Transcript: DICK Cheney Interview with CNN’s John King – Cheney Says Obama Choices Create Risk

(Source: CNN)
Aired March 15, 2009 – 09:00   ET

JOHN KING, HOST: I’m John King, and this is our STATE OF THE UNION report for this Sunday, March 15th.

President Obama urges absolute confidence in the struggling economy, but can the country afford his ambitious plans? We’ll ask the former vice president, Dick Cheney, who joins us for his first television interview since leaving office.

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Obama Transparency Train Makes a Stop at Justice Dept.

Several Bush/Cheney Memos Secret Memos Not Secret Any Longer

If there’s one thing the Bush/Cheney Administration loved, it was secrecy.  They would say the president had the power to authorize things like shipping enemy combatants to other countries to be softened up, write a memo or legal opinion, then lock it away.  Today, several of these memos were released by the U.S. Dept. of Justice after years of being locked in someone’s safe there.

Now, these legal opinions may see the light of day where scholars and the public can judge their merits.

Why should you care?  Because we elect presidents to exercise their power within the bounds of the Constitution, existing laws and treaty obligations.  This is the rule of law.  We deserve to know whether or not the law is being observed or bent to the will of maniacs like DICK Cheney and David Addington.

• DoJ Press Release
• Link to PDFs of the Released Memos/Opinions
  

CIA Destroys Tapes – Like a bad movie

Evidence for the Bush/Cheney Truth Commission being shitcanned according to AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) – New documents show the CIA destroyed nearly 100 tapes of terror interrogations.

The figure is far higher than the handful of recordings the agency has previously admitted destroying, and the revelation comes as a criminal prosecutor is wrapping up his investigation in the matter.

Sen. Leahy Echoes Clips & Comment; Calls for Truth Commission on Bush Presidency

Ever since I submitted two ideas to then President-elect Barack Obama’s “Citizens Briefing Book,” I’ve wondered whether or not anyone with any real pull read them.

My answer: Perhaps Sen. Patrick Leahy did.  According to the Associated Press today:

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is proposing a “truth commission” to investigate abuses of detainees, politically inspired moves at the Justice Department, and whole range of decisions made during the Bush administration.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the primary goal of the commission would be to learn the truth rather than prosecute former officials, but said the inquiry should reach far beyond misdeeds at the Justice Department under Bush to include matters of Iraq prewar intelligence and the Defense Department.

Leahy outlined his suggestion for a “truth and reconciliation” commission during a speech at Georgetown University Monday.

“I’m doing this not to humiliate people or punish people but to get the truth out,” he said.

The panel he envisions would be modeled after one that investigated the apartheid regime in South Africa. It would have subpoena power but would not bring criminal charges, he said.

Among the matters Leahy wants investigated by such a commission are: the firings of U.S. attorneys, treatment and torture of terror suspect detainees, and the authorization of warrantless wiretapping.

“Rather than vengeance, we need a fair-minded pursuit of what actually happened” during the Bush administration, Leahy said.

Here’s what I wrote at change.gov and on this fine blog back on January 17:

… Here’s an idea – a truth commission.  What if the concept was based around answering the questions regarding the Constitution, the efficacy of torture, who was ultimately responsible, etc.  This could be done in such a way as to put off any public hearings or transparency until after a bipartisan panel of serious legal, policy experts and just plain citizens had a chance to pursue the issues with subpoena power under a media blackout.  Their product would be public. …

FIRST!

Cheney: Still a DICK

The impudence and incivility of former Veep DICK Cheney is not gone and this bitter man is trying to be be not forgotten.

In an interview with Politico published on Wednesday, Cheney essentially says, if the Obama team only understood what the Bush Administration was trying to do they would “backtrack” on their stated intentions.  Only understood?  Here’s what a lot of Obama supporters understand: Cheney used one horrific terrorist attack to subvert the rule of law for seven years, keep the entire nation in a state of terrorist anxiety and embroil us in a useless Iraqi war.  Oh, but if we only understood.

Essentially Cheney is selling the same line he’s always sold: It’s about him.

On the big things for eight years the Bush Administration failed.  Rather than subside quietly into retirement, Cheney’s self-will is on display by giving interviews like the one he did with Politico.  Historically, it’s been thought of as crass and ill-advised for outgoing principals in one Administration to open their pie holes during the early days (or years) of the next.  For all of the talk about “respect for the office” that came out of the Bush Administration, Cheney is now dissing the office.

There is a book I would recommend for anyone who is interested generally in late 20th century U.S. History and specifically in taking a long walk through the context of the Viet Nam Era.  The book is They Marched Into Sunlight, by David Maraniss.

