Sunday, May 8, 2011

Cheney praises Obama over bin Laden

Cheney praises Obama over bin Laden -- but not interrogation rules - The Oval: Tracking the Obama presidencyBy David Jackson, USA TODAY

By Mark Wilson, Getty Images
Dick Cheney said he gives President Obama "high marks" for the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, telling Fox News Sundaythat "I think he handled it well."

But the former Republican vice president also continued to lament Obama-era restrictions on interrogation techniques, saying the program that he and George W. Bush put together produced information that led to bin Laden's capture.

Some of those techniques -- including sleep deprivation and the simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding -- were lawful and helped break up terrorist plots, Cheney said.

"I am still concerned about the fact that, I think a lot of the techniques that we had used to keep the country safe for more than seven years are no longer available," he said. "That they've been sort of taken off the table, if you will."

Cheney also called on Obama to close down a Justice Department investigation into officials who may have used allegedly unlawful interrogation techniques during the Bush years.

"I think it is an outrage that we would go after the people who deserve the credit for keeping us safe," Cheney said.

The former vice president also expressed concern that, with bin Laden dead, there will be "a rush to get out of Afghanistan."

Obama has said he will begin a U.S. withdrawal process from Afghanistan in July; the U.S. and its allies plan to turn over all security to the Afghans themselves by 2014.

Still, Cheney said Obama deserved credit for sending a Navy SEAL team into bin Laden's compound in Pakistan a week ago today.

"Well, I think you've got to give him a lot of credit for making the decision to have the SEAL team 6 conduct the raid that got bin Laden," Cheney told Fox News Sunday. "It's no question that was his responsibility and I think he handled it well."

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