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by Mark Silva
Former Vice President Dick Cheney, delivering a forceful defense of the Bush administration's interrogations of suspected terrorists and stern criticism of the Obama administration, maintained today that the CIA never tortured anyone, but kept the United States safe from an attack potentially worse than the terrorism of Sept. 11, 2001.
The "water-boarding'' employed in the questioning of a few captured terrorists was essential to gleaning as much information about al Qaeda's intentions as quickly as possible in the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon, the former vice president said in a public address today.
President Barack Obama has banned the harshest tactics that the CIA employed in the interrogation of suspected terrorists captured after 9/11, with his Justice Department labeling water-boarding, a simulated drowning tactic used in many interrogations, as "torture.''
"Torture was never permitted,'' Cheney said in his address today at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C., where his wife, Lynne Cheney, has worked as a scholar, and where he has delivered defenses of his administration's policies before.
"Interrogators had authoritative guidance on the line between interrogation and torture, and they knew to stay on the right side of it,'' Cheney asserted. "For all that we've lost in this conflict, the United States of America has never lost its moral bearings.''
The former vice president's planned speech served as a direct and forceful counterpoint to Obama's own address on national security today at the National Archives just an hour before. While Obama explained his plans for closing the U.S. military-run prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Cheney asserted that the prison is essential - and warned against moving its most dangerous detainees to prisons on U.S. soil.
Cheney not only defended the Bush administration's practices, but also derisively criticized those who contend that the administration had strayed beyond legal boundaries with its handling of captured terrorists.
He dismissed criticism of his administration's tactics as "recklessness cloaked in righteousness.''
Cheney also directed some thinly veiled criticism at those in Congress now criticizing tactics that they had once condoned - without directly naming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but apparently pointing to her assertion that the CIA hadn't told her about water-boarding initially.
"Some members of Congress are notorious for demanding that they be briefed'' in the most sensitive intelligence matters, Cheney said. "They support them in private, and then they head for the hills...
"Our administration always faced its share of criticism,'' Cheney allowed. "Part of our responsibility, as we saw it, was not to forget the terrible harm that had been done to America - and not let 9/11 become the prelude to something far worse...
"Everyone understood the environment we were in... In Manhattan, we were staring at 16 acres of ashes... Everyone expected a follow-on attack, and it was our job to stop it,'' the former vice president said, offering a personal account of his own experience on the morning of the Sept. 11 attacks -directly answering those who contend that the longtime Washington hand, a former member of Congress who served four presidents in his time, suddenly was a changed man after 9/11.
He was in his West Wing office, he said, when word arrived that an airliner was targeting the Pentagon after initial attacks on the World Trade Center, and Secret Service agents ordered him downstairs.
"A few hours later, I found myself in a fortified White House command post... down below,'' Cheney said. "In the years since, I have heard occasional speculation that I am a different man after 9/11 ... I wouldn't say that... But watching a coordinated attack from an underground bunker in the White House can affect how you face your responsibilities.''
The circumstances demanded unyielding action, he said.
The CIA's interrogations, as well as a secret National Security Agency surveillance program authorized to intercept telephone calls and emails of people inside the U.S. suspected of communicating with terrorists outside, were essential to intelligence gathering, he said.
"The key to any strategy is intelligence... and seeking to guard this nation against the threat of catastrophic violence, our administration gave our intelligence officers the tools and the legal authority they needed to gather that information. Our government prevented attacks and saved lives through the Terrorist Surveillance Program.''
He noted, with some derision, that The New York Times' publication of the story about the once-secret surveillance program had "impressed the Pulitzer committee.''
The Obama administration, he said, has praised the disclosure of Bush Justice Department memoranda supporting the interrogations as "a bold exercise'' in openness. Yet the public has been given "less than half'' the story, Cheney said, maintaining that memos which detail the information gleaned from those interrogations have been withheld.
"They believe the public has the right to know the method of the questions but not the content of the answers,'' Cheney said.
"You have heard endlessly about water-boarding... It happened to three terrorists,'' the vice president said. "We had a lot of blind spots after the attacks on our country... With many thousands of lives potentially in the balance, we did not think it made good sense to let the terrorists answer questions in their own good time.''