Maraniss tells a tale of the Viet Nam war that shifts from the Pentagon and the decision makers, to a single battle on the ground in Southeast Asia, and to the homefront in the Southwestern U.S. and on the campus of the University of Wisconsin.  It’s a tale of humanity and history with figures both famous and forgotten.  Dick Cheney is in the story.

As the battle rages in a Vietnamese jungle, Maraniss recounts the battle raging on the Wisconsin campus and spilling into the town of Madison.  There are generally two sides – the activists on campus versus the establishment on campus and in town.  Cheney was a graduate student at the time.  What I remember from the book is that while all hell is breaking loose around him, while people are working passionately for and against the war, Cheney is shuffling back and forth across campus with his computer data taking care of Cheney.  The man has no soul.

Bin Laden Could Be Thinking – ‘Mission Accomplished’

The Bush Administration official in charge of reviewing practices at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp has told the Washington Post that the U.S. tortured a Saudi national.

“We tortured [Mohammed al-]Qahtani,” said Susan J. Crawford, in her first interview since being named convening authority of military commissions by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in February 2007. “His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that’s why I did not refer the case” for prosecution.

Crawford, a retired judge who served as general counsel for the Army during the Reagan administration and as Pentagon inspector general when Dick Cheney was secretary of defense, is the first senior Bush administration official responsible for reviewing practices at Guantanamo to publicly state that a detainee was tortured.

Earlier this week, an Obama transition official leaked that President-elect Barack Obama may issue an executive order to close the Guantanamo detention center.  A day later, the Pentagon, oblivious to the signal sent by the Obama team trotted out numbers alleging as many as 61 former inmates at Guantanamo had “returned” to their terrorist ways.

President George W. Bush and V.P. DICK Cheney have spent the last three weeks on a farewell tour of sorts doing interviews on their eight years in office.  Over the past five years, evidence has mounted that Bush Administration at the highest levels essentially sanctioned torture by CIA and military interrogators.  In the face of that evidence, neither the president or vice-president have admitted mistakes in their prosecution of the war on terror.  Today, a very credible member of their administration did so for them.

The Bushies are leaving office and trying their hardest to build a case for a positive legacy.  What many around the world will remember is torture, black sites and renditions.  In the wake of one of America’s most trying times – 9/11 – our leaders succumbed to their baser human instincts and turned their backs on the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution.  They created a climate of fear rather than one of strength of purpose.  They tore at the unique American fabric in ways we may not even yet realize.  In some respects, Osama bin Laden must be thinking, “Mission Accomplished.”

DICK Cheney and State Sponsored Torture

VP DICK Cheney appeared on CBS’ Face the Nation this morning.  This interview wasn’t substantively different from any of the others he’s done in the past month:

Cheney also urged the Obama administration to continue the Bush administration’s interrogation policies.

“I would hope [Obama] would avoid doing what others have done in the past, which is letting the campaign rhetoric guide his judgment in this absolutely crucial area,” Cheney said. “We were very careful, we did everything by the book, and in fact we produced very significant results.”

So many problems with that statement, DICK.  There are a great many smart people, including former members of the Bush Administration who warned you and David Addington about getting too carried away with agressive interrogation techniques.  Chief among their concerns was something we patriots like to call the U.S. Constitution.  There’s also this other little concern known as the Geneva Convention.  You can argue all you want that our foes in the war on terror are not lawful combatants, but the rest of the world needs to somewhat agree, or, it looks like selective application of an international human rights treaty.  And, what about the old bromide that we’re not going to stoop to their level.  There’s so much more than campaign rhetoric behind the criticisms of the Bush Administration’s endorsement of torture.

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Fox News’ Chris Wallace Gets Long Interview with Cheney and The Word “Torture” Is Not Uttered Once

Chris Wallace may come from the same gene pool of his dad, 60 Minutes’ Mike Wallace, but he couldn’t carry his dad’s reporter’s notebook.

As I watched Wallace interview DICK Cheney today on Fox News Sunday, I was given more reason to lament the hard times our U.S. newspaper industry is experiencing.  The only pure journalists left are at the nation’s dailies, where journalism is a craft and the pursuit of truth and both sides of the story is relentless.

TV just doesn’t have the time, or the journalistic talent for the most part to act as the Fourth Estate, the Watchdog.  Wallace failed his country miserably today when he did not press Cheney on the U.S. torture policy in the wake of 9/11.  Part of the problem must me be that he’s an airhead — does he lack basic information or the ability to synthesize it?  The other part of the problem is that Fox is going to run out the Bush Administration string and remain the “Republican Network” until January 19.

