Dick Cheney Defends CIA Torture, Insults and Criticizes Obama

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Detainees
Posted on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 01:21:59 PM EST
Tags: Dick Cheney, Torture (all tags)

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Dick Cheney continues to insist the CIA interrogators should neither be investigated nor prosecuted. He continues to praise their work.

"The people involved deserve our gratitude. They do not deserve to be the targets of political investigations or prosecutions," he said in a statement dated Monday.

[More...]

"The activities of the CIA in carrying out the policies of the Bush Administration were directly responsible for defeating all efforts by al Qaeda to launch further mass casualty attacks against the United States," Cheney said.

And in a slam to Obama:

"President Obama's decision to allow the Justice Department to investigate and possibly prosecute CIA personnel, and his decision to remove authority for interrogation from the CIA to the White House, serves as a reminder, if any were needed, of why so many Americans have doubts about this Administration's ability to be responsible for our nation's security," Cheney said.

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Dick Cheney Defends CIA Torture, Insults and Criticizes Obama | 47 comments (47 topical)

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Cheney's forthcoming memoirs (5.00 / 2) (#1)
by oldpro on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 01:41:05 PM EST

should stir the pot...I'm looking forward to it. Not that I'll buy it...not even in paperback...but I'll look forward to the movie. Maybe Joe Klein could write the screenplay...anonymously, of course.

: Oooohh!! (none / 0) (#6)
by gyrfalcon on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 02:31:04 PM EST

Ouch.

[ Parent ]
: Yeah! That's the ticket! (none / 0) (#23)
by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 03:15:12 PM EST

Perhaps Klein could call it "Primary Mullahs". (Bah-DUM-bumm-bumm! ...)

[ Parent ]

No kidding (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by mmc9431 on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 01:45:20 PM EST

Of course Cheney doesn't want any investigation. He knows his name would be one of the ones closest to the top of list. The CIA and the military didn't take their position without assurance from the WH that they were covered.

At least he does take credit for the torture policy! "The activities of the CIA in carrying out the policies of the Bush Administration.

As far as security, The Bush/Cheney regime has fostered thousands of future terrorists throughout the world.

: There wasn't even a clear military position (none / 0) (#9)
by Militarytracy on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 02:37:11 PM EST

Soldiers were arguing on the field. Some did things without questions, they were useful. Others asked questions, had to be given mushroom treatment. The name of the game was who would do it....until people got caught.

[ Parent ]

I read yesterday (5.00 / 1) (#4)
by Capt Howdy on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 02:05:57 PM EST

that the two classified documents he mentioned on Press the Meat and probably other places that supposedly proves that torture "works" are being released.

be careful what you wish for Dick.

: They were released, and (5.00 / 4) (#11)
by scribe on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 02:40:43 PM EST

don't support what Cheney said they did. In fact, they are both mutually contradictory and contradict Cheney and his changing positions.
Emptywheel (and the band of misfits hanging out there) has done her usual stellar job of taking them apart, putting them in context, and finding the next set of questions to ask. It's weedy (not a little weedy, more like a lot weedy), but worth diving into.
Short version: Deadeye's full of sh*t. Again. And it's all about him doing the CYA dance.

[ Parent ]
: The two memos were released (none / 0) (#13)
by MKS on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 02:42:42 PM EST

and only said good intel was obtained from the detainees--they don't say the info was obtained using torture.....
The account of those doing the interrogation was that the good intel was obtained before the torture/waterboarding.
Cheney lied about the memos.

[ Parent ]

ah jim, (5.00 / 1) (#14)
by cpinva on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 02:49:26 PM EST

blissfully unaware as always. not that there's anything wrong with that!

strange that in 8 years, not one confirmed instance of the cia's methods actually averting a planned attack has surfaced. not one. heck, not even half of one, or a quarter of one.

i'm going to go out on a (short) limb, and guess there's a good reason for this: none exists.

and jim, in the real world, the president doesn't have the luxury of focusing solely on one issue at a time, to the exclusion of everything else on his plate, nor does congress. that the media takes a tunnel-vision approach isn't exactly their fault.

