The Daily Show, November 2005, throwing his words back at him
What a sorry embarrassment for America is the persistence of the lies of former Vice President Richard B. Cheney. For example, in a March 15 interview with John King on CNN, Cheney was asked to comment on Bush-era Terror War measures President Obama has begun to roll back:
King: I'd like to just simply ask you, yes or no, by taking those steps, do you believe the president of the United States has made Americans less safe?But a number of recent articles and reports cast strong doubts about these Cheney assertions of "success" in actions "done legally." Harry Shearer writes today at Huffington Post an excellent summary of these items, with reference to the case of Abu Zubaydah, supposedly the "feared number 3 of Al-Qaeda."
Cheney: I do. I think those programs were absolutely essential to the success we enjoyed of being able to collect the intelligence that let us defeat all further attempts to launch attacks against the United States since 9/11. I think that's a great success story. It was done legally. It was done in accordance with our constitutional practices and principles.
President Obama campaigned against it all across the country. And now he is making some choices that, in my mind, will, in fact, raise the risk to the American people of another attack.
Shearer: Sunday's Washington Post article, ... Along with the outing of the International Red Cross report, which clearly and unequivocally called "enhanced interrogation" what it is--torture, the Post piece and Dan Froomkin's accompanying blog post make the case a slam dunk that our previous administration committed war crimes.What was done to Zubaydah was useless on its own merits, not "essential" as Cheney asserts. His treatment and the false imprisonment of many others have stained our country. But Cheney can't admit that. Cheney is a shameful presence. He should be investigated vigorously for these potential war crimes so that his lies may be unraveled and that it can be demonstrated that America takes seriously its ideals.
Here is my word for President Obama: Investigating Cheney and others for their crimes while in office would not be "looking backward." It would have the purpose of deterring high officials from committing like crimes in the future.
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