Here’s another thing Wallace did today that will hopefully have the elder Wallace on the phone bawling him out.  He gave in to doublespeak, the euphemism.  In a word search of the interview with Cheney, not once does the word “torture” cross either one of these guys’ lips.  Here’s the closest either one ever comes to calling torture, torture:

I think you can have a robust interrogation program with respect to high-value detainees. -  Dick Cheney

There is a legitimate argument to be made that much of what the U.S. did under the Bush Administration in the so-called War on Terror actually exacerbated the problem in many parts of the world.  By setting up Guantanamo, extraordinary rendition, black-site dententions and torture, they did more to dishonor the Constitution and rile up a generation of Third World extremists than they ever did to keep us safe.

The butcher’s bill for the arrogance and paranoia of Dick Cheney will likely be paid well into the future.  Chris Wallace didn’t even scratch the surface.

Transcript: DICK Cheney on Fox News Sunday | The Exit Interview | December 21, 2008

(Source: CQ Transcriptswire)

Editor’s Note: This portion of the show transcript contains only the Cheney interview.

Mr. Chris WALLACE: Mr. Vice President, welcome back to “Fox News Sunday.”

Vice-President Dick CHENEY: It’s good to be back, Chris.

WALLACE: The president has announced a $13 billion short-term loan to the U.S. auto makers without binding conditions on the unions or the bond holders.

Haven’t you, in effect, kicked this problem down the road to the Obama administration?

CHENEY: Well, I wouldn’t describe it quite the way you did, Chris. I think what he’s tried to do is manage a difficult problem. And obviously, an important consideration is the fact that we’re in the middle of a transition and that it will shortly become a problem that the next administration’s going to have to deal with. Read more

Pirate Theater of the Absurd: ‘African Taliban’ Now in the Mix

Will This Get the U.S. Off Its Rear?

Apparently the mere existence of pirates in the Gulf of Aden isn’t enough to get the president and the U.S. military engaged off the Horn of Africa fighting a good fight.  Well, how about pirates and terrorists?

Media around the world are now reporting that the fundamental Islamist Shabaab Militia (read terrorists) are now moving on a Somali pirate town.  According to the U.K. paper The Daily Telegraph,  the Shabaab are “likened to the African Taliban.” 

Mr. President: Could this pitch get any fatter?

The Shabaab would like to become the next in a parade of Somali governments and have moved around the country forcing their brand of fundamental Islam and Sharia law on towns and villages.  They’re not in pirate town to restore order, though.  They are there for one thing – booty.

In another development today, the pirates have received a fresh ransom from the owners of a Greek chemical tanker.  From Bloomberg:

The MV Genius, which was hijacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden on Sept. 26, is heading toward the United Arab Emirates after being freed on Nov. 20, Sophia Stavrakis, spokeswoman for Greece’s Merchant Marine Ministry, said by phone from Athens today. Mare Maritime Co. SA, the vessel’s owner, paid a ransom for its release, said Cteson Coucoulas, a spokesman for the company, declining to give further details.

Again, I say it’s ridiculous that in this day and age any country or business is paying off pirates.  It’s ludicrous that there are pirates to be eradicated and the United States is nowhere to be found.  Well Mssrs Bush and Cheney now there are terrorists involved.  Perhaps now I’m speaky your language.  Could there be any more opportune circumstances than having pirates and terrorists in the same town.  While they’re fighting eachother we go in and eradicate them all. 

Let’s fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them in Lake Erie.

What Crisis? Dow Posts Third Biggest Gain Ever – Most Americans Don’t See the Sky Falling

Look, I know the stock market isn’t “the economy.”  But days like this will make it all the more difficult for Washington’s politicians to convince voters that $700 billion should be staked to bailout Wall Street’s financiers.

I was in a meeting today previewing a presentation I developed to communicate with a group of people over a thorny issue.  At one point, a colleague said to me, “Pelikan, you’re gonna like this.”

“Are we trying to educate or notify? This first part is good – you’re educating, but then you move to notifying.”

My colleague knew I’d like that feedback because she said she heard a political pundit using the same language to describe how the Bush Administration failed to get public support for the bailout.

I don’t know where she heard that analysis, but it’s good.  I still have yet to discuss this whole “crisis” with more than a couple of people who are four-square behind it. 

I think that pundit was right.  Henry Paulson said just in the last couple of months that the issues in the credit and banking system were “manageable.”  Then all of a sudden there’s a plan to make him king of the financial mountain.

There’s another reason why regular folks are skeptical.  It’s the rush.  The Bush Administration has a very poor record when it comes to public policy decisions hastily rammed down their collective throat:

1. WMD & Al-Qaeda running rampant in Iraq – There were no WMD and Al-Qaeda didn’t exist in Iraq until we destabilized the country.
2. Patriot Act – Constitution shredded
3. U.S. Official Torture Policy – Thanks to Dick Cheney, David Addington and John Yoo, Constitution shredded, treaties pissed on, FBI and Dept of Defense ignored, innocent people tortured along with bad guys who were tortured and gave erroneous information, Amerian moral authority erroded.

