Cheney defends Iraq war, water-boarding

Former Vice President Dick Cheney

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/196616.html

Former Vice President Dick Cheney has continued to defend the post-Sept. 11 advice he gave to push for the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

“I think I did” give the right advice to then-President George W. Bush, Cheney said on NBC's “Today” show.

"Oh, sure," Cheney said, when asked whether the war was worth it. "I think it was sound policy that eliminated a very serious problem," he said, speaking of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

"I don't think it damaged our reputation around the world," he added.

Cheney has been making the media rounds to promote his memoir, "In My Time", which he has said will make “heads explode.”

Cheney also doubled down on his advocacy of the use of water-boarding as an interrogation technique after 9/11, something he also defends in his memoir.

"I was a big advocate of pursuing controversial policies in order to keep our country safe," Cheney said. "It's important for us not to get caught up in the notion that you can only have popular methods of interrogation in order to run a counter-terrorism program." The Hill

FACTS & FIGURES

Former Vice President Dick Cheney lied about weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein's nonexistent ties to the 9/11 attack as a way to justify the war with Iraq, a country that never attacked the United States. Alternet.org

During the course of the Iraq war, the Bush/Cheney administration violated the Geneva Conventions by targeting civilians, journalists, hospitals, and ambulances, and using illegal weapons, including white phosphorous, depleted uranium, and a new type of napalm. Alternet.org

Guantanamo Bay has become an international symbol of everything that was rotten about Bush and Cheney's "war on terror". It was created cynically as a way of avoiding America's obligations under international law and putting the detainees beyond the reach of U.S. justice. brainz.org

The Interrogation and detention regime implemented by the U.S. has resulted in the deaths of over 100 detainees in U.S. custody. Salon.com

In July, HRW published a detailed report on the mistreatment of detainees under the administration of former President George W. Bush, which the group said presented more than sufficient evidence to warrant criminal investigations into the possible complicity of top U.S. officials like former secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld, Cheney and George Tenet, then-director of the CIA. ipsnews.net