'Torture' techniques kept US safe: Cheney

[Swagman]

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

'Torture' techniques kept US safe: Cheney

Former US vice-president Dick Cheney says intelligence extracted from tough interrogations of suspected al-Qaeda militants had saved "perhaps hundreds of thousands" of US lives.
May 11, 2009 - 1:23PM

"No regrets. I think it was absolutely the right thing to do," he said on CBS television arguing that techniques decried by critics as torture were essential to break the resistance of captured extremists.

"I'm convinced, absolutely convinced, that we saved thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of lives," Cheney said, arguing again that al-Qaeda was bent on attacking a US city with a nuclear device.

But at the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents' Association late on Saturday, President Barack Obama skewered Cheney's doomsday view of the world for comic effect.

"Dick Cheney was supposed to be here but he is very busy working on his memoirs, tentatively titled How to Shoot Friends and Interrogate People," he quipped.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/torture-techniques-kept-us-safe-cheney-20090511-b01p.html

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I'm still mystified why Cheney can say this and at the same time, allowed low level grunts to be prosecuted after the Abu Ghraib scandal.

Is there an Obama administration policy to say "we must look forward" but allow those like Cheney to spout their nonsense until there is such a clamour of outrage they are forced to do something ?. It would be a clever political move.

PS: for those who doubt Obama-just remember there are a billion non-Americans throughout the world, like me, who breathed a huge sigh of relief this year and feel a whole lot safer.

[EFerrari]

1. It was The Sigh Heard Around the World, I'm sure!

lol

[zoff]

2. The repuglican strategy

of embarking on a nationwide propaganda-after-the-fact tour and citing that Dems were briefed, while all suspect, will echo only with its remaining consitutents and could be also designed to prevent more defections. Like Goebbels, he probably believes that a lie repeated over and over again will gain traction and might even be perceived as truth. No harm in trying. But, I eagerly await a focused Democratic response. Should I hold my breath?

[InfiniteThoughts]

3. you liar ...

Cheney - you have no sense of moral values - that we knew for a long time. Now, we come to know that you don't understand maths as well. How did you save "hundreds of thousands" lives. Don't issue a pop-warner-AQ-had-nuclear-weapon warning. That's as real as the Iraq-AQ-were-hand-in-glove-for-9/11.

Do us a favor. Go away and we might leave you in peace. Else, you will have to visit the doghouse.

Mr.Cheney, you remind me of Sisupala (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisupala). And, That's the sound of your fate catching up with you.

[stewert]

4. Try This..............

With one simple question you can stop Cheney in his tracks.

"Prove that the information you claim you got by waterboarding, you could not have also got by using other (legal) interrogation techniques."

[KansDem]

5. Delusional...

This whole Bush/Cheney administration just won't go away. It's like a bad fart in a room with no windows.

I don't want to hear what B&C "think." We already know what they "think." I want them investigated and prosecuted.

[bdamomma]

6. what a sick SOB he is.

torture is illegal period.

[ConcernedCanuk]

7. Torture kept the PNAC/BFEE gang safe is what he meant to say

.
.
.

But then, the PNAC/BFEE gang as sociopaths feel entitled to call the USA it's own.

Therefore, I can understand Cheney's warped point of view.

[Lionel Mandrake]

8. War criminals say strange things.

We needn't pay much attention until they are being tried for their crimes.

[Piewhacket]

9. Say 'Goodnight',. Dick. We can only pray...

that when he finally releases Cheney,
Satan will turn out the lights as he leaves.

[JawJaw]

10. "I'm convinced - absolutely convinced"

Never mind "convinced" - you were convinced about WMD in Iraq, too as I recall, & that turned out to be a steaming pile of horse shit.

If you can't, at the very least, PROVE that the interrogation techniques averted real plots and saved real lives then STFU Dick,you monster.