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."

Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[Nyla785]

NONE of this public presence of Cheney's is for the good of the country. It's all about keeping up opposition to investigating torture. It's to save his own skin. And we all know it.

[BPCentrisAmerican]

How is saving his own skin when he gets on national TV admitting that he sanctioned war crimes, and this past weekend telling on Face the Nation telling us and the world that both he and George Bush sanctioned war crimes. If Bush was watching this interview, I'm sure he choked on his bacon and grits. I know there not speaking to each other, but if Cheney wants to talk about war crimes on national TV, it would be respectful to his former president to leave him out of it.

[PiscesPrincess]

and just how does this save his skin. hmm
course, he's the dar/ one. his thought processes are far beneath ours.
Maybe You have a clue? if so, please share.

[grey sells]

If all of the people who were involved in the waterboarding, etc. just keep talking justify themselves and/or avoid legal responsibility for their actiond, the truth will eventually come out. It will look like the circular firing squad.

[ABCD]

ENOUGH!

[grf67]

Unlike cheney the great Vietnam coward, Powell is an American patriot.

[zendem1]

Off topic here but Cross-I's Christie just told Contessa Brewer with a straight face that the reason the Bush Administration expanded government was due to 9/11. So there's your new GOP spin: "The economy was wrecked by 9/11". Clever.

[tippydog11]

They also need a heart

[spandautoseattle]

Now imagine this all coming back in a few years because the new administration and the AG aren't willing to hold the neocons accountable for their deeds.

[stargazer13]

Mr Cheney

you must be really proud of the fact that you have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt

THERE IS NO RULE OF LAW

because if there was such a thing you would be in jail awaiting the electric chair

Plain and simple

[havegonedc]

Don't people need a conscience to be able to feel regret?

[Diogenis]

Hard hearts!

[Steambomb]

What a coward. This man is just a few heartbeats away from the afterlife and yet he is still willing to pass the buck on to Bush. An intellectually challenged younger man to be the patsy. Despicable.

[TeamSarah4CHOICE]

Hit.ler didn't have any regrets either.

[hackerblaster]

No regrets? How about 9/11 happened under yours and GWB's watch?

[finishcurve]

Bob Schieffer is a nice grandfatherly tool.
He didn't follow up on a single thing Cheney said.
He just gave Cheney a platform to justify his actions.

[tqjones44]

Is this Cheney's Idea of Making Us Safer??

1) Illegal wire taps of US citizens
2) US citizens being persecuted because of their religious beliefs
3) Racial profiling
4) Patriot Act
5) Passing a law that states US citizens could be picked up and held as enemy combatants w/o due process
6) Terror list in which US citizens names would appear with no way of removing them
7) And don't forget the granddaddy of them all "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" A.K.A. 'TORTURE'

It is called abuse of power...and a gov't., or I mean a dictatorship; gone awry...I'll take my freedoms back and President Obama over this any day!

[Suzanne525]

Great list. The idi0ts in my office think that Obama is shredding the Constitution! They have no clue.

[Tyler-Durden]

and under the bus he goes! Bushie: we gonna get you soon enough!