Unchaining Cheney
Dick Cheney. Photo credit: Townhall.com
TOWNHALL: Dick Cheney is unleashed! After eight years of being nearly invisible to the media, the former vice president has come forth bearing wrath. He is now a man on a mission, an angry messenger. Very simply, Cheney believes the Obama administration is putting the United States in danger by dismantling the Bush anti-terror programs.

And Cheney has one very large point. Since the sneak attack on September 11, 2001, America has not suffered another violent terrorist episode on its soil. That is not in dispute, and the former vice president believes tough interrogations and aggressive anti-terror moves were the cornerstones of the shield.

Cheney also has two big bullets in his rhetorical arsenal. First, the Obama administration recently released classified interrogation memos but did not release the follow-up reports detailing what was gleaned by water boarding and other rough stuff. Cheney wants those memos out.

And second, there is no doubt that Democrats like Nancy Pelosi knew all about water boarding and went along with the interrogation program because the CIA told them it was vitally important for national security.

So, believing the truth is on his side, Cheney has launched a one-man jihad against the Obama administration for canceling what he believes are life-protecting anti-terror strategies. >>> By Bill O’Reilly | Saturday, May 16, 2009

'Torture' Techniques Kept US Safe: Cheney
Dick Cheney ... blasted Barack Obama. Photo courtesy of The Sydney Morning Herald
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: 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.

"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.

In one of his first acts as president, Obama reversed predecessor George W Bush's approval of harsh interrogation methods such as "waterboarding", or simulated drowning.

Recently released memorandums detail the reasoning used by Bush administration lawyers to justify waterboarding and other techniques such as sleep deprivation, physical slaps and painful "stress positions".

Cheney reaffirmed his belief that Obama had made the US more vulnerable to attack, and condemned calls by Democratic lawmakers for the Bush legal officials to face prosecution. >>> AFP | Monday, May 11, 2009

Dick Cheney Demands Barack Obama Reveals Torture 'Success' Memos
TIMESONLINE: Dick Cheney has asked for secret US documents to be released showing that harsh CIA interrogation techniques such as waterboarding produced valuable intelligence.

The former US Vice President used an interview with FOX News to step into the row that has developed since President Obama ordered the publication of Bush administration legal memos justifying practices which are condemned in many parts of the world as torture.

Mr Cheney said that he had made a formal request to the CIA for the documents be declassified because he knew that the interrogation process - now banned by Mr Obama - had been very successful, and he wanted the rest of the country to understand.

The additional documents had to be made public to allow an "honest debate", Mr Cheney said.

In the interview, Mr Cheney also attacked Mr Obama for apologising for US actions that he said did not need apologising for, and for actions and statements which he claimed had harmed the standing of the US in the world. >>> Jenny Booth | Tuesday, April 21, 2009

FOX NEWS: Cheney Calls for Release of Memos Showing Results of Interrogation Efforts

Former Vice President Cheney says he knows how successful the interrogation techniques were in collecting intelligence for the United States and wants that information to be released to the public as well as the legal memos explaining the decision to allow the heavily criticized methods.

Now that the memos showing the rulings of interrogation techniques have been released, the Obama administration should release additional documents that show what the interrogations yielded to make it an "honest debate," former Vice President Dick Cheney told FOX News on Monday.

In an interview with FOX News' Sean Hannity aired on "Hannity" Monday night, Cheney questioned the point of releasing the legal decisions behind the interrogations but not the outcome of them.

"One of the things that I find a little bit disturbing about this recent disclosure is they put out the legal memos, the memos that the CIA got from the Office of Legal Counsel, but they didn't put out the memos that showed the success of the effort," Cheney said.

Cheney said he's asked that the documents be declassified because he has remained silent on the confidential information, but he knows how successful the interrogation process was and wants the rest of the country to understand. >>> FOXNews.com | Monday, April 20, 2009

Cheney attackiert Obama: «USA sind unsicherer geworden»
BERNER ZEITUNG: Der frühere US-Vizepräsident Dick Cheney sieht wegen der Sicherheitspolitik des neuen US-Präsidenten Barack Obama ein erhöhtes Risiko neuer Terroranschläge gegen die USA.

Foto von Dick Cheney, der letzte Vize-Präsident Amerikas dank der Berner Zeitung
In einem Fernsehinterview mit dem Nachrichtensender CNN hat der ehemalige Vizepräsident der USA, Dick Cheney, den neuen US-Präsidenten Barack Obama scharf kritisiert. Die Massnahmen bezüglich der Schliessung von Guantanamo und dem Verbot von Verhörmethoden hätten die USA unsicherer gemacht. Ebenfalls negativ beurteilte Cheney die geplante Schliessung von CIA-Gefängnissen im Ausland. «Die USA sind unsicherer geworden.» >>> vin/ap | Sonntag, 15. März 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Taschenbuch und Gebundene Ausgabe) – Versandkostenfrei innerhalb der Schweiz >>>

Cheney Warns of New Attacks

POLITICO: Former Vice President Dick Cheney warned that there is a “high probability” that terrorists will attempt a catastrophic nuclear or biological attack in coming years, and said he fears the Obama administration’s policies will make it more likely the attempt will succeed. 



