This is the first time that I can recall that we've had an administration come in, take power, and then suggest using the power of the government against their predecessors, from a legal standpoint. Criminal prosecution of lawyers in the Justice Department whose opinions they disagreed with on an important issue. Criminal prosecutions. When was the last time that happened?
Cheney has requested that the National Archives declassify and release to him copies of two CIA memos--15-20 pages each--that describe the intelligence obtained through the harsh interrogations. He wants that information out so that the American public can correctly evaluate the program. The refusal of the Obama administration to make those documents public, he says, reeks of hypocrisy.
If the way the operation is going to work is they release only those things that support their case and refuse to release those that support their critics' case, I don't know how they're going to play that. If I were them, I'd be concerned. You're going to have to come up with them sooner or later.
I asked Cheney about George W. Bush's statement that he would not criticize his successor. In a comment that many took to be a shot at his former vice president, Bush said of Obama, "He deserves my silence."
Cheney disagrees.
I worked in the trenches, and I was a loyal and supportive vice president. And when the president made decisions that I didn't agree with, I still supported him and didn't go out and undercut him. Now we're talking about
after we've left office. I have strong feelings about what happened and what we did or didn't do and what's happening now. And I don't have any reason not to forthrightly express those views. I feel it's important to do so especially when President Obama is wrong on important issues facing the nation.
Cheney says he will continue to speak out.
I went through the Iran-contra hearings and watched the way administration officials ran for cover and left the little guys out to dry. And I was bound and determined that wasn't going to happen this time. I think to George Tenet's credit--I don't agree with George on a lot of stuff--but I think he was of the same view and that's why we had all of these requests coming through for policy guidance and for legal opinions. And this time around I'll do my damndest to defend anybody out there--be they in the agency carrying out the orders or the lawyers who wrote the opinions. I don't know whether anybody else will, but I sure as hell will.
Stephen F. Hayes is senior writer at THE WEEKLY STANDARD
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