Opponents have criticized the interrogation tactics with "contrived indignation and phony moralizing,'' Cheney said. "Intelligence officers of the United States were not trying to rough up some terrorists to get vengeance... They were trying to avert future terrorism...
"To call this a program of torture is to libel the dedicated professionals who have saved American lives,'' he said. "It is recklessness cloaked in righteousness''
Now, Cheney said, it may appear as if the new president "is on the path of reasonable compromise... But in the fight against terrorism, there is no middle ground... and half measures keep you half exposed...
"Triangulation is a political strategy, not a national security strategy,'' he said. "There is never a good time to compromise when the lives and safety of the American people hang in the balance.''
Obama's decision to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, the former vice president asserted today, was made "with little deliberation and no plan...'' And talk of moving some of those detainees to federal prisons in the U.S. today is ill-conceived, he asserted.
"I think the president will find that to bring the worst of the worst terrorists into the United States'' would be a grave mistake, said Cheney, sarcastically noting that his successors have tried to shelve the term, "war on terror'' and with it the concept of "enemy combatants.''
"You don't want to call them enemy combatants, fine, call them anything you want, just don't bring them into the United States,'' said Cheney, maintaining that the policies of the Bush administration, "without question, have made our country safer.''
mdsilva@tribune.com
Comments
Shorter Dick Cheney: The ends justify the means.
Posted by: Translator | May 21, 2009 12:57 PM
It's interesting to compare and contrast Cheney's speech with Obama's.
One certaintly felt more "presidential" and reasurring than the other.
Thank you, Mr. Cheney.
Obama - you got some catching-up to do.
Posted by: Chris | May 21, 2009 12:57 PM
Waterboarding is Torture. We waterboarded. We did not use torture.
Is he going senile right before our eyes?
Posted by: kg123 | May 21, 2009 1:01 PM
Darth Cheney has even less credibility than Shrub (greeted as liberators, last throes, etc.). Keep talking, Dick, you'll insure a Democratic majority for decades to come!
Posted by: neal | May 21, 2009 1:05 PM
What, did Cheney just announce that he was requesting a 7th deferment. This one, so he would not be charged for being so incompetent and deceitful, during his Reign of Error !! Go home, Cheney and hide under your bunk-bed !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, America | May 21, 2009 1:15 PM
The semantics this guy uses -- did he listen in his English classes or what? The fact is the US tourtured. The facts are the US has commited state sponsored terrorism against its own people (Native people, Blacks) in the past. People, America is simply a country; neither the greatest nor worst in history. If we can admit to our shortcomings and foibles we will indeed take one step toward GENUINE greatness.
Posted by: Phil | May 21, 2009 1:22 PM
Crazy Dick is at it again. He is so wacked, and so out there he could justify murder. Wait a minute. He just did...
Posted by: gibster | May 21, 2009 1:23 PM
"No middle ground..." spoken like a true extremist.
Frankly, I found Obama's speech much more Presidential, dignified, civilized and educated. He reminded us that "discretion is the better part of valor." Cheney simply sounds like a right-wing nutcase.
Republicans, you have some catching up to do.
Posted by: bluesky | May 21, 2009 1:24 PM
Cheney is the chief of the neo-fascist wing of the Republican Party and a chief reason for its decline.
He preaches to the choir at AEI, the Heritage Foundation, and other select brown-shirt gatherings, while the rest of the country finds him deeply distasteful.
I, for one, look forward to his continued ranting and sneers, since they help to cement a solid majority for the Democrats.
Like many of the GOP chickenhawks (Gingrich, Addington, Yoo, and Rove for example), Cheney is clearly a hypocrite, and is hoping to forestall legal action against him and his buddies.
Good riddance.
Posted by: Happy Lefty | May 21, 2009 1:30 PM
It'd be nice if ol' Dick Cheney valued the lives that have been lost from a broken health care system, gang violence in our cities and suburbs, or how about people dying in tragic accidents involving our crumbling infrastructure (the Minneapolis bridge collapse, for example) as much as the lives lost or at risk of being lost to terrorism. If your life is threatened by a terrorist attack, the Bush administration will see to it to not only violate the Geneva Conventions but to make sure every facet of the U.S. government is focused on keeping you alive no matter what the cost.
