Steele Dodges Torture Question

(NEWSER) - DIck Cheney's daughter Liz is considering a run for public office. “It's something I very well may do,” the lawyer and Bush-era State Department deputy secretary tells the Washington Times. Cheney says she's particularly worried about Congressional Democrats' attempts to hang charges of CIA meddling on her father. “It gets more and more appalling everyday,” she says. “I think they're very worried about Speaker Pelosi.” More»

Speaker puts herself at center of storm over Bush policies

(NEWSER) - Whether by accident or design, Nancy Pelosi has turned the debate on the Bush administration's anti-terror program into a high-stakes game of brinksmanship, Dan Balz writes in the Washington Post. Pelosi's declaration yesterday that the CIA lied to Congress amounts to "a declaration of war," Balz writes, setting the stage for a long battle certain to claim political casualties. More»

Bush-era order on docs under pending litigation stymies ex-VP

(NEWSER) - The CIA today denied Dick Cheney’s request that documents possibly proving the effectiveness of enhanced interrogation techniques be declassified, MSNBC reports. An executive order “excludes from review information that is the subject of pending litigation,” the CIA said. The two documents “contain information that falls into that category.” The order was signed by former President Bush, the New York Daily News adds. 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) - Dick Cheney's daughter stuck up for her dad today, insisting in an MSNBC interview that the CIA's interrogation techniques did not constitute torture, reports ThinkProgress. Liz Cheney, a former State Department official in her own right, also echoed her father's sentiment that the interrogations yielded valuable information. Two detainees "gave us incredibly important and useful information, information that saved American lives after they were waterboarded," she said. More»