by Paul Richter
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday that President Obama has intensified the nation's risk of terrorist attacks by jettisoning key elements of the Bush administration's aggressive approach.
The criticism came in a broad-based attack on Obama during a Sunday news program in which Cheney also disagreed with expanded White House involvement in the economy and denied that President Bush was responsible for the nation's financial ills. The White House did not comment.
Cheney has sharply questioned Obama before, but the latest attempt comes amid a chorus of Republican criticism that nonetheless has had little effect on Obama's popularity or his success in Congress.
Cheney contended that the key elements of the Bush administration's approach to terrorism were "absolutely essential" to what he described as its success in foiling subsequent plots after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In particular, he said, it was crucial that the nation treat the fight against terrorism as a war rather than a law enforcement issue.
Since taking office, Obama has announced plans to eventually close the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility; banned waterboarding, a simulated drowning technique used in interrogations; said he would require CIA interrogators to abide by rules in the Army Field Manual; and ordered the closure of secret intelligence interrogation sites.
"Now he is making some choices that, in my mind, will, in fact, raise the risk to the American people of another attack," Cheney said on CNN's State of the Union.
See the rest of the report on Cheney's claim that Obama has worsened security risks in Tribune newspapers and here in the Swamp:
Cheney said Obama was returning to the Clinton administration's approach of treating terrorism as a law enforcement matter rather than a "war." He warned that this would reduce the effectiveness of the U.S. response.
"They are very much giving up that center of attention and focus that's required," he said.
In addition, Cheney criticized the new administration's approach to business regulation and said Obama's plans to reform healthcare, energy and the environment constituted "one of the greatest expansions of federal control over the private economy, probably in the history of the republic."
He said he worried that the administration was using the economic crisis to justify an expansion of federal intervention.
Obama has said that he generally favors limited government but that he would take whatever steps are needed to ease the economic crisis.
Although he acknowledged that the economy Obama inherited was "difficult," Cheney said the Bush administration did not deserve the blame that Obama and other administration officials were directing its way. He called the downturn a "global problem" and argued that the Bush administration's effort to deal with a key ingredient -- the disarray in the government mortgage institutions Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- was blocked by Democratic committee chairmen in Congress.
The accusation represents a frequent Republican explanation for the financial crisis, although economic experts have described the reasons as more numerous and complex than the problems at the two government-backed mortgage giants.
Cheney said he was satisfied with Obama's plans to gradually withdraw U.S. combat troops from Iraq. He said Obama appeared to be heeding the advice of Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the senior military commander in Iraq, and had "modified" the plans for a rapid drawdown that he had laid out in the campaign.
Cheney declined to describe his confrontation with Bush in the final days of the administration over Bush's unwillingness to pardon former Cheney Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
Libby was convicted of perjury and obstructing justice in the Valerie Plame-CIA leak investigation. Bush did, however, commute Libby's 30-month prison term nearly a month after the sentencing in 2007.
But Cheney said he might reveal details in the memoir he plans to write about his decades in government.
When asked whether right-wing talk radio host Rush Limbaugh is -- as conservative David Frum has described him -- "kryptonite" for the Republican Party, Cheney disagreed.
"No, Rush is a good friend," he said. "I love him. I think he does great work and has for years."
A succession of Republicans, including new National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele, has criticized Limbaugh, then apologized amid a conservative backlash.
Limbaugh says he wants Obama to fail and has challenged the president to a debate on his radio show.
"I'd pay to see that," Cheney said.
See the rest of the report on Cheney's claim that Obama has worsened security risks in Tribune newspapers and here in the Swamp:
Comments
Ten reasons Cheney needs to go away:
10) "Except for the occasional heart attack, I never felt better." –June 4, 2003
9) "I had other priorities in the sixties than military service." –on his five draft deferments, April 5, 1989
8) "There are a lot of lessons we want to learn out of this process in terms of what works. I think we are in fact on our way to getting on top of the whole Katrina exercise." --Sept. 10, 2005
7) "Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy." –April 30, 2001
6) "My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators." --March 16, 2003
5) "We know he's been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons, and we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons." --March 16, 2003
4) "In Iraq, a ruthless dictator cultivated weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them. He gave support to terrorists, had an established relationship with al Qaeda, and his regime is no more." –Nov. 7, 2003
3) "I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency." -- on the Iraq insurgency, June 20, 2005
2) "Oh, yeah. He is. Big time.'' --agreeing with then-candidate George W. Bush, who was overheard at a campaign rally saying, "There's Adam Clymer, major league a**hole from The New York Times," Sept. 4, 2000
1) "Go f*ck yourself." --to Sen. Patrick Leahy, during an angry exchange on the Senate floor about profiteering by Halliburton, June 25, 2004
Posted by: bill r. | March 16, 2009 10:45 AM
Just wait for the Loons to go over the deep end again about "Darth Cheney!" Sorry, guys, but "Darth" is right here. He is right about how to handle terrorists and he is largely right about the economy (I won't go as far to say that the Bush administration is not completely blameless, most everyone is to blame over the current mess, which Obama is making worse.)
