Dick, Liz Cheney Praise Anwar Al-Awlaki Killing, Say Obama Owes Bush Administration An Apology

Former Vice President Dick Cheney, along with his daughter Liz, praised President Barack Obama Sunday for the drone strike that killed Anwar al-Awlaki, but also said that the president owes the Bush administration an apology.

Dick Cheney called the killing of the U.S.-born al Qaida cleric in Yemen on Friday "a very good strike" and "justified" in an appearance on CNN's “State of the Union” Sunday.

But he also said Obama should take back his criticism of the Bush administration's tactics in the war on terrorism.

"The thing I am waiting for is for the administration to go back and correct something they said two years ago, when they criticized us for quote overreacting to the events of 9/11," Cheney said. "They in effect said we had walked away from our ideals, taking policy contrary to our ideals when we had enhanced interrogation techniques. They have clearly moved in the direction of taking robust action when they feel it is justified. In this case, it was. They need to go back and reconsider what the president said in Cairo."

The former vice president was referencing the speech Obama delivered in Cairo in 2009, in which he said the the trauma of 9/11 caused American to "act contrary to our ideals" and announced that "I have unequivocally prohibited the use of torture by the United States" and ordered Guantanamo Bay to be closed.

Cheney took issue with Obama's speech on Sunday. "We were never torturing anyone in the first place," he told CNN's Candy Crowley. "He said we walked away from our basic fundamental ideals. That simply wasn't the case. What he said then was inaccurate especially now in light of what they are doing with policy."

"He slandered the nation," Liz Cheney added, "and I think he owes an apology to the American people. Those are the policies that kept us safe."

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Comments

[phillyangel74]

07:27 PM on 11/30/2011

George Bush,Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld are the ones who owe the American people an apology,moreover,they owe the families of fallen soliders an apology and much more for sending their loved ones to a war under fraudulent circumstances. There were no weapons of mass destruction,just mass killings and mass lies and deception.

[Madeleine Watt]

09:37 AM on 11/10/2011

Bush, Cheney and their ilk can kiss my a__ . They owe the rest of us an apology and a ton of cash stolen for their uber-wealthy cronies.

[Sock Monkey]

11:25 PM on 10/07/2011

There's a kiss of death.

Dick Cheney endorsing Obama.

If you didn't think something was wrong before...you have to admit there's certainly something wrong NOW.

[Djay0252]

09:58 AM on 10/07/2011

Cheney has an even BIGGER apology to make to the American people for his greed and his lies

[Madeleine Watt]

09:38 AM on 11/10/2011

AMEN brother!

[Nicolas Beattie]

10:19 PM on 10/06/2011

As a candidate, Obama promised to wind down these middle-eastern wars, to lead congress in repealing the patriot act, close down Guantanamo, and repeal executive orders which concentrated too much power in the executive. I don't see that he has accomplished or even attempted any of these. The ONE point in which agree with Dick is that Obama, and many of his continued supporters, are hypocrites. This might sound harsh: I really don’t mean to be disrespectful or to generalize, but I know many people, including some family members, who seem to think Obama can do no wrong, even after evidence of the contrary.
In assassinating Anwar Al-Awaki, without charges or due process, Obama has further enlarged the powers of the executive, allowing the POTUS to kill anyone he or the CIA labels a terrorist, even an American citizen. This overturns 800 years of common law tradition dating back to the signing of the Magna Carta. To all those who condone this action, mark my words, the next time a Republican is President, he will have a legal precedent for going all Michael Corleone on all of your asses. And who knows, maybe just being a dissenter will be enough to get you onto the newly created secret Presidential Hit List. And don’t say it can never happen; the erosion or your Republic and the growth of Imperialism, a bi-partisan effort, appears to be a gradual, yet inexorable process.

[Robert M Shelby]

05:10 AM on 10/07/2011

You do understand, don't you, that a US president has little absolute power and cannot dictate as he pleases. His office exists in the midst of exceedingly complicated forces and subordinate powers. As for Al-Awlaki, citizenship is not engraved on a person like legends on stone. Citizen is as citizen intends and acts. Al-Awlaki joined his country's enemies. Merely because the transition involved no paper documents "authorizing" it does not mean his citizenship is intact.

