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)

 

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By Jonathan Bronstein, Talk Radio News Service

Former VP Dick Cheney

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)

 

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Former Vice President Dick Cheney discusses how the recent release of the Torture Documents only gave Americans “less than half the truth.” He wants Obama to release all the information that was received from this type of interrogation. “The public has the right to know the method of the question, but not the content of the answers,” said Cheney. (0:43)

 

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By Jonathan Bronstein, Talk Radio News Service

Jonathan Bronstein recounts the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) recent comments during her weekly press conference. Pelosi asserted that the CIA knowingly lied to her and mislead the American people, and she even called for the creation of a Truth Commission in order to illuminate the facts about the CIA’s use of torture.

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) responded to Pelosi’s allegations by warning her and other Democrats to be careful what they wish for because the commission’s discoveries may directly implicate them in the investigation.

Furthermore, Peter Brookes, an analyst for the Heritage Foundation, criticized the idea of a Truth Commission because he felt that it may hinder the CIA and other agencies from adequately protecting the American people.

But with each passing day the frustration of the American people mounts as they finally want to know what happened during the Bush Administration. (1:58)

 

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Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) states that the Democrats knew that torture was occurring and did nothing to stop it. They were complicit and thus share some of the blame for allowing torture to take hold in America. (0:17)

 

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Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) states that Speaker Pelosi has had way too many stories about her knowledge of torture which only de-legitimize her position and make her look less trustworthy. (0:12)

 

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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) explains how the CIA created the laws allowing them to implement waterboarding as an interrogation technique, but it failed to tell Congress what was happening. She believes that the CIA is attempting to shift the spotlight from themselves and onto other groups, like Congress. (0:27)

 

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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) attempted to clear-up any questions regarding how much she knew about the CIA’s use of waterboarding and when she knew that they did employ it. She unequivocally stated that she was given an “inaccurate and incomplete” briefing as waterboarding had already occurred at the time of the meeting, though the agent failed to mention this point. Also, she stated that the CIA lied to America at the same time in regards to their statements on weapons of mass destruction. (0:29)

 

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