Posted by: John D | March 16, 2009 10:58 AM
Please Mr. Cheney, crawl back into your spider hole. We have had quite enough of you.
Posted by: Kenneth Janowski | March 16, 2009 11:02 AM
This is actually an unintentional compliment by Dick. It shows we are finally on the right track in our policies, and doing the right thing. God forbid if he had expressed support for what Obama was doing. Then, I'd be worried.
Posted by: gibster | March 16, 2009 11:18 AM
The Shadow, his Party and their policies, didn't get whipped enough, during the last election. Now, he wants to pile on President Obama, who is fixing the mess he and his cohort, visited upon our nation !! All I ask, is that the Shadow return to obscurity, from whence, he came. He and his cohort have done their damage to our good nation, let them retreat into infamy !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, America | March 16, 2009 11:21 AM
Who cares what that old gasbag has to say anyway.
Posted by: Cheryl | March 16, 2009 11:43 AM
So Dick is concerned that the administration is "using" the current "crisis" to "justify an expansion" of federal power?
Gosh, that sounds so familiar...where have I seen that sort of cynical behavior before...playing on fear and crisis to consolidate power...wait...wait...it's on the tip of my tongue...where have I seen that before....just sec...I'm sure it will come to me...
Posted by: mrbarolo | March 16, 2009 12:15 PM
When the U.S. was attacked on his watch, chickenhawk Cheney ran away to a secret undisclosed location. He reared his ugly face months later. Cheney is an unpatriotic coward and has no credibility. He's on so much medication, he's becoming delusional and is carted around in a wheel chair. I don't even think he knows what he's talking about. Stay out there in Big Sky country and go quail hunting with your friends. We don't need you.
Posted by: Doug R. | March 16, 2009 1:46 PM
After 9/11(which happened on his watch and not without warning) Cheney ran away to a secret undisclosed location. He reared his ugly head months later. Cheney is an unpatriotic coward and has no credibility whatsoever. He was the worst Vice President the U.S. has ever had (approval rating in low teens). This man is on so much medication he's delusional and probably doesn't even know what he's talking about.
Posted by: Doug R. | March 16, 2009 2:10 PM
No wonder our company is bordering on bankruptcy, our staff spends their entire day blogging.
Get back to work.
Posted by: Charlie Carnaval | March 16, 2009 3:09 PM
Over the weekend the so-called "American Perspectives" on CSpan permitted Feith & Co. their own self-congratulatory symposium to engage in a little historical revisionism.
A sort of pre-emptive strike in case there should ever be a Truth Commission.
Now looks like Shooter is engaging of some of the same: anticipatory attempts to justify his actions.
What I'd like to know is: how well has his portfolio done in the past 8 yrs?
Posted by: ornery | March 16, 2009 3:37 PM
Over the weekend the so-called "American Perspectives" on CSpan permitted Feith & Co. their own self-congratulatory symposium to engage in a little historical revisionism.
A sort of pre-emptive strike in case there should ever be a Truth Commission.
Now looks like Shooter is engaging of some of the same: anticipatory attempts to justify his actions.
What I'd like to know is: how well has his portfolio done in the past 8 yrs?
Posted by: ornery | March 16, 2009 3:37 PM
For all of the folks posting here with obviously more insight and apparently also having a the security clearance required to gain this insight, have you ever considered asking yourself the question ...what if Cheney's right?
-
You can hate the guy and all of his politics as much as you want - but he knows way more about this stuff than any of us do- and he really has no political gain ( although possibly a commercial one) in making this warning...that alone should at least give his views some credibility.
Posted by: heartburn | March 16, 2009 4:50 PM
...that alone should at least give his views some credibility.
Posted by: heartburn | March 16, 2009 4:50 PM
------------------------------------------------------
Let's face it... Cheney and credibility are two words not normally associated with each other. Let the record speak for itself.
Posted by: Kenneth Janowski | March 16, 2009 7:05 PM
Geographically Ignorant John D:
Read what bill r. posted at 10:45 AM before you claim that "Darth is right". Hos own words prove the man is a consummate liar.
Posted by: BC | March 16, 2009 9:29 PM
Don and Cheryl and Doug R are right on target. But I wonder why this guy isn't in jail? Are they trying to monitor some swiss bank accounts?
Posted by: I'm for invading Switzerland to get our money back | March 17, 2009 12:58 AM
heartburn has it ever occured to you that the many Presidents, legal scholars and military leaders who have consistantly rejected the use of torture as illegal, immoral and counterproductive over the more two century life of this country wre right, and that Dick Cheney ajd his band of followers in the Bush Administration wre wrong? Has it ever occured to you that all those people collectively have more credibility than Dick Cheney? Or is Dick Cheney so much smarter, so much more informed, and just plain so special, that we should completely ignore the wisdom of everyone throught the history of this nation who disagrees with his judgements?
Posted by: Lou | March 17, 2009 9:50 AM