In an interview Tuesday with Politico, Cheney unyieldingly defended the Bush administration’s support for the Guantanamo Bay prison and coercive interrogation of terrorism suspects. 



And he asserted that President Obama will either backtrack on his stated intentions to end those policies or put the country at risk in ways more severe than most Americans — and, he charged, many members of Obama’s own team — understand. 



“When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry,” Cheney said. 



Protecting the country’s security is “a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business,” he said. “These are evil people. And we’re not going to win this fight by turning the other cheek.” >>> By John F Harris & Mike Allen & Jim Vandehei | Wednesday, February 4, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)

Sheikh Cheney!
Image courtesy of Google Images
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (US) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (US) >>>

Tensions High in Caucasus
TIMESONLINE: A US Navy flagship carrying humanitarian aid yesterday steamed into a Georgian port where Russian troops are still stationed, stoking tensions once again in the tinderbox Caucasus region.

A previous trip by US warships was cancelled at the last minute a week ago amid fears that an armed stand-off could intensify in the Black Sea port of Poti.

The arrival of the USS Mount Whitney, flagship of the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean, came as Moscow accused Dick Cheney, the hawkish US Vice-President, of stoking tensions during a visit to Tbilisi this week. After meeting President Saakashvili, Mr Cheney vowed to bring Georgia into the Nato alliance. Russia sees such moves as Western encroachment on its traditional sphere of influence.

Russia’s leaders have accused previous US warships that docked at the port of Batumi, to the south, of delivering weapons to re-arm the smashed Georgian military — charges that Washington denied. US Warship Confronts Russian Military in ‘Tinderbox’ Port >>> By James Hider in Tbilisi and Tony Halpin in Moscow | September 6, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)

Dick Cheney Condemns Russia
THE TELEGRAPH: US Vice President Dick Cheney has condemned Russia for what he called an "illegitimate, unilateral attempt" to change Georgia's borders by force.

Mr Cheney also assured Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili that America was "fully committed" to Georgia's efforts to join Nato.

He said it was now "the responsibility of the free world to rally to the side of Georgia".

"Georgia will be in our alliance," he said.

"Russia's actions have cast grave doubts on Russia's intentions and on its reliability as an international partner."

Mr Cheney told President Saakashvili that the US was right behind Georgia as it works "to overcome an invasion of your sovereign territory and an illegitimate, unilateral attempt to change your country's borders by force, that has been universally condemned by the free world".

"Now is the responsibility of the free world to rally to the side of Georgia," he said. Georgia Crisis: Dick Cheney Condemns Russia >>> | September 4, 2008

LE FIGARO:
Washington-Moscou, 
retour à la guerre froide: Le numéro deux américain Dick Cheney arrive jeudi en Géorgie avec une aide humanitaire de un milliard de dollars.

Jamais depuis un quart de siècle le spectre de la guerre froide n'avait autant hanté Washington et Moscou. Le vice-président américain, Dick Cheney, après une étape en Azerbaïdjan hier, vient soutenir jeudi à Tbilissi le président géorgien Mikhaïl Saakachvili. Pour rallier depuis l'aéroport la capitale de l'ancienne république soviétique devenue une protégée de la Maison-Blanche, Dick Cheney devrait emprunter l'avenue George-W. Bush. Cette tournée européenne du faucon de Washington intervient au moment où, sur fond de convention républicaine aux États-Unis, la rhétorique de confrontation entre les deux grandes puissances s'emballe. Hier soir, c'est George Bush lui-même qui a annoncé une aide humanitaire de un milliard de dollars pour la Géorgie. Cet appui sonnant et trébuchant ne fait que conforter, à Moscou, la version des événements défendue par Vladimir Poutine selon laquelle la Maison-Blanche est largement responsable de «l'agression géorgienne» contre la région séparatiste d'Ossétie du Sud. La Russie accuse les États-Unis de vouloir réarmer rapidement la Géorgie. En outre, le sentiment russe d'être encerclé par l'Otan ne pourra qu'être renforcé par la visite en Géorgie des représentants des vingt-six États de l'Alliance, annoncée le 15 septembre. La délégation de l'Otan évaluera notamment les besoins de l'armée géorgienne défaite par les chars et l'aviation russes. >>> De Fabrice Nodé-Langlois, correspondant du Figaro à Moscou | 3.9.2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>

A Pointed Warning for Iran from Dick Cheney
THE NEW YORK TIMES: LANDSDOWNE, Va., Oct. 21 — Vice President Dick Cheney issued a pointed warning to Iran on Sunday, calling the government in Tehran “a growing obstacle to peace in the Middle East” and promising “serious consequences” if the government there does not abandon its nuclear program.

The remarks, just days after President Bush suggested that a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to “World War III,” amounted to Part II of a one-two punch from the administration at a moment when it is trying to persuade its allies in Europe to impose stiffer sanctions on Tehran. Those efforts grew more complicated on Saturday when Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator resigned on the eve of crucial talks with Europe.

“The Iranian regime needs to know that if it stays on its present course, the international community is prepared to impose serious consequences,” Mr. Cheney said, without specifying what those might be. “The United States joins other nations in sending a clear message: We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” Cheney, Like President, Has a Warning for Iran (more) By Sheryl Gay Stolberg

Mark Alexander