the United States signed off on every single one of those exceptions.

"There have subsequently been some controversies," Cheney admitted. "The Supreme Court's made some decisions that didn't agree with what we did at the time. But what we did was authorized by the legal authorities that were to be the source of that kind of advice."


Detention, Torture and Guantanamo

After 9/11, the Bush administration held prisoners detained around the world in a prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, seemingly outside the purview of the U.S. judicial system. The administration has even admitted that prisoners have been waterboarded, against international laws banning torture. Despite the international outcry against the abuses of prisoners, at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and elsewhere, Cheney said that he did not feel the administration went too far.

The vice president said that high-level approvals of torture were required because the CIA would otherwise not want to pursue such interrogation methods without a clear understanding of what was authorized and appropriate.

"I'd seen situations before," Cheney said, "where the CIA would get out and undertake an assignment or a mission, and then find that the politicians would all run for the hills. Think Iran-Contra."

"Would you do it again if you had to make those same decisions again?" Schieffer asked.

"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," Cheney said to Schieffer, "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?'"

And to the incoming Obama administration, which has pledged to end what it called unconstitutional practices, Cheney even offered advice: maintain current interrogation policies.

“If [Obama] were to seek my advice - he hasn't, 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.

"But I would hope he would avoid doing what others have done in the past, which is letting the campaign rhetoric guide his judgment in this absolutely crucial area. We were very careful. We did everything by the book. And in fact, we produced very significant results. And I would hope that for the sake of the nation, that this administration and future administrations will continue those policies.”

On the matter of Guantanamo Bay prison, Cheney said it should remain open because, if the prisoners held there were to be relocated to prisons within the United States, "they immediately fall here to certain legal rights and privileges that will create problems.

"I don't know many congressional districts that are eager to have 200 al Qaeda terrorists deposited on their soil," he added.


Post-Inauguration

Cheney said he had no final commitments beyond January 20, when he will be leaving a government job for about the fifth time, following his work in the Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Bush 41 administrations.

"I'm looking forward to spending time with the family, obviously," he said. "We've got six grandchildren now, and I always enjoy that. We'll split our time between Washington and Wyoming. Maybe I'll write a book."

---

Read the full "Face the Nation" transcript here.

By CBSNews.com producer David Morgan.

[catlady1412]

Wow! This guy is going to be really shocked when he leaves his protective underground bunker and finds out people really hate him! It was pathetic when he issued his endorsement of McCain as if that was a good thing and when he went to rally Congress to pass the first bailout proposal. I don''t think he really does know what people are saying or thinking about him. He is seriously delusional.

[texasbeta]

Posted by jedi23231-

Actually, we get mad because he just blatantly denies facts...he is one of those guys who will claim the moon is made of cheese. The guy should be tried for treason and executed.

[polyjunky]

That is the worse case of history revision I have ever seen. Are these people delusional?

[polyjunky]

That is the worse case of history revision I have ever seen. Are these people delusional?

[daffy64]

"This is a guy who had started two wars," Cheney said of Saddam, "who had killed hundreds of thousands of people, including many of his own, with weapons of mass destruction. It was one of the most despicable regimes of the 20th century. And he thought he could get away with continuing that."

---

Is he talking about the Bush regime?????

[daffy64]

Dear Bob Schieffer,
That interview with VP Cheney yesterday was painful to watch. You blew it. He condescended you and you cowered just like 95% of journalists did pre-Iraq war. Whatever happened to ''''follow-ups'''' and on your own show, no less. I''''m embarrassed for you and the nation. Thank you.

---

He was probably scared of getting shot in the face.

[jakiamik-2009]

chenoid calls saddam self delusional in his blather with schieffer, hilarious. if any two hate robots on earth know what self delusion is it would be chenoid and monkey boy. if he had it to do again, he said he''d do the very same thing....a criminal confessing and then threatening to kill again.

it would be lovely to see them put on trial (and they should be) but just the satisfaction that they''ll be gone and they''ve damaged their own putrid party almost beyond repair is enough to make each day better.

good bye ***

[jokr8790]

The Bush Administration, the best recruiters Al Quaeda ever had!

[jakiamik-2009]

chenoid calls saddam self delusional in his blather with schieffer, hilarious. if any two hate robots on earth know what self delusion is it would be chenoid and monkey boy. if he had it to do again, he said he''d do the very same thing....a criminal confessing and then threatening to kill again.

it would be lovely to see them put on trial (and they should be) but just the satisfaction that they''ll be gone and they''ve damaged their own putrid party almost beyond repair is enough to make each day better.

good bye ***

[jakiamik-2009]

chenoid calls saddam self delusional in his blather with schieffer, hilarious. if any two hate robots on earth know what self delusion is it would be chenoid and monkey boy. if he had it to do again, he said he''d do the very same thing....a criminal confessing and then threatening to kill again.

it would be lovely to see them on trial but just the satisfaction that they''ll be gone and they''ve damaged their own putrid party almost beyond repair is enough to make each day better.

good bye ***

[jakiamik-2009]

chenoid calls saddam self delusional in his blather with schieffer, hilarious. if any two hate robots on earth know what self delusion is it would be chenoid and monkey boy. if he had it to do again, he said he''d do the very same thing....a criminal confessing and then threatening to kill again.

it would be lovely to see them on trial but just the satisfaction that they''ll be gone and they''ve damaged their own putrid party almost beyond repair is enough to make each day better.

good bye ***

[tincup356]

to bagdadshere 9, I think someone dropped you on your head.....to think that Bush/Cheney are such heroes and have done no wrong,,,,,,,,you are dead wrong,,,,we can never right all the wrongs that those two men have done,,,,,,,they have committed war crimes and need to be tried for them.....As far as the bailout goes ,,,Bush/Cheney and both parties of congress need to be brought up on charges of treason.

