WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2009
The Cheney Exit Interview
On "Face The Nation," Vice President Talks About Iraq, Executive Powers, And Why Obama Needs To Keep Gitmo
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Play CBS Video Video Face The Nation, 1.4.09 Bob Schieffer spoke with Vice President Dick Cheney about controversial strategies utilized in the war with Iraq, homeland security and his power as vice president.
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Video Cheney Looks Back At Iraq War Bob Schieffer spoke with Vice President Dick Cheney about controversial strategies utilized in the war with Iraq.
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Video Power Of The Vice President Bob Schieffer spoke with Vice President Dick Cheney about his power as vice president, wartime torture methods and the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
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Vice President Dick Cheney on "Face The Nation." (CBS)
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Interactive Second In Command A closer look at Vice President Dick Cheney's career and his much-publicized health problems.
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.
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More From Face The Nation
Michelle Obama tells how her role as the First Lady has changed her perspective.
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See all 233 CommentsActually, 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.
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Is he talking about the Bush regime?????
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.
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He was probably scared of getting shot in the face.
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 ***
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 ***
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 ***
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 ***
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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See all 233 Comments