Then we have this.... (none / 0) (#33)
by jimakaPPJ on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 05:55:09 PM EST

(CNSNews.com) - The Central Intelligence Agency told CNSNews.com today that it stands by the assertion made in a May 30, 2005 Justice Department memo that the use of "enhanced techniques" of interrogation on al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) -- including the use of waterboarding -- caused KSM to reveal information that allowed the U.S. government to thwart a planned attack on Los Angeles.

Of course we know that the CIA lies. Why, just ask Nancy Pelosi.....

[ Parent ]

: PPJ, if this was true, why didn't (5.00 / 1) (#42)
by Dark Avenger on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 09:09:15 PM EST

Cheney cite this case when defending what was done then, instead of his double-talk explanation that didn't cite any specific intelligence that was found using waterboarding?
Perhaps because he can't?

What clinches the falsity of Thiessen's claim, however (and that of the memo he cites, and that of an unnamed Central Intelligence Agency spokesman who today seconded Thessen's argument), is chronology. In a White House press briefing, Bush's counterterrorism chief, Frances Fragos Townsend, told reporters that the cell leader was arrested in February 2002, and "at that point, the other members of the cell" (later arrested) "believed that the West Coast plot has been canceled, was not going forward" [italics mine]. A subsequent fact sheet released by the Bush White House states, "In 2002, we broke up [italics mine] a plot by KSM to hijack an airplane and fly it into the tallest building on the West Coast." These two statements make clear that however far the plot to attack the Library Tower ever got--an unnamed senior FBI official would later tell the Los Angeles Times that Bush's characterization of it as a "disrupted plot" was "ludicrous"--that plot was foiled in 2002. But Sheikh Mohammed wasn't captured until March 2003.
Mandatory Link
So they broke up the plot in 2002, with the help of intelligence they obtained
from Sheikh Mohammed after he was captured in 2003.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[ Parent ]

Only... (5.00 / 3) (#20)
by kdog on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 03:07:47 PM EST

Trickier Dick could consider an investigation into violent crimes like torture a "political" investigation, and an investigation of Tommy Chong selling bongs as a "criminal" investigation...just about sums up Trickier Dick.

Truth (5.00 / 2) (#26)
by mmc9431 on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 03:20:02 PM EST

I just want the country to know what they were both responsible for so I don't end up driving in the future on the "Dick Cheney" hwy or landing at an airport honoring either of them.

: Hear! Hear! (none / 0) (#27)
by Militarytracy on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 03:25:44 PM EST

[ Parent ]
: GWB Landfill (none / 0) (#47)
by Carolyn in Baltimore on Wed Aug 26, 2009 at 09:24:00 AM EST

But I wouldn't mind the odd landfill, sanitation plant, hunting safety program, or drug rehab program named after them.

[ Parent ]

Well, Obama needs something (2.00 / 1) (#8)
by jimakaPPJ on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 02:35:16 PM EST

to stir the base up and make'em forget about health care... why not the evil CIA making terrorists spill the beans?

Bush isn't going to push back. Not his way. Cheney is a different cat. If someone wants a fight he'll oblige.

This should be fun and instructive and hurtful to Obama's dream of a second term. I'm gonna buy the book and see the movie... on FNC of course..

;-)

Unfortunatley, for you (5.00 / 2) (#18)
by jondee on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 03:00:34 PM EST

"the base" isnt dumb enough to forget that the other side's base wants to go back to coat hangers and healing with timber rattlers.

[ Parent ]

: "How many times have I told you?" (none / 0) (#21)
by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 03:09:36 PM EST

"No wire hangers!" - Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway), Mommie Dearest (1981)
But actually, I think my favorite line of hers was when she upbraided the Pepsi-Cola Board of Directors: "Don't f*** with me, fellas! This ain't my first time at the rodeo!"
Or was that Nancy Pelosi talking to Max Baucus and Chuck Grassley?

[ Parent ]

Yeah man (5.00 / 1) (#29)
by Socraticsilence on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 04:13:55 PM EST

Threatening to rape women, and kill children, as well as carrying out mock executions are totally awesome to the base, hell lets be honest for many of them its a fetish-- but guess what big gunner, to the rest of America and the world at large its the sort of thing that only scumbags do.

