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EXCLUSIVE: Dick Cheney Critical of Biden, Obama National Security Policies
Former Vice President Says Bush-Era Policies Deserve Credit for Successes
By DEVIN DWYER

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2010

Former Vice President Dick Cheney, in an exclusive appearance on ABC News'
"This Week," offered a sharp critique of the Obama
administration's handling of
national security and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying any achievements
over the past year largely stemmed from policies implemented under President
George W. Bush.

"If [the administration is] going to take credit for [Iraq's success], fair
enough ... but it ought to come with a healthy dose of 'Thank you, George Bush'
up front and a recognition that some of their early recommendations with
respect to prosecuting that war were just dead wrong," Cheney told ABC News'
Jonathan Karl.

Earlier Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden said on NBC's "Meet the
Press" that
Cheney "either is misinformed or he is misinforming" about what
policies have
been most effective in combating terrorists.

Biden has also suggested that Iraq may end up being one of the Obama
administration's greatest successes.

"Obama and Biden campaigned from one end of the country to the other for two
years criticizing our Iraq policy," Cheney said. "If they had had
their way, if
we'd followed the policies they'd pursued from the outset or advocated from the
outset, Saddam Hussein would still be in power in Baghdad today."

On Afghanistan, Cheney said he is a "complete supporter" of
President Obama's
decision to send more troops to the region and praised the selection of Gen.
Stanley McChrystal to head the effort.

But the former vice president repeated his rebuke of the administration's
handling of suspected terrorists, including would-be Christmas Day bomber Umar
Abdulmutallab.

Following the attempted attack on Dec. 25, Abdulmuttallab was interrogated for
50 minutes, read his Miranda rights and has been arraigned in U.S. federal
court. The Obama administration also has promised to close the detention center
at Guantanamo Bay, try several high-profile suspected terrorists in U.S.
federal courts and repatriate others abroad.

Cheney said the Mirandizing and detention of convicted shoe-bomber Richard Reid
by law enforcement officials in December 2001 was appropriate at the time
because military commissions were not yet operational.

"We hadn't had all the Supreme Court decisions handed down about what we could
and couldn't do with the commissions," he said.

Reid was arraigned in U.S. federal court but never faced a trial because he
pleaded guilty.

"I do see repeatedly examples that there are key members in the administration
-- like Eric Holder, for example, the attorney general -- that still insist
upon thinking of terror attacks against the United States as criminal acts of
war," Cheney said.

Cheney: Biden 'Dead Wrong' on Chances of Another Attack
Cheney said the Obama administration's "mindset" is putting the
country at risk
of a terrorist attack and cited as an example Vice President Biden's recent
statement that another attack on the scale of 9/11 is "unlikely."

"I just think that's just dead wrong," Cheney said. "I think
the biggest threat
the United States faces today is the possibility of another 9/11 with a nuclear
weapon or a biological agent of some kind. And I think al Qaeda is out there --
even as we meet -- trying to do that.

"You have to consider it as a war," Cheney said. "You have
to consider it as
something we may have to deal with tomorrow. You don't want the vice president
of the United States running around saying, 'Oh, it's not likely going to
happen.'"

The former vice president acknowledged that the debate over whether to treat
threats to national security as criminal or wartime acts was waged within the
Bush administration, too.

"We had a major shootout over how this was going to be handled between the
Justice Department that advocated that approach and the rest of us that wanted
to treat it as an act of war," he said.

Cheney said he disagrees with Obama administration's decision not to use
so-called enhanced interrogation techniques and said he argued for them within
the administration during the Bush years.

"I was a big supporter of waterboarding," Cheney said. "I
was a big supporter
of the enhanced interrogation techniques. ... I think you ought to have all of
those capabilities on the table."

Cheney, who said he has not seen former President George W. Bush since they
left office over one year ago, may be the previous administration's most
outspoken member.

He added that he was "deeply offended" by attempts to investigate
and prosecute
the Bush administration and CIA officials who helped construct and justify
their counterterrorism policy.

"I thought it was important for some senior person in the administration to
stand up and defend those people who'd done what we asked them to do," he said.


Cheney Undecided on Palin for President
When asked about former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska's presidential
qualifications, Cheney said, "I haven't made a decision yet on who I'm going to
support.

"I think all of the prospective candidates out there have got a lot of work to
do if in fact they are going to persuade a majority of Americans that they are
ready to take on the world's toughest job," Cheney said.

An ABC News/Washington Post poll released this week found 71 percent say
"no"
when asked if Palin is qualified to serve as president. Among Republicans
polled, approximately 52 percent think she's not qualified to be commander in
chief.

Cheney took issue with Palin's suggestion that President Obama could help
himself politically if he declared war on Iran

"I don't think a president can make a judgment like that on the basis of
politics," Cheney said. "The stakes are too high, the consequences too
significant to be treating those as simple political calculations. When you
begin to talk about war, talk about crossing international borders, you talk
about committing American men and women to combat, that takes place on a plane
clear above any political consideration."

In an interview last week on "Fox News Sunday," Palin said that if Obama
"toughen[ed] up" and "secured our nation," people might
think differently about
him.

"Say he decided to declare war on Iran or decide to really come out and do
whatever he could to support Israel, which I would like him to do," Palin said.
"[I]f he decided to toughen up ... I think people would perhaps shift their
thinking a little bit and decide, 'Well, maybe he's tougher than we think he's,
than he is today.'"

"Twenty years ago, the military were strong advocates of 'Don't Ask, Don't
Tell' when I was secretary of defense," Cheney said. "I think things have
changed significantly since then."

Cheney served as the secretary of defense from 1989 to 1993 in the first Bush
administration

"I'm reluctant to second-guess the military in this regard,"
Cheney said. "When
the chiefs come forward and say, 'We think we can do it,' then it strikes me
that it's time to reconsider the policy.


Cheney Penning Memoir

The former vice president plans to see his former boss, President George W.
Bush, at an administration reunion in the coming weeks, he said.

Cheney has been keeping busy by penning his memoir, which is due on bookshelves
next year.

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