Now, 30 days before a presidential election, with less than a week to consider the problem, the Bush Administration wants to fork over $700 billion to investment bankers?

This can’t be good.

Obama Makes the 3 a.m. Call

All of our attention here at C&C has been focused on the presidential race and Ohio politics this week. From time to time I scanned an article or two about Russia’s ongoing aggression against Georgia and found that it seemed to be Groundhog Day for about a week. A typical headline read over the past week: ‘Despite Cease Fire Russians Not Budging.’

Well, today they seem to be moving more of their forces north although some Russian checkpoints persist in Georgia. If you want to read one great article on the situation, read this from today’s New York Times.

Americans who are frustrated by U.S. incompetence in handling this situation over the first vital weekend of the crisis and our ensuing incompetence in having any positive effect on the outcome of the situation, should look forward to November.

I’ll leave it to the historians, but living in these times it seems that there has never been a presidential administration that has weakened America’s standing in the world more than the tag team of George Bush and Dick Cheney. Bush, with his incurious nature and lack of awareness has allowed Cheney’s dark, paranoid view of the world to overly influence policy and make the U.S. the new Evil Empire to many.

There has been no strategy for the long-term in Bush-Cheney foreign policy. Their short-term strategies have been ill-thought and unfounded and executed poorly on the tactical level. Diplomacy has taken a back seat at every turn.

If you are inclined to vote for Sen. Barack Obama this November – or still on the fence – you should take heart in the candidate’s choice for running mate. Sen. Joe Biden brings decades of foreign policy experience to the ticket and is seen by Democrats and Republicans in Washington as highly educated and clear thinking on America’s role in the world. For those who have criticized Obama for ‘lacking experience’ – we don’t hire a president to micro-manage. We hire a president to make decisions. George Bush famously referred to himself as “The Decider,” only his decisions have been shown to very often not really be his own and those decisions have had disastrous consequences for our economy and security.

Obama, today at 3 a.m. did not answer “the call.” He made it. Today at 3 p.m., he will formally introduce the world to the O-Biden ticket. I’m hopeful again already.

George Bush: When the World Needs a Leader He’s Four Days Late

Not Only Moral Authority Squandered In Bush Foreign Policy

Something just didn’t feel right last Friday as Russia crossed the border of a sovereign nation with tanks and airplanes while President George W. Bush enjoyed the opening of the 29th Olympiad.

Friday stretched into all weekend as Bush could be seen by the entire world knee slapping and cheering on the American team in Beijing.

It used to be in this great big world of ours that the United States could be counted on to take the lead and at the very least feign righteous indignation when a big kid on the international playground picked on a wimp.  It used to be that even the appearance of piqued U.S. interest could make the world’s bullies think twice — perhaps even mitigating already in-progress disasters.

That was before eight years of the strategically blind leading the stupid in the U.S. executive branch.  That was before this great country of ours hastily left the war on terror and world support behind and created the mother of all messes in Mesopotamia.  That was before the President’s and U.S. Department of State’s traditional powers were usurped by Dick Cheney and some half-assed lawyers who drove the nation down the trail to torture — squandering what was left of the U.S.A.’s moral authority around the globe. Read more

Wednesday a.m. – SEC and Ratings Firms, Pickens & Oil, Cheney, Cardinal Health, Return to the Cold War

• Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s among firms that broke SEC rules – BBC

One would think that after Enron and Arthur Andersen, companies that deal with the integrity of financial, industry, and business information would keep the sales and marketing departments away from the analysts.

• Cheney deleted sections of Congressional testimony on health risks of global warming – New York Times

Dick Cheney can’t be about public service. This entire presidency he’s been on an ideological bender. Now he’s a scientist, qualified to second-guess U.S. Environmental Protection Agency work product. Thanks, for looking out for us, Dick! An honest, open debate about global warming and its effects is one thing. Using executive power to silence the arguments that weaken your case is ignorant.

• Russians threaten military retaliation if missile defense deal goes through – Times of London
• Pickens sticks with $150 bbl oil; could fall to $100 – CNBC

There’s been a lot of talk about whether or not the increase in oil prices is speculation or supply/demand forces. Pickens seems to be on the side of market forces. He should have a better idea than most. Don’t be lulled to sleep and forget all the conservation steps you’ve been considering or implementing. Even if speculation is a major driver in the past year’s price increases, the speculators are betting on something in the future – and that’s not a greater supply of oil.

• Obama’s move to Invesco for nomination may have $3 million price tag – Rocky Mountain News
• Cardinal restructuring costs 600 jobs – Columbus Business First

Obvious question is where – please not Ohio.

• 90 jobs lost in Central Ohio – Columbus Dispatch

Well, I guess that answers the obvious question above …

• Ohio BWC bilker sentenced – Columbus Dispatch