But if you're one of the thousands of Americans who die every year because you can't afford the health care (er, disease care) that might cure or prevent, oh, let's say cancer, the government could care less.
American lives have the most value when they're threatened by terrorists ... but not when they're threatened by the policies that ensure our unbridled free-market will keep the pockets of our biggest industries and our biggest cronies lined with gold.
So if you want Dick in your corner fighting to keep you alive, you're better off flying on a hijacked plane than finding out you have a malignant tumor right after your health insurance expired from the job you lost because the housing bubble burst and all the banks went belly-up.
Thanks, Dick!
Posted by: Matthew | May 21, 2009 1:38 PM
Thank you Mr. Chaney for standing up on this. We need bold, decisive leadership. Not appeasement and posturing to win the next election. Our President should be be liked or friends with the other world leaders. He or she needs to be respected and place support our position on the world stage.
While President Obama has his poor judgment in this, let's not forget how both parties in the Congress have made a mess of things.
Posted by: Mark Robbins | May 21, 2009 1:54 PM
Go Away, Darth!
Posted by: dt☢ | May 21, 2009 2:01 PM
People, America is simply a country; neither the greatest nor worst in history.
Posted by: Phil | May 21, 2009 1:22 PM
Just curious... Can you name a better one?
Posted by: heartburn | May 21, 2009 2:06 PM
Poor old guy remains in denial, and out of touch with the truth.
Posted by: Flo | May 21, 2009 2:12 PM
" "No middle ground..." spoken like a true extremist.
Frankly, I found Obama's speech much more Presidential, dignified, civilized and educated. He reminded us that "discretion is the better part of valor." Cheney simply sounds like a right-wing nutcase.
Republicans, you have some catching up to do.
Posted by: bluesky "
KS Mohammed boasted about sawing off Danny Pearl's head. Please point out for us the middle ground. Or the dignity, civilization, discretion or valor.
Posted by: K | May 21, 2009 2:24 PM
"Everyone understood the environment we were in... In Manhattan, we were staring at 16 acres of ashes... Everyone expected a follow-on attack, and it was our job to stop it,'' the former vice president said.."
Psst: Dick, it was "your job" to stop the first attack. You failed. That's why all your present supporters, worldwide, could comfortably meet in a single phone booth. You have no credibility with any person who sports a functioning brain.
Posted by: a blinkin | May 21, 2009 2:31 PM
Ahhh the usual nonsensical, full-of-hate meanderings from the Loony Left. Translator: the ends justify the means. Hmmm, in some circumstances, yes. If the ends was that hundreds or thousands of American lives were saved, then I am OK with the means, which came down to three, that is 3, head-chopping terrorists getting a little uncomfortable with a little water poured over them. These terrorists are not maimed, they are not injured. They have all their body parts and they are still alive.
So, yeah, the ends did justify the means.
Posted by: John D | May 21, 2009 2:42 PM
"Everyone understood the environment we were in... In Manhattan, we were staring at 16 acres of ashes"
16 acres of Manhattan in ashes justifies extraordinary responses to Cheney, 80% of the city of New Orleans being under water doesn't even justify cutting short his vacation.
Posted by: Katrina | May 21, 2009 3:19 PM
What is this traitorous rat doing on my t.v. again? I thought he was in prison
Posted by: yardley | May 21, 2009 3:20 PM
The United States of America is an exceptional country.
Leaders like Dick Cheney who give us no-nonsense straight talk are the true statesmen we should be proud of.
Pseudo-intellectual double speak has it's place, and it should be in coffee houses, not the oval office.
Posted by: Chris | May 21, 2009 3:40 PM
Cheney should talk about patriotism. He's the biggest coward on the planet. Chickenhawk Cheney received 5 deferrments to avoid combat in VietNam. After the 9/11 attacks, Cheney was hurried off to a secret undisclosed location where he remained in hiding for months. He is a liar and a criminal. He has done absolutely nothing to serve the United States.
He also has 2 drunk driving convictions. He was most likely intoxicated when he shot his friend in the face while quail hunting.
Legal action is pending against Cheney.
Posted by: Doug R. | May 21, 2009 3:52 PM
Cheney is the perfect terror target.
Terrorism is aimed to disrupt the rational behavior of an opponent. A perpetrator of this tactic hopes that we abandon our way of life, our values, our self identity.