[oscarm7]

Dear Bob Schieffer,
That interview with VP Cheney yesterday was painful to watch. You blew it. He condescended you and you cowered just like 95% of journalists did pre-Iraq war. Whatever happened to ''follow-ups'' and on your own show, no less. I''m embarrassed for you and the nation. Thank you.

[endrepubs]

LETTER
TO CHENEY/BUSH:

FROM: ANTI-WEST ISLAMIC RADICALS (aL Qaeda)

DEAR CHENEY/BUSH:

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU FOR REMOVING SADDAAM HUSSEIN FROM POWER AND DESTROYING HIM. HE WAS OUR ONLY SERIOUS OBSTACLE TO SPREADING ANTI-WESTERN ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM. NOW WITH THE PRO-WEST SADDAM HUSSEIN OUT OF THE PICTURE, WE CAN STRENGTHEN OUR INFLUENCE ON OTHER MUSLIM COUNTRIES AND MAKE LIFE MORE DIFFICULT FOR AMERICA. YOU MANAGED TO QUICKLY DO WHAT WE COULD NOT DO IN 20 YEARS. (AND ALL THE MONEY YOU SPENT DOING IT!!!) WE REMEMBER THAT HE WAS YOUR DEAR FRIEND FOR MANY YEARS AND THAT HE FOUGHT US VERY HARD WITH YOUR AID AND SUPPORT. NOW HE IS GONE AND WE WANTED TO THANK YOU ONE LAST TIME BEFORE YOU LEFT OFFICE. WE KNOW YOUR FELLOW AMERICAN CITIZENS NOW HATE YOU WITH A PASSION, HOWEVER, WE WILL WELCOME YOU WITH OPEN ARMS.
YOUR FRIENDS,
al Qaeda

[solarrays247-2009]

Bush treated the Constitution like a football game.. ''''take the fight to them''''. Life, and death.. a football game.

Posted by william313 at 12:50 PM : Jan 05, 2009

The idiot kicked the ball out of bounds, running the wrong way!!

The fight was, and still is, Afghanistan!

Gotta go...I have a business to run.

[boatdocster]

America was never attacked after 9/11, that will be history, Iraq will be an ally in the heart of the middle east where an enemy was before, history will show that also.

Posted by notblue at 11:30 AM : Jan 05, 2009

Its funny how the GOP Neocons talk about America not being attacked after 9/11 under Shrub and Darth, and it''s simply not true.

After 9/11 Bush has spent 1 to 2 TRILLION DOLLARS on a fabricated war more "Claiming" to be the better protector, proven to be another lie. That money does not include the other 4-5 TRILLION DOLLARS of pure waste and greed. Losing pallets of money in Iraq...

Over 5000 additional brave real Americans died after 9/11 and are still dying - in countries abroad but died none the less. Those are true American hero''s and were killed. Guess those folks don''t count to Dicck Cheney!

The statement by Cheney, like everything else out of his mouth, is pure crapp.

As a President, Bush will be ranked in the bottom 3, if not dead last, now and 100 years from now.

[lochlan-2009]

Of course we have to keep Gitmo open. We have to waterboard the entire Bush Administration (especially Cheney) and all the corporate criminals he gave every last dollar and IOU to, from American tax payers. One of the biggest crime organizations is walking right out of the White House, without a single charge. "and justice for all", what a joke. This is the real America.

[nikosk11]

Sorry, I missed the interview. I switched to another channel, for I had no desire to hear excuses from a dictator. If I want to hear from an a$$hole I will f*a*r*t.

[notblue]

Now that the election is over and the left realizes his prer-election lies werre just that by STAYING THE COURSE against terrorists, it will be interesting to read the ongoing comments. America was nevwer attacked after 911, that will be history, Iraq will be an allie inthe heart of the middle east where an enemy was before, history will show that also. Despite the best efforts of left and liberal media like CBS, Iraq will be a success and the terrorists will continue ot be destroyed. What was OBama''s promise again? LOL!

[hatesthecolt]

One must wonder if the Supreme Court justices who voted to make Bush/Cheney the winners of the 2000 election ever have restless nights, contemplating whether they did the right thing for their country.....

Posted by raflin0010
Scalia and Thomas certainly are sleeping fine ... Scalia is an idealogue (anything for the cause) and Thomas is an idiot and Scalia''s lapdog.