Cheney's Campaign for Torture Continues

Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney appeared this morning on CNN's Sunday talk show, State of the Union with John King. Although he admittedly "doesn't follow the news as much as [he] once did" Cheney was quick to use some old tactics. (Image: CNN) During his interview with John King, the former Vice President insisted that President Barack Obama is putting the United States at risk of Terror attack. How? By not using "alternative" interrogation techniques...

In case that isn't a strikingly obvious statement -- maybe CNN and myself are making too many assumptions -- Cheney is advocating the use of torture (again). He also used the interview to dodge blame for financial instability, talk a bit of sense about regulation (in total opposition to what his administration did), and continue to argue Obama is creating big government.

Before moving on, I just want to say I would love to respond to every lie and misconception Cheney says during the over 30 minute interview, but I would have to write 2-4 sentence for every sentence he said. So I'm going to focus on, perhaps, his most controversial claim. Here's a YouTube clip in which he discusses torture (tune to about 1:20 in the video):



John King outlines the issue at hand by listing these steps Obama took to limit the use of torture by the government:

• Close Guantanamo Bay
• Close CIA torture "Black Sites"
• Make CIA follow the U.S. Army Field Manual on interrogation
• Ban Waterboarding by defining it as torture
• End Secret "Military Commission" trials (that follow no laws)
• Eliminate the "enemy combatant" label

By taking these steps, Cheney believes that terrorism will rise once again to threaten the United States. Personally, I can't see how treating people humanely by following some not-so-strict regulations is asking too much. Flying prisoners around to "Black Sites" (with no records kept) is not a good example of the values of democracy. I won't say that we should let suspected terrorists who may know something walk away, because that's crazy. What I will say is that the self-proclaimed leader of the free world needs to find a better way.

Here are the other segments of the interview:
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 (Above) - Part 5

In closing, during this interview Cheney admitted love for Rush Limbaugh (see clip 5). I guess we know who he's endorsing to lead the Republican Party.