[ Parent ]

I suppose it's a fetish until someone does (none / 0) (#31)
by Militarytracy on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 04:46:55 PM EST

it to you. Inflicting pain is an addictive experience and I think feels natural when you've grown up in such a climate. The South still loves it some corporal punishment. The schools do it fearlessly down here. In CO nobody would dream of beating a kid. It's how things get done around here.

[ Parent ]

What wiill you do? (none / 0) (#32)
by jimakaPPJ on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 05:50:58 PM EST

What will you do when you get transferred out of the South?

What will you do?

;-)

[ Parent ]

That's okay, PPJ, if she misses the place (none / 0) (#40)
by Dark Avenger on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 07:55:15 PM EST

she can read something like this to remind her
of what she might be missing:

Last January, Apple CEO Steve Jobs, one of America's leading vampires, flapped into town and roosted on a house in a very gated, old-colonial neighborhood within the Memphis city limits. Despite a lifestyle sometimes closer to Kinshasa than Kansas, there are still a few pockets of neighborhoods around the city where rich folks aren't afraid to say they're from, with a few qualifications and explanations of course. These are largely people who, for whatever reason, didn't bail to the sprawling suburbs during white flight and who now mostly employ 24/7 security staffs. These neighborhoods have always reminded me of the Frenchmen in Apocalypse Now, REDUX still claiming their land and wanting their colonies back. Hey, at least there's a certain pride in that.

Mandatory Link

NSFW :-0

[ Parent ]

Live and be happy (none / 0) (#45)
by Militarytracy on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 10:44:06 PM EST

[ Parent ]

: Ever heard of Tom Leher? (5.00 / 1) (#46)
by Dark Avenger on Wed Aug 26, 2009 at 12:43:34 AM EST

If you take the various popular song forms to their logical extremes, you can arrive at almost anything from the ridiculous to the obscene, or -- as they say in new york -- sophisticated. I'll
Illustrate with several hundred examples for you this evening, first of all, the southern type song about the wonders of the american south. but it's always seemed to me that most of these song
really don't go far enough. the following song, on the other hand, goes too far. it's called I wanna go back to dixie.

Won'tcha come with me to alabammy,
Back to the arms of my dear ol' mammy,
Her cookin's lousy and her hands are clammy,
But what the hell, it's home.
My great-granny was Mammy, but her hands weren't clammy, not in Texas.

[ Parent ]

There's probably an element of truth there (none / 0) (#10)
by Militarytracy on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 02:39:09 PM EST

But I think he's about to shoot himself in the foot stepping off for Afghanistan.

[ Parent ]

Hear Dick yammer (none / 0) (#3)
by Dadler on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 01:47:57 PM EST

See Dick's nose grow like Pinnochio's.

Seriously, we need Senator Franken to reprise his SNL role as reporter on the scene, to don that satellite dish-helmet, and keep us updated on the withering health of Dick Cheney.

And who doesn't have doubts about Obama right now? Like this is some kind of insight. More people had doubts about his idiot boss. So there.

Next.

DIck (none / 0) (#5)
by BobTinKY on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 02:19:56 PM EST

enough said

: Well, you don't know Dick! (none / 0) (#24)
by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 03:18:05 PM EST

And those that really do, subsequently put their latent lesbian fantasies to to ink and paper.

[ Parent ]

Remember when Cheney's daughters (none / 0) (#7)
by Militarytracy on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 02:34:11 PM EST

were freaking out on television about any further investigations. They knew their father had taken children, used children to torture parents, damaged children. I wonder what else the scumbag family is afraid of us all finding out?

to quote my dear, departed mother (none / 0) (#12)
by kempis on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 02:40:58 PM EST

...Dick Cheney is an a--hole.

(And you must imagine this being said by an 85 year old Southern lady who had never, ever called anyone an a--hole before.)

