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Cheney Almost Wants Attack on US Soil: CIA Head

By the Associated Press

Posted Jun 14, 2009 5:41 PM CDT
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(AP) – CIA Director Leon Panetta says former Vice President Dick Cheney's criticism of the Obama administration's approach to terrorism almost suggests "he's wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point." Panetta told The New Yorker that Cheney "smells some blood in the water" on the issue of national security.

Cheney has said in several interviews that he thinks Obama is making the US less safe by ordering the closure of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and halting enhanced interrogations of suspected terrorists. "It's almost, a little bit, gallows politics," said Panetta. "When you read behind it, it's almost as if he's wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point. I think that's dangerous politics."

President Obama and Dick Cheney speak on national security issues on May 21, 2009.
President Obama and Dick Cheney speak on national security issues on May 21, 2009.   (AP Photos/FILE)
CIA Director Leon Panetta speaks during a National Italian-American Foundation luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 11, 2009.
CIA Director Leon Panetta speaks during a National Italian-American Foundation luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 11, 2009.   (Susan Walsh)
In this May 21, 2009 file photo, former Vice President Dick Cheney speaks at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC.
In this May 21, 2009 file photo, former Vice President Dick Cheney speaks at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC.   (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 18 comments
Caps
Jun 15, 2009 12:00 PM CDT
Yell Reader he is a nut case.
kokuaguy
Jun 15, 2009 8:10 AM CDT
Very good questions & statements, JmP.
JonmarkP
Jun 15, 2009 7:39 AM CDT
For crying out loud, Cheney was behind the 9/11 attacks to begin with, stated as the need for " a new Pearl Harbor" in the PNAC document he authored with Richard Pearle. Cheney was behind the military maneuvers that sent all but two of the fighter jets to Canada that day, he was behind the confusion over whether 9/11 was real or a drill. A real investigation of 9/11 has never been conducted. Why wasn't the missile shield around the Pentagon operational? What happened to the videotape from dozens of Pentagon cameras? Who pulled the explosive-sniffing dog patrols from the WTC buildings three weeks before the attack? And the huge question: who planted the massive amounts of explosives necessary to bring down not only WTC 1&2, but WTC 7-which was not even hit. All of it, every bit, reeks of Cheney. It speaks poorly of America that he'll probably never be brought to justice for his treasonous crimes against the people of the United States.

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War on Terror • Barack Obama • Dick Cheney • torture • Leon Panetta

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