'Monstrous Liar' Cheney Manipulates the Media

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

By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 31, 2009 4:42 PM CDT

(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."

The former VP’s insistence that the CIA’s “harsh interrogation techniques” were justified vaporized amid "a lot of cover-your-ass language from the CIA," Froomkin fumes. And his claim that he knew only generally about waterboarding was "a laughably blatant falsehood"; it’s a matter of record that he was “up to his elbows in gory details.”

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (1)]

In this March 15, 2009 file photo, former Vice President Dick Cheney appears on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf, File)

This undated file photo shows Abu Zubaydah. A new document indicates the CIA first proposed to top Bush administration officials in mid-May 2002 that Abu Zubaydah be submitted to waterboarding. (AP Photo/U.S. Central Command, File)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

Cheney wants to make sure that conservatives view these stories through partisan-tinted lenses. Indeed, muddying the debate was one of the most effective Bush-era communication tactics. - Dan Froomkin

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

AP Photo

35 Brutally Honest Reasons Men Say No to Sex (The Stir)

Man in Mugshot Explains Why He Has Half a Head (HuffPost)

Another Sign Rihanna and Chris Brown Might Get Back Together? (Celebuzz)

These Exes Were Spotted Making Out … and That's a Bad Thing (Bleacher Report)

Did the Romney Family Dog Flee to Canada? (Slate)

Partner Links

A snapshot of the day's best news stories.

View Larger Grid

All Today Yesterday Pick a Date

COMMENTS

Read the comment policy

Showing 3 of 31 comments

kaja

Sep 2, 2009 8:18 AM CDT

Leftist!, uhurm, see, as well as installing progams you can also uninstall, look for the file that says "uninstall" or "unwise". I recommend getting rid of the old "leftist" program, it's DOS based and no one uses it any more. Joseph McCarthy, the founder of the application, deleted the program completely as he was completely deleted by higher forces in 1957. I recommend installing an up to date, more user friendly application in future. regards

kaja

Sep 2, 2009 8:04 AM CDT

"Hey Cletis get me, ma shutgurn"

justme

Sep 1, 2009 12:37 PM CDT

Which is it, Bush was responsible for everything or Cheney was? Since Bush stopped the waterboarding after18 months and only 3 terrorists were waterboarded, can you say that Cheny ran everything? In his interview on Fox (where he was challlenged ) Cheney said that Bush often ignored his advice. Cheney called himself the most hawkish person in the Whitw House. He stated that Bush often took other people's advice.

What's Popular Now on Facebook

Rick Santorum: Birth Control Is 'Not OK'

Valentine's Day Role-Playing Goes Very Wrong

Huffington Post (Source Grid »)

Politics • Media

Dick Cheney • CIA • torture • waterboarding • harsh interrogation • torture memo • enhanced interrogation techniques

More Newser Stories

'20th Hijacker' Sues for Gitmo Torture Tapes

Videos of sessions are 'sickening,' says lawyer

(NEWSER) - The Saudi national accused of being the "20th hijacker" on 9/11 is suing the government to release what his lawyers call "sickening" videos of his torture at Guantanamo Bay. Mohammed al-Qahtani was the victim of "torture and other profoundly cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment," involving marathon interrogation sessions, sleep deprivation, extreme temperatures, and "sexual and moral" humiliations, according to the suit filed in Manhattan Federal Court by the Center for Constitutional Rights. "The American public should be permitted to see what occurred for itself," says the suit. More»

CIA Kept Secret Prison in Bucharest Neighborhood

AP investigation uncovers details of black site in Romania

(NEWSER) - The CIA's secret "black site" prison in Romania wasn't in some remote region of the country, but smack dab in the middle of a busy residential neighborhood near the center of Bucharest, the AP has discovered in a joint investigation with German public television. Sources say the prison was located in the basement of the building housing Romania's National Registry Office for Classified Information, aka ORNISS—although a senior ORNISS official denied that, saying, "No, no. Impossible, impossible." More»

Obama Re-Affirms: Waterboarding Is Torture

That torture is still being debated is Obama's fault, says Andrew Cohen

(NEWSER) - Just a day after Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann said they supported waterboarding , President Obama re-affirmed that the procedure is torture and "contrary to America's traditions," reports the AP . Obama and his administration have said that waterboarding is torture and illegal since taking office, but after several Republican candidates revived the subject in Saturday night's foreign policy debate, the president re-stated his position in a news conference at Hawaii's APEC meeting. More»

USS Cole Terrorist Faces Capital Charges Again

Original charges were dropped because suspect was tortured

(NEWSER) - One of the "high-value" detainees imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay has been charged with planning the 2000 terrorist attack on the USS Cole in Yemen that killed 17 US sailors, reports the LA Times . Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, a Saudi of Yemeni descent, faces the death penalty if convicted of planning and orchestrating the attack on the Cole as it was docked in a Yemeni harbor. More»

I Guess Torture Is Legal Now

Dick Cheney makes a farce of our 'rule of law': Dahlia Lithwick

(NEWSER) - With his memoir, and accompanying media blitz, Dick Cheney is trying to provoke us into once again discussing the merits of torture, a topic “about as compelling as a debate about the efficacy of slavery or Jim Crow laws,” writes Dahlia Lithwick of Slate . Almost everyone agrees torture isn’t effective, ethical, or legal. Except it must be legal, Lithwick writes, because Cheney got away with it. More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

'Monstrous Liar' Cheney Manipulates the Media