Yesterday, on "Face the Nation," he repeated his "no regrets" mantra. "I think it was absolutely the right thing to do. I am convinced, absolutely convinced, that we saved thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of lives," he said.
He explained that he is speaking out because the issues are so important, and he sees President Obama as endangering the nation by removing "a lot of those policies we put in place to keep the nation safe for eight years."
He insisted that, prior to using the enhanced techniques, they had tried less controversial methods of gaining information from detainees, with limited effect. This is disputed by a number of people involved, who are now coming forth with their versions and saying that in many cases the useful information was obtained prior to the torture techniques.
And then Cheney went a step further than he has gone before and spoke of President Bush's involvement. When asked if President Bush himself had signed off on the interrogation program, his response was carefully parsed but gives the impression that Bush was brought into it later on, only as an authorizing formality.
"I certainly have every reason to believe that he knew a great deal about the program," Cheney said. "He basically authorized it. I mean, this was a presidential level decision. And the decision went to the president. He signed off on it."
Keep talking Mr. Former VP. Just keep making more and more claims that can be refuted by others -- thereby forcing the release of more data and testimony.
And then we'll see who was right.
Ralph
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