President Obama has “learned from experience” that some of the Bush administration’s decisions on terrorism issues were necessary, according to former Vice President Dick Cheney.
In his first interview since undergoing major heart surgery last July, Cheney said he thinks Obama has been forced to rethink some of his national security positions now that he sits in the Oval Office.
“I think he’s learned that what we did was far more appropriate than he ever gave us credit for while he was a candidate. So I think he’s learned from experience. And part of that experience was the Democrats having a terrible showing last election.”
Cheney also asserted that Obama has learned that the prison at Guantanamo Bay simply cannot be closed, despite the promises he made while campaigning for the White House.
“I think he’s learned that he’s not going to be able to close Guantanamo,” Cheney said. “That it’s — if you didn’t have it, you’d have to create one like that. You’ve got to have some place to put terrorists who are combatants who are bound and determined to try to kill Americans.”
Cheney made the comments about Obama in an interview that is set to air Tuesday on NBC’s “Today.” The interview was Cheney’s first since before he underwent heart surgery in July. Doctors introduced a device into his heart that pumps blood from the ventricle chamber to his aorta.
The former vice president cited the Obama administration’s expanded use of drones in Pakistan as more evidence of continuity from the policies of the Bush White House.
“As I say, I think he’s found it necessary to be more sympathetic to the kinds of things we did,” Cheney said. “They’ve gotten active, for example, with the drone program, using Predator and the Reaper to launch strikes against identified terrorist targets in the various places in the world.”
Cheney also weighed in during the interview on the Arizona shooting that left six people dead and injured 13, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.). Cheney was cautious about what role heated political rhetoric played in the shooting.
“I think the event was caused by a deranged individual. And — that’s where we ought to look in terms of trying to assess guilt,” Cheney said.
But Cheney also said that it was important not to squelch spirited political debate in the shooting’s aftermath.
“I don’t think we should anticipate that we can somehow take a system that was designed for political combat, if you will, between the parties, between ideas, between principles and set that aside. I wouldn’t want to do that,” Cheney said. “That’s the heart and soul of our political system. And that’s basically a good thing.”
Cheney also confirmed an account from President George W. Bush’s recently released memoir, “Decision Points,” that he had offered to resign multiple times during his administration.
“I didn’t wanna stand in the way if, in fact, that kind of decision would enhance the president’s prospects of winning reelection in 2004 when he was up against John Kerry,” Cheney said. “And I thought he ought to have the freedom to change anybody he wanted, including me.”
(Source: The Hill)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
3 Responses
it’s a shame that Dick Cheny still can’t resist lying to the American People like he did with his pronouncements of knowing of where the WMD were and lying about the relationship between SH and Ol Queida, the latter even until today !! Currently Cheyny lies with the claim that Obama believes it isn’t wise to close Guantanamo when it has nothing to do with Obama’s stated intent which lies in the p[hysical locaiton and what that location’s import was to the Bush Adminstration ( easing illegal rendition and easing the facade needed to justify violating the constitution, the smoke and noise produced engages the proaganda quite nicely.
Secondly, Obama hasnt had the cooperation from others- NOT HIMSELF- TO send out certain detainees to other countries, and to imprison the rest in prisons in the US.
Cheney cant stop lying.
i dont think the yeshiva world ought to be misled with deficient articles from this medium
Also, CIA complicity in sabotaging the Iranian nuclear program. He also realized that an israeli settlement freeze will not cure all ills. Yes, President Obama is proving to be more pragmatic than I originally thought. If the economy will realy improve, he might have a chance of being reelected
Yes, he is lying repeatedly. Gitmo is just another prison; a supermax in the US would be just as secure but Congress has prohibited him from doing so. And Obama himself supported drone attacks during the campaign. But what do you expect from someone whose lies got us into a useless and costly war?
(There is in fact a serious question as to whether the Bush/Obama policy is a good one. The US atacks in Pakistan have made that country the one country in the world whose population is more anti-American than any other. This is despite the fact that it is has a civilian government that espouses western rather than Islamist values, and that it was a US ally during the entire cold war.)