Being a coward who used five deferments to avoid Vietnam, terrorism is especially useful against The Dick Cheney. He spent half his speech today recounting the minutes of 9/11, how he felt knowing that a plane was headed at the White House. He argued that fear excused his actions.
Dick Cheney admitted today that the terrorists beat him. He is still so terrified that the people he tortured, future unnamed enemies, or even his own countrymen will soon come for him. He has lost perspective and is now harming his own country in ways that any future foreign enemies could only hope too.
"Dick Cheney: Coward" should be on his tombstone.
Posted by: America Shrugged | May 21, 2009 3:53 PM
I'm so sick of you people jumping on poor Mr. Dick Cheney! Don't you know he has a heart condition? All this stress is very bad for him, so you just STOP it this instant, or I'm calling MY MOTHER on you! You're all just so hateful, metaphorically murdering poor helpless Republicans like that! It's not like they ever did anything to YOU, is it? The little innocent dears, never harming a soul, and you go after them like you'd actually been wronged somehow! For SHAME!! Republicans would certainly NEVER treat YOU like that! You can TRUST Republicans! They wear FLAG PINS!!!!!
.
Don't you realize that Mr. Dick Cheney, the former Vice-President of these United States, the quiet, unassuming helper of Mr. President George W. Bush, is a great, honest man? Why, he has more decency in his whole body than you all have in your little fingers! Wait -- no. He has more body in his decency than you have fingers -- no, that's still not right. He's had more fingers in his body than...aw, cr*p. I give up. Beat on him up all you want. What do I care?
Posted by: RightRevenge | May 21, 2009 4:00 PM
Cheney and Bush did what no terrorist nor any enemy of our nation EVER could do or did do. Basic American human & Constitutional rights were surrendered willingly because of fear generated & perpetuated by those who swore an oath to protect those exact rights. They shoved this nation into an unjustifiable war in a nation that had nothing to do with the attack on our nation on Sept. 11, 2001, they depleted our most precious & valuable resources (both material & human), and those who WERE responsible sat in their caves (or wherever) and smiled, smiled, SMILED.
Cheney and Bush were terrified by 12 guys with box cutters WHO THEY KNEW WERE COMING!
Posted by: icebergslim | May 21, 2009 4:01 PM
If waterboarding is so great, legal and effective, why did they stop using it the last 4 years of the Cheney-Bush administration??
Posted by: rupert | May 21, 2009 4:04 PM
waterboarding = torture
Cheney = ☁
Posted by: Kenny Bunkport ☯ | May 21, 2009 4:25 PM
This Japanese war criminal, DOOOHHH!, I mean former VP is going to talk himself into jail if he doesn't shut up.
It's about time for a special prosecutor.
Posted by: C.Morris | May 21, 2009 6:51 PM
Cheney's argument: We don't regard waterboarding as torture...but even if it were, it was worth it because it produced intelligence that saved lives.
In the same way the Chinese Commuinist claim:
We didn't massacre students at Tiananmen Square...but even if we did...the crackdown prevented chaos that threatened the stability of the state...and look where we are today.
So it was worth it, don't you agree?
Posted by: Norris Hall | May 21, 2009 7:13 PM
Thank You Cheney.You and Bush despite being out of control fiscally leading to budget insanity by Obama
HAVE KEPT US SAFE!
All this talk about law from Obama when no laws have been broken. Where is the law in Obamas actions of destroying the constitution in property rights by destroying the order of business contracts?
Better yet where is the law Obama speaks of when he does not support enforcing the immigration laws? I did not spend so much time money and effort to come to this country legally and honestly earning my way as a prospective American should for the immigration laws to be ignored by others and for them to get a free pass.
The hard work it took me to get here LEGALLY is the standard America deserves to be sure that everyone comming here is here to live the American dream rather than suck the American dream away from the productive.
Never be silent Cheney for you are right and righteous. I am proud to have had you and Bush as my leaders.
Posted by: VictorGonzales | May 22, 2009 1:49 AM
It's a disgrace to journalism that this man's nonsense is still reported as if it were serious news. Time and again, real journalists have exposed his dishonesty. I would no more care to hear his opinion on national security than I would care to field the opinion of Genghis Khan on the subject of Asian-European diplomacy.
