Former Vice President Dick Cheney explains why he does not perceive the help GM will receive as the best solution to overcome and recover from the financial crisis. Amongst other reasons, Cheney says that going through the chapter 11 process which allows for the reorganization of a firm might be a good way to start over. (1:02)
By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News Service
Former Vice President Dick Cheney reiterated his support for the Bush administration’s national security approach today during an address to the Gerald Ford Foundation’s annual journalism awards ceremony at the National Press Club.
When questioned about President Barack Obama’s decision to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility by the end of the year, Cheney said that the administration had erred by ordering to discontinue use of the facility without a plan for the distribution of the prisoners.
“If you don’t have a place to hold these people, the only other solution is to kill them, and we don’t operate that way. We capture people in combat, we hold them as prisoners, we treat them as prisoners of war and are to be held till the end of the conflict,” Cheney said.
Since January, Obama has signed two presidential orders to close the facility within a year.
Cheney recently asked Obama to declassify the CIA’s interrogation documents related to water-boarding so as to prove that the Bush administration was not responsible for what is considered as the widespread condoning of torture by U.S. government officials under the Bush administration.
“[Obama] could with the stroke of a pen, declassify those documents that I’ve asked for,” Cheney said, adding,“The president has the authority to declassify whatever he wants, he is the ultimate classification authority of the federal government.”
When asked if he still believed there was a link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida, “The fact that he was a state sponsor of terror, provided sanctuary and safe harbor and resources to terrorists is I think without question, a fact,” adding, “That’s not something I made up. That’s not something I thought of. That’s something the director of Central Intelligence was telling us,” Cheney answered.
Since leaving office in January, Cheney has emerged as a frequent critic of Obama’s national security policies. He accused Obama of making the U.S. less safe during a CNN appearance in March and then again during a speech to the American Enterprise Institute late May. He has also given numerous television interviews conveying the same theme.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney explains that the Bush administration acted under the guidance of the Department of Justice at the time when the U.S engaged in waterboarding. Additionally, Cheney says that he does not call waterboarding torture because it was conducted under a legal framework. (0:53)
Former Vice President Dick Cheney maintains that the Guantanamo Bay detention facility was a good choice for coping with dangerous criminals. Cheney also criticizes President Barack Obama’s decision to close the prison by the end of the year without calculating the consequences of such an event, in particular regarding where the prisoners will be kept once they are moved from the Cuba-based facility. (0:39)
Former Vice resident Dick Cheney talks about the Guantanamo Bay prisoners and how 14% of those who have been released after trial have gotten back to the “jihad business”. Cheney adds that some of the men who are still currently held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility are some of the most dangerous men for the U.S as they would do anything to kill Americans. (1:03)
Former Vice President Dick Cheney comes in support of gay marriage. Cheney said that everyone should have a right to choose to enter into any union they want. (0:56)
By Jonathan Bronstein, Talk Radio News Service
Rushed to a secret White House bunker on September 11, 2001, former Vice President Dick Cheney watched coordinated terrorist attacks unfold before his eyes.
“I’ll freely admit that watching a coordinated, devastating attack on our country from an underground bunker at the White House can affect how you view your responsibilities,” said Cheney today at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
In the days following 9-11, Congress passed a Joint Resolution that gave the President and other high ranking officials the power to act with “all necessary and appropriate force” to protect America, according to Cheney.
This meant the Bush Administration would use all tactics at their disposal to ensure the country’s safety, including the allowance of waterboarding against suspected terrorists and an offensive war to disrupt terrorist activities.
Cheney bluntly stated that the use of waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques were “legal, essential, justified, successful, and the right thing to do.”
Cheney defended the 183 instances of waterboarding employed by the CIA on Kaled Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind of the attacks.
“American personnel were not there to commence an elaborate legal proceeding, but to extract information from him before al-Qaeda could strike again and kill more of our people,” said Cheney.
Waterboarding was not used against every enemy combatant, but “only those terrorists of the highest intelligence value,” said Cheney.
However, Cheney asserted that high-ranking members of Congress were briefed on the CIA’s use of these techniques, including the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D Calif.). He criticized those members of Congress who demanded to be briefed saying that “they support them in private, and then head for the hills at the first sign of controversy.”
In response to Pelosi’s assertion that the CIA lied to her, Cheney stated that “people who consistently distort the truth in this way are in no position to lecture anyone about ‘values.’”
Pelosi has been one of the harshest critics of the Bush Administration and a leading advocate for a ‘Truth Commission.’
“It’s hard to imagine a worse precedent, filled with more possibilities for trouble and abuse, than to have an incoming administration criminalize the policy decisions of its predecessors,” said Cheney in regards to such a commission.
Cheney wants the government to release all torture documents, and he mocked the Obama Administration’s choice to only partially release these documents when he said that “the public has a right to know the method of the questions, but not the content of the answers.”
“Every senior official who has been briefed on these classified matters knows of the specific attacks that were in the planning stages and were stopped by the programs we put in place,” said Cheney.
Additionally, Cheney asserted that no matter what actions the Obama Administration takes, like the closing Guantanamo Bay or disallowing the use of enhanced interrogation, the terrorists will continue to hate America.
“The terrorists hate this country precisely because of the values we profess and seek to live by,” said Cheney.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney bluntly states that Congress knew about the use of waterboarding, including Speaker of the House Pelosi. (0:21)
House Minority leader John Boehner (R-OH) discusses about how the knowledge and experience of former Vice-President Dick Cheney “are helpful to the debate.” (0:39)
By Kayleigh Harvey – Talk Radio News Service
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was asked by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) whether they she would be in favor of releasing documents that Dick Cheney has requested be released with regards to the investigation into tactics used during the Bush administration at a House Foreign Affiars Committee hearing today. Clinton responded, “It won’t surprise you that I don’t consider him a particularly reliable source of information.”
