Fidel to Cheney: It's Torture

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»

'Enhanced' interrogation may have led to terror mastermind

(NEWSER) - Did waterboarding finally nail Osama bin Laden? Intelligence leading to the killing of the terror mastermind gleaned from prisoners, possibly during "enhanced" interrogation techniques, is reigniting debate about waterboarding. US officials learned the identity of bin Laden's key courrier from Guantanamo Bay inmates, and tracking that courrier led to bin Laden's hideout. Attorney General Eric Holder said he "didn't know" if harsh tactics were used to obtain the intelligence, notes ABC News . But former Vice President Dick Cheney said he "wouldn't be surprised" if the "enhanced interrogation" program "produced results that ultimately contributed to the success" of tracking down bin Laden. More»

(NEWSER) - Dick Cheney has long insisted that two CIA documents from 2004 and 2005 would prove the value of torture. But after obtaining them yesterday, the Washington Independent says they do nothing of the kind. The documents actually suggest, albeit murkily, that non-abusive techniques were more effective. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s interrogators got some of their best intelligence not after the 183 times he was waterboarded, but with an old-fashioned trick: He believed another detainee had already given up the same info he shared. More»

Veep intervened when legislators got twitchy

(NEWSER) - Dick Cheney personally led at least four briefings with senior House and Senate members about harsh interrogation techniques, reports the Washington Post. The former vice president's interventions took place at critical moments when Congress was threatening to investigate or even outlaw techniques, such as waterboarding, that are widely considered torture. Although Cheney was a vocal advocate for the Bush administration's policies in public, his role in defending the program to Congress was previously unknown. More»

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama and Dick Cheney conspired to perpetuate the same myth yesterday, writes David Brooks of the New York Times. In their telling, we have seen a sharp break between Bush-Cheney terror policies and Obama-Biden ones. “This is a completely bogus distortion of history.” In reality, the policies Cheney’s defending were in place for maybe three years after 9/11. After that, over Cheney's objections, Bush cleaned up his act. More»