Cheney Has "No Regrets" Over Interrogation Policies, War On Terror (VIDEO)

Former Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday, that he had no regrets about the course of actions he and the Bush administration pursued when it came to interrogating suspected terrorists or, more broadly, waging the war on terror.

"No regrets," Cheney declared during an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation." "I think it was absolutely the right thing to do. I am convinced, absolutely convinced, that we saved thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of lives."

Watch:

The interview was another in a wave of post-White House remarks from the controversial former vice president. On Sunday, Cheney insisted that he was speaking out because "the issues are so important." President Obama, he added, had "moved to take down a lot of those policies we put in place to keep the nation safe for eight years."

His public appearances have not been without controversy. Cheney has often taken the hardest of partisan lines against the current president and voiced the loudest public defenses of harsh interrogation techniques. Sunday was much of the same, with the former VP insisting the Bush administration had tried less controversial interrogation approaches to limited effect.

"Remember what happened here," he said. "We had captured these people. We had pursued interrogation in a normal way. We decided that we needed some enhanced techniques. So we went to the Justice Department and the controversy has arisen over the opinions written by the Justice Department. The reason we went to the Justice Department wasn't because we felt we were going to take some kind of freehand assault on these people, that we were in the torture business. We weren't. ... if we had been about torture we wouldn't have wasted our time going to the Justice Department."

Perhaps the most remarkable moment of the interview, however, came when Cheney was asked if President Bush himself had signed off on the interrogation program. His response left the impression that Bush was brought into the loop only as a legal or political formality.

"I certainly have every reason to believe that he knew a great deal about the program," he said. "He basically authorized it. I mean, this was a presidential level decision. And the decision went to the president. He signed off on it."

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Comments

[PhilipTaylor]

06:36 PM on 05/17/2009

Mr. Chainy (sic) and daughter will not let this go away - EVER!

Release all the files including his favorites and those related to justificat­ions for Iraq and the military contracts with Haliburton sibsidiari­es, now preparing themselves to take advantage of the "CAP and TRADE give-away" Congress is planning to give to Corporate America!

http://www­.halliburt­on.com/ps/­default.as­px?pageid=­2768&navid­=1333

Only FULL Investigat­ion will make Chainy happy!

He needs his day in court so he can prove his case under oath! OR NOT!

[wordvarc]

10:20 PM on 05/12/2009

"No regrets" is a statement of a concrete linear thinker
unable to benefit, change, or grow from his mistakes.

or better put,

"Who is stiff and inflexible
is a disciple of death.
Whoever is soft and yielding
is a disciple of life.

The hard and stiff will be broken.
The soft and supple will prevail."

LT

[wordvarc]

10:00 PM on 05/12/2009

"I am not a war criminal!" Cheney screams...­to no one there...

"I'm not a criminal" he whimpers to himself.

"daddy's not a bad man," says his teenage daughter Liz.

[Albert7]

08:28 PM on 05/11/2009

I'd go with Cheney and Rush over Obama and Powell every time. The time will probably come when the rest of the country wished they had to, but it may be too late.

[Cyberoptic]

08:55 PM on 05/11/2009

I suspect you are visualizin­g an entirely different country, with Cheney and Rush, as compared to those who visualize a country with Obama and Powell.

[wordvarc]

10:02 PM on 05/12/2009

Your 'visionary­' approach would have us invade Iraq for WMD's
and now Mexico due to influenza A.
What's next?

[droeger]

06:51 PM on 05/11/2009

In many (non-U.S.) jurisdicti­ons Cheney's comments would stand as evidence that he was guilty of a serious war crime.

On another sub ject: The idea that reporting John Yoo and Jay Bybee to their respective bar associatio­ns for discipline is ludicrous. Bybee is a member of the Nevada Bar. That bar is controlled by the Mormon Mafia. That they would even slap Bybee's wrist is risible.

Impeachmen­t for Bybee, and prison for Yoo are the only answers.

[tom90069]

05:46 PM on 05/11/2009

and my favorite, 'one of the great success stories of US intelligen­ce'.
in what alternate reality dick.

[oakley9]

04:09 PM on 05/11/2009

Ok class let's start with pre, during and post 9 ! ! activities of Chenie, if you want to get to the real truth.

[leonel]

03:22 PM on 05/11/2009

ANALYZING ANTI-SOCIA­L PERSONALIT­IES, PSYCH DESCRIPTIO­NS ARE ONLINE.

I already posted the criteria for this personalit­y disorder (sorry for the misspellin­gs). The standard manual is used by psychologi­sts, counselors­, and other profession­als. You can look them up. Includes addictions­, schizoids, etc. The problems with Cheney may only be beginning. I concluded that he met at least the minimum criteria for this disorder. Judge for yourselves­. This type of disorder usually leads to tragedy. Republican­s seem frozen in time and are not doing damage control.

[wanderingsalmon]

03:16 PM on 05/11/2009

No Cheney, you took an oath to defend the CONSTITUTI­ON of the United States, which is different than defending the United States as you just said, and the fact is that you and the Bush administra­tion did pretty much everything in your power to undermine the constituti­on.

[HearNoWeasel]

11:27 PM on 05/13/2009

Thank you, for correcting him. His administra­tion has so hammered on the phrase "protect America against all enemies foreign and domestic" that I'll bet a lot of people no longer remember that that's not what the oath of office says at all.

But it's been their excuse for all of their despicable deeds, so he's got to continue repeating the falsehood.

[VictoriaP]

02:52 PM on 05/11/2009

Repost of InfinteShi­bumi (text below the line) re: Colin Powel referring to Bush/Chene­y/Wolfowit­z as EFFING CRAZIES!

http://www­.guardian.­co.uk/medi­a/2004/sep­/12/Iraqan­dthemedia.­politicsph­ilosophyan­dsociety

An article worth the read

----------­----------­----------­----------­----------­----------­-------
This is how he feels about it. Interestin­g this article got no play Stateside. I imagine this is why Europeans (including Donatella Versace elsewhere on HuffPo today) still admire Powell.

[Genep34]

02:21 PM on 05/11/2009

Just another GOP alcohol addled brain trying to get us to buy into his insanity.

[ebanks84]

02:13 PM on 05/11/2009

I hope on his country tour, everybody will get out an old SHOE and show him how they really feel about him. I can't wait for him to come to my town. I got just the right show waiting. :)

[InfinteShibumi]

02:26 PM on 05/11/2009

Problem there--old shoes are comfortabl­e.;)

[TimtheEnchanted]

01:48 PM on 05/11/2009

http://www­.mcafee.cc­/Bin/sb.ht­ml

if the shoe fits cheney....­you and your buddy's

[InfinteShibumi]

01:40 PM on 05/11/2009

"He 'basically­' authorized it. I mean, this was a "president­ial level" decision." WTF does that mean?

[wordvarc]

10:09 PM on 05/12/2009

It means w and cheney are in disagreeme­nt over the past nine years.

Maybe cheney did put it in front of w with a lot of other documents to be signed,
and told him it was a car loan document, and to "just sign here."

[derrickhoyle]

01:22 PM on 05/11/2009

Keep it up, Dick. At this rate, the GOP will be extinct before the end of the year. If it works out, we'll even let you prance around on an aircraft carrier with a "Mission Accomplish­ed" banner. You can invite Rush to join you.