Cheney Hasn't Asked CIA for More Memos: Source

Former VP's defense of torture full of half-truths, falsehoods: Froomkin

(NEWSER) - Since leaving government, Dick Cheney has realized that TV and newspapers will report anything he says, writes Dan Froomkin for the Huffington Post, even though "he is a monstrous liar”—remember Saddam's WMDs? "After years of speaking in whispers, operating by proxy, and leaving as few fingerprints as possible," Cheney can't seem to shut up—and no matter what he's selling, the media "will fail to put it in any context whatsoever." More»

Despite his record, Cheney might be telling the truth this time

(NEWSER) - It's hard to believe a word Dick Cheney says but that doesn't mean his claims that "enhanced interrogation" saved lives should be dismissed out of hand, Richard Cohen writes in the Washington Post. The former vice president has been loudly defending the program, and it would be a mistake not to at least consider the possibility that he isn't lying about memos proving it worked, writes Cohen. More»

(NEWSER) - No love lost between Hillary Clinton and Dick Cheney. Asked today on Capitol Hill about Cheney’s request to declassify information related to the interrogation memos, Clinton responded, “It won’t surprise you that I don’t consider him a particularly reliable source,” the Los Angeles Times reports. Pressed by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher on whether she would advise President Obama to release more documents, she said, “I’m not going to share that with you.” More»

Bybee says agency exceeded guidelines

(NEWSER) - The Bush administration lawyer who gave legal cover to the CIA to use waterboarding and other brutal tactics is throwing the agency under the bus. Jay Bybee, who co-wrote the so-called torture memos, told a House panel that the CIA went way beyond what the Justice Department sanctioned, reports the Los Angeles Times . For example, he said the memos stipulated that waterboarding should not be used in "substantial repetitions," but CIA contractors subjected one detainee to it 183 times. More»

Emails indicate Porter Goss agreed with the decision

(NEWSER) - Former CIA head Porter Goss agreed with the decision to destroy tapes of terror suspect Abu Zubaydah being waterboarded, email records obtained by the ACLU show. In one, the agency's top officer wrote that he "felt it was extremely important to destroy the tapes"—then added "PG, however, agreed with the decision." The emails also suggest Bush's top legal counsel, Harriet Miers, didn't know about the tapes and was "livid" when she heard, days later, that they'd been destroyed. More»