Dick Cheney: Showdown with Obama

last updated 8 January 2015

Dick Cheney is the answer to the Obama administration’s prayers, said Alex Koppelman in Salon. The former vice president just gave an interview to Fox News’ Sean Hannity, in which Cheney defended the Bush administration’s harsh interrogation techniques and called on President Obama to release more CIA memos to clarify the record. There is nobody the White House would rather debate about torture than Cheney, who “remains about as popular as dandruff.” (Watch Dick Cheney talking to Sean Hannity)

Don’t expect Obama to release the documents Cheney wants, said Stephen F. Hayes in The Weekly Standard. The Obama administration only made public information about the interrogation techniques used on enemy detainees, while covering up reports on the valuable intelligence the interrogations produced. But Obama’s dreaming if he thinks he won’t pay a price for “such blatant politicizing of intelligence.”

Cheney’s request is “eminently reasonable,” said Jason Zengerle in The New Republic. “Until now, the case against torture has been an easy one to make, since there's been nothing in the way of solid evidence” proving that waterboarding produced useful intelligence. At this point, all the evidence should be on the table, whether it supports Cheney’s claim or crushes it.