: Your mother must have been ... (5.00 / 1) (#17)
by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 02:59:27 PM EST

... related to my late grandmother. She said the same thing to me at at age 88, and it was the first time I ever heard her utter such a perjorative about anyone.
I guess Dick Cheney has that magical effect on a lot of people, you know, making them suddenly want to hate America so much and surrender our freedoms to our enemies and stuff.

[ Parent ]

Not to sound glib, but ... (none / 0) (#15)
by Sumner on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 02:57:37 PM EST

Why shouldn't Cheney & Company be accorded the same quality of justice that they demanded for Saddam Hussein?

And that would be ... (none / 0) (#19)
by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 03:01:14 PM EST

... putting him in a room with a bunch of angry Shi'a Muslims with a rope around his neck?

[ Parent ]

I didn't mean to presuppose a verdict (none / 0) (#28)
by Sumner on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 03:34:45 PM EST

But rather that Cheney has avoided giving testimony under oath and the notion that he should be accorded the opportunity to publicly explain himslf under oath and that presidents and vice presidents are not legibus solutus.

[ Parent ]

Are you threatening Cheney with (none / 0) (#34)
by jimakaPPJ on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 05:56:34 PM EST

physical harm?

[ Parent ]

: Far from it, PPJ, unless citing a Roman (none / 0) (#43)
by Dark Avenger on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 09:13:27 PM EST

lawyer dead for almost 2 millenia is grounds for concern:

"The sovereign is not bound by the laws." (Princeps legibus solutus est)
--Ulpian

Mandatory Link

[ Parent ]

If the last eight years has proven anything, (none / 0) (#25)
by scribe on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 03:19:23 PM EST

it is that we Americans are neither so merciful nor so generous as to give Cheney (or anyone else) such an easy, quick out.

Among the nations of the world, we tend to demand every last scintilla of retribution. And slowly, too.

So, Deadeye ain't getting out of this one that easy.

[ Parent ]

Cheney is a pathological liar... (none / 0) (#16)
by desertswine on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 02:57:37 PM EST

Forget the CIA personnel, prosecute Cheney.

: Nah! Let DOJ work its way ... (none / 0) (#22)
by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 03:11:53 PM EST

... up the Bush administration chain of command. I want to watch a few of them squirm and panic.

[ Parent ]

This Clown (none / 0) (#30)
by bob h on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 04:30:34 PM EST

just had the balls to ask Obama to extend his Secret Service protection.

Based on some of the comments (none / 0) (#35)
by jimakaPPJ on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 06:23:35 PM EST

I see here, I would say he needs it.

Really, Jim? (none / 0) (#36)
by caseyOR on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 06:33:26 PM EST

I haven't read any comments on this post that call for any physical attacks on Cheney. Demanding that Holder investigate, indict and prosecute Cheney for his crimes hardly rises to a threat level requiring Secret Service protection.

[ Parent ]

Perhaps you missed this (none / 0) (#37)
by jimakaPPJ on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 06:42:28 PM EST

And that would be ... (none / 0) (#19)
by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 02:01:14 PM CST
... putting him in a room with a bunch of angry Shi'a Muslims with a rope around his neck?

That clearly rises to the level of inciting violence, although I would guess that Donald just got a bit excited and didn't really mean it.

[ Parent ]

I read that comment. (none / 0) (#38)
by caseyOR on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 07:15:55 PM EST

I don't see that exchange between Donald and Sumner as a call to kill Cheney. Sumner made a comment; Donald's comment reads to me like a question or request for clarification.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see the threat to Cheney's physical safety that you apparently see.

[ Parent ]

: So if you changed two names you would (none / 0) (#39)
by jimakaPPJ on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 07:49:51 PM EST

still be ok??

[ Parent ]

didn't Obama say a few months ago... (none / 0) (#41)
by diogenes on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 08:03:00 PM EST

Didn't Obama speak at CIA HQ a few months ago assuring them that CIA personnel would not be prosecuted and that if anyone was it would be white house lawyers and higher ups?

: I dunno, diogenes (none / 0) (#44)
by Dark Avenger on Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 09:15:52 PM EST

if there is enough oil in your lamp for tonight, perhaps you could ues this new-fangled site on the internets as www,google.com to find out for everyone?

[ Parent ]