Good Hunting... from Varmint Al
Posted on 05/21/2009 9:43:03 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Laying out the Bush administration's case for treatment of terror suspects, former Vice President Dick Cheney challenged the Obama administration to declassify information about the intelligence gleaned from enhanced interrogation techniques.
"Releasing the interrogation memos was flatly contrary to the national security interest of the United States," Cheney said Thursday at the American Enterprise Institute. "The harm done only begins with top secret information now in the hands of the terrorists, who have just received a lengthy insert for their training manual."
"I was and remain a strong proponent of our enhanced interrogation program," Cheney said. "They were legal, essential, justified, successful and the right thing to do."
Cheney also accused the Obama administration of withholding key parts of the story, saying the public "was given less than half the truth" and calling on the president to release information gained from terrorist interrogation, including information about attacks that were prevented.
In a speech grounded in an urgent remembrance of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Cheney intimated that the techniques have helped the country avoid further attacks.
"Wars cannot be won on the defensive," Cheney said. "9/11 made necessary a shift of policy, aimed at a clear strategic threat.
"You can look at the facts and conclude that the comprehensive strategy has worked, and therefore needs to be continued as vigilantly as ever. Or you can conclude that 9/11 was a one-off event -- coordinated, devastating but also unique and not sufficient to justify a sustained wartime effort."
Of waterboarding, the method of simulated drowning that has drawn the most criticism, Cheney said the story has been blown out of proportion. Only three terrorism suspects, he said -- including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah -- were ever subject to the technique.
"As far as the interrogations are concerned, all that remains an official secret is the information we gained as a result," Cheney said. "I saw that information as vice president, and I reviewed some of it again recently at the National Archives."
"We sought, and we in fact obtained specific information on terrorist plans," Cheney said. "The enhanced interrogations of high-value detainees and the terrorist surveillance program have without question made our country safer."
Cheney's speech is the latest in a months-long campaign the former vice president has waged in defending the Bush administration's decisions in the wake of the 2001 attacks.
His speech, scheduled weeks ago, came just after Obama's own speech on national security and the interrogation techniques. In fact, audience members watched Obama's speech before Cheney took the stage.
Cheney insisted his recent marathon of public appearances are not geared toward simply opposing the president. Instead, he said, he is motivated by the need to keep the country safe.
"No one wishes the current administration more success in defending the country than we do," he said. "Though administrations and policies have changed, the stakes for America have not changed."
Cheney also reiterated the charge that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democratic leaders knew of the techniques. Pelosi has come under fire in recent weeks after suggesting she was misinformed by the Central Intelligence Agency -- a charge the CIA has not completely refuted.
oh man, after listening to his speech I am just devastated that Cheney was not the president of the United States. This man rocks. it’s too bad there is NO ONE LEADER in the Pube party that is like Cheney.
Cheney just took a SHOT GUN to BUTTCRACK ODUMBA and his fools of the left.
How ? I thought Panetta did everything except release the video of the Pelotians saying "Yassuh, boss. Yassuh, boss".
America still doesn’t get it about 9/11.
Everyone thinks of it as an attack that killed 3000 people.
While that is true, the fact everyone ignores is that it was a partly botched attempt to kill 50,000 people!
If the hijackers had aimed their planes more accurately and hit the base of the towers then everyone in both towers would have died.
They were trying to kill as many Americans in ten minutes as died in the entire Vietnam war!
no wonder they got Biden out of the country so that he could not comment on this
No, Cheney is doing a great job as he is right now. He probably would have continued some of Bush's more disastrous domestic policies.
Good Hunting... from Varmint Al
As President Cheney said today, in a significant and wonderful speech, we have not had another 9/11 due to the aggressive action taken against the terrorists by the Bush Administration.
But since being elected, Obama has significantly weakened our security and he has emboldened the terrorists.
Obama is so naive, or corrupt, that he proposed to release the Gitmo terrorists, some right into the U.S. population. Many of our soldiers were killed or wounded capturing the Gitmo terrorists, but Obama did not care if more of our soldiers were killed or wounded recapturing the same enemies.
Now, after being pressured by public opinion and his own Socialists in Congress, it looks like Obama plans to put the Gitmo terrorists in U.S. prisons.
Obama is still criticizing the Bush Administration for its success in preventing another 9/11. Today Obama even said that Bush left a mess behind. Would Obama be happier if Bush had just shot all the Gitmo terrorists? (I would have approved.)
Obama should be conducting the war on terror in the same manner as Bush. Obama’s failure to do this will lead to more 9/11’s and the complete destruction of our economy and our freedom. Just one EMP bomb detonated by the terrorists over the U.S. might be sufficient. What will Obama tell us then? That we “deserved it” due to our bad treatment of the Islamists?
To follow up, I imagine that the current GOP “leaders” do not support Dick Cheney’s eloquent criticism of Obama, Pelosi, and their fellow travelers. GOP Chairman Steele, FL GOP chairman Jim Greer, Senator Mel Martinez (RINO-FL), Governor Crist of FL, etc., cannot even bring themselves to label the Democrat Party as the Socialist Party — they are too timid, afraid, and gutless. No doubt they also would not have approved of Ronald Reagan’s speech in Orlando, FL when he first called the Soviet Union the “Evil Empire”.
Most likely the current GOP “leaders” also agree with Obama that we should not be talking about the “war on terror”, or “terrorists”, or “Islamists”. Those words are too harsh for people who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11/01.
Everyone should look again at the pictures of people hanging out of the broken windows of the World Trade Center, trying to decide if they would rather burn to death inside the building or jump hundreds of feet to their death, splattered on the pavement below.
Then write to or call your Congressmoron, the White House, and your local newspaper editor.
http://tinyurl.com/oqy5q6 Video on Fox
Good Hunting... from Varmint Al
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