[Nicolas Beattie]

06:37 PM on 10/07/2011

Thank you for your comment. Yes I do understand the limitations on executive authority. But therein lies my point: it seems those limitations are gradually being eroded.
I also understand that while Al-Awlaki was still officially a US citizen, he was not so in spirit. But the fact of him being a US citizen is to me a moot point (The Fifth Amendment says, “no person shall be … deprived of life liberty or property without due process…” not “no Citizen”). BTW, I'm not defending him; I'm defending the rule of law. The reason for this is because you wouldn't want a potentially innocent person to be treated this way. It's very dangerous precedent to allow any president to become judge, jury and executioner, to assassinate anyone in the world without indictment, judicial review and a trial. The worst criminals of our past, including the Nazis, were brought to trial before they were executed. I implore you to not casually accept the erosion of your legal process. What is the point of betraying your principles in order to defend them? Don't lose your very souls in order to get one particularly nasty bad guy. I can't accept that the ends justify the means.

[Nicolas Beattie]

10:19 PM on 10/06/2011

We don't need an apology from Dick Cheney, we need to prosecute him and others for war crimes, mass murder, perjury, etc., etc., etc.
That said, all you kind folks criticizing Bush & co. should take an objective (non-partisan) and critical look at Obama's foreign policy. I ask all of you, is it substantively different than the policy of the previous administration? In my view, other than in its rhetoric, it is not. If the previous administration was deserving of impeachment and/or prosecution, then consistency and principle would require the same of the current. By all means, I would greatly appreciate your thoughts if you disagree.
In the Bush years, many understood that declaring war on a tactic left the door open for the executive to target any nation or any individual based on an accusation of terrorism. There was also a large anti war movement on the left which was placated and largely disappeared the moment a Democrat stepped into the oval office (Or is it just that the movement is now ignored by the media?). This seems to imply that many liberals are not against preemptive wars of aggression, occupations and imperialism; they are only against these things when a Republican is in charge.

[fgbouman]

06:33 PM on 10/06/2011

I may not be happy with some aspects of the President's war strategy, but Cheney put us in a box where there were no acceptable alternatives. I might choose a different set of bad options than the President, but I would find no morally or ethically acceptable ones, just as he has not.

[samnsara]

10:45 AM on 10/06/2011

Give it up Cheney

[joeyfoto]

06:35 AM on 10/06/2011

Dr. Strangelove deserved no apology, neither does Dick Cheney or the Bush administration.

Implementing the outrage of torture was the worst stain on America since slavery. Apart from the general incompetence of their cabal, Bush and Cheney deserve to be remembered for the disgrace they brought upon our country.

[Madeleine Watt]

09:39 AM on 11/10/2011

Amen!

[MizzMaat]

04:22 PM on 10/05/2011

Yes, Cheney owes us all an apology, not that it could ever make up for his base meanness. And LukeRussell should stand beside Cheney and apologize for his rudeness and aggression toward people who express their various opinions in a civil manner. (It's OK if you don't know who this person is. He knows, and at least some of his posts have deservedly been deleted from this site.)

[KickstandCat]

11:44 AM on 10/05/2011

Let's see, who was the last person, before W and cheney, to invade a country for NO reason and slaughter is citizens and villainize certain religous groups?

[KickstandCat]

11:39 AM on 10/05/2011

Why is Orlok NOT in prison? America? International Community? Anyone?

[92102]

11:30 AM on 10/05/2011

Won't someone please unplug this zombie.

[TeebagsKiLLingAMERICA]

11:21 AM on 10/05/2011

Reminds me of Agnewopolis ( Spiro T. )

[bgraceg]

10:31 AM on 10/05/2011

This man has the balls of a brass monkey, as my mother used to say.

[joeyfoto]

06:37 AM on 10/06/2011

bgraceg wrote: "This man has the balls of a brass monkey, as my mother used to say."

My mom too. #17 fanned