Posted by: Nathan McKnight | May 22, 2009 1:58 AM
Cheney was right on, spoke with clarity and gave a no-nonsense defense of the Bush policy. We have been safe under their leadership since 9/11. Then we hear a rebuttal (hurried to be before) consisting of a bunch of blame Bush, legalese Harvard mombo-jumble, flip-flopping, inconsistent and disingenuous, double-speak by a liberal ACLU type lefty explaining how its OK to keep some detainees forever without trial as he stands before the Bill of Rights. I give Cheney a clear victory in this debate. Lefties can only respond by ridicule and character assassination against Cheney, that facts speak for themselves. The Dems are losing this battle.
Posted by: bubba Porter | May 22, 2009 6:57 AM
DEPORT CHENEY
Torturer-in-Chief. Front-man for the Israeli Lobby. Shill for Scooter Libby.
Puppeteer for George W. Bush. Embodiment of the Great Satan. Architect of
atrocities. What should become of the man who has tortured America and the
world, long enough? Dick Cheney. Indeed, the dishonor, shame and evil
brought about by this one individual has, ironically, given Nationalists the
energy to overthrow the regime, which stalks the nation even after being
turned out of office. One man who voted for Cheney remarked, with chagrin,
"I hadn't really looked into his eyes, until now, but I see that evil eye. It's
there. I see it." Another said, "No wonder we are regarded as the Great
Satan. The rest of the world wants us dead, because of such a demon."
Nationalists, uniquely, are traditionalists, as well as revolutionaries.
They are adept at not only freeing themselves from the chains forged for
them, but placing the very shackles back on their foes. For example, they
have used the so-called Civil Rights Bill, which had been designed to
thrust minorities and aliens over Americans, to oust minorities and aliens.
In that same vein, they point to the injustice of stripping John Demjanjuk
of his citizenship and sending him off to some foreign country. So, as a
peek into how they would exercise power, once empowered, Nationalists say,
"Give Cheney the Demjanjuk heave-ho." Deport him. Kick him out. Let
somebody else give him a taste of the same medicine, that he's dished out.
But, who would have him? And, what would become of him, if some country
did take him? In the eye-for-an-eye tradition, Cheney should be sent to a
country that practices torture, so he could be "water-boarded" as part of
the "chickens coming home to roost." Of course, he would be given a
"fair-trial" first, along the lines of the "trial" he gave Saddam Hussein.
But, is there any country on earth, except for disgraced and tyrannized
America, where Cheney could be given his "just deserts"? No one seems to
openly torture people, the way he has. Well, Israel does, but since Cheney
has been the mouthpiece for the Israeli Lobby, he would be applauded in Tel
Aviv. Maybe Red China? After all, they execute people for their body-parts.
But, even the Red Chinese, apparently, don't practice Cheney-style torture,
anymore. Spain might have been a good terminus, if it still practiced the
Inquisition, but that's been five-hundred years ago. Maybe Cheney could be
sent to some African enclave. After all, he elevated Condoleezza Rice and
there is no end to tribal-warfare among her kind. All that would have to be
done would be to find out which Bushmen Rice descended from and deport
Cheney to the neighboring rival. The Congo comes to mind. But, wait.
Somalia would undoubtedly be glad to receive him. The pirates would surely
dole out the same kind of treatment he afforded others. And, they wouldn't
be hypocrites, at the same time. But, Iran is probably the best venue of all.
If sent to Iran, Cheney would probably be spared being tortured, but the
Islamic Republic does chop off body parts, as part of punishment. Cheney
might be given an opportunity to explain himself. The Iranians might even
be merciful, if Cheney would apologize for spying on them, bombing the
Iraqis, attacking the Taliban, divesting freedom-fighters, trashing the
Constitution, violating international law and scourging the earth, with his
maniacal wrath. Maybe Cheney would fess up as to why he gave Israel the
keys to the White House, a lock on the banks and a blank-check on the
treasury. Did Paul Wolfowitz make him do it? Or, his lesbian daughter?
Or, maybe, the Devil, himself? Inquiring Nationalists would want to know.
http://www.nationalist.org/docs/cartoons/2009/052301.html
Copyright 2009 The Nationalist Movement
Posted by: Indy Cia | May 24, 2009 8:56 PM