Liz Cheney Defends Dear Old Dad on Authorizing Torture

Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 08:39 pm

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Former Deputy Sec. of State Liz Cheney was on ABC’s This Week today, and she defended her father Dick Cheney against a report this week that he wanted a detainee waterboarded to prove an Iraq/al-Qaeda connection. Cheney said that her dad would never substitute his own judgment for that of the CIA. Need she be reminded that her father once tried to declare his office a separate branch of the government?

Here is the video from Think Progress:

When asked about a report in The Daily Beast, that vice president Cheney wanted a detainee waterboarded in the hopes of getting a statement that he could use to prove an Iraq/al-Qaeda connection, Liz Cheney said, “I think that it’s important for us to have all the facts out. And the first and more important fact is that the vice president has been absolutely clear that he supported this program, this was an important program, it saved American lives. ”

She continued, “Now, the way this policy worked internally was once the policy was determined and decided, the CIA, you know, made the judgments about how each individual detainee would be treated. And the vice president would not substitute his own judgment for the professionals at the CIA.” This is actually a pretty funny defense when you consider that Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Bush intentionally crafted their own intelligence reports to justify invading Iraq.

Cheney would never substitute his own judgment for that of professionals, but what he did do was make sure that the professional opinions matched his own. Republicans can talk about Nancy Pelosi all they want, but the political reality is that every day that is spent discussing the Bush administration is a bad day for the GOP. Democrats will happily trade some bad press for Nancy Pelosi in exchange for more Dick Cheney interviews. Every time that he opens his mouth, Dick Cheney helps the Democratic Party.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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