Cheney: 'Can't Claim Perfection' on No-Torture Policy

[sabra]

Source: ABC News

Military Commissions Official Says Combination of Techniques Were Used on the So-Called '20th Hijacker'


Responding to accusations from a top Pentagon official that at least one Guantanamo detainee was tortured during interrogation, Vice President Dick Cheney acknowledged there may have been a "problem" with the way military personnel interrogated individual prisoners.

"I can't claim perfection," he said on "News Hour with Jim Lehrer," while reiterating once again the United States does not approve of or engage in torture as a matter of policy.

Cheney cited the soldiers who abused Iraqi inmates in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal as an example of interrogators "who weren't managed properly."

...

"What I can say is that in terms of what the policies of the administration were, both at the White House level and then at the Defense Department, was that enhanced interrogation was OK," Cheney said.

He added, "I can tell you it produced phenomenal results for us and a great many Americans are alive today because we did all that. And I think those are the important considerations."

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/Terrorism/story?id=6645453&page=1

[Raven]

1. There is no "perfect" torture...someone put that man out of his misery...

and ours!

[predfan]

2. Japanese soldiers were charged with war crimes for waterboarding Americans

during WW2, right? Anyone?

[Rebubula]

4. Yes..

...among hundreds of others, but yes.

Short memory the military has...

[Piewhacket]

3. Just keep talking f*wad. Just keep talkin..

there is blood all over your hands, monster, the sticky blood
of your victims everywhere.

We want to know what you were thinking.
Because we want to know what you'll be thinking
as the bars slam shut on you, as the rope snugs closed around your neck,
as you try to breath into the black bag over your head,
as the sentence is pronounced and the crowd murmers,
as the lever squeaks and the floor drops from under you...

what will you be thinking?
we'll never know for sure, so just keep talking, monster.
we want to understand.

will you still be wondering what went wrong?
will you be feeling remorse?
or will you just be thinking "what a ride!"

[DBoon]

5. He means he hasn't perfected the torture process

The torture they use isn't brutal and painful enough?

They haven't perfected keeping their use of torture out of the media?

or when it is perfected, they will use it against Americans for political "crimes"?

I think one of the above is what he means

[nc4bo]

6. Cheney: "I fucked up and read the wrong Torture Made Easy Manual and oh yea, I got caught.

but since I know none of you wussies will do anything about it, I'll just say I can't claim perfection and leave it at that. HA.HA.HA. See ya!"

Unbelievable.

[Solly Mack]

7. Same old excuse they've used before...

They once made the comment that only highly trained "interrogators" were best for using "enhanced interrogations techniques" - they meant the CIA...

their point was that it was only torture because the military wasn't trained in interrogations properly....which is a funny (as in bullshit) statement considering the SERE program.

It's an expansion of the "few bad apples" bullshit

They were, at the time, hoping to claim that any problems (read that as any torture)was caused by a lack of training....and that Bush's "enhanced interrogation techniques" were best left up to the CIA....this was during the CIA should be allowed to operate under different standards than to the military...ie...be given more lead-way.

The CIA admitted to waterboarding people around this same time.

[yellowcanine]

8. Right up there with "Mistakes were made" in terms of accountability.

[struggle4progress]

9. Why is this fellow getting Secret Service protection after Tuesday? Ex-VPs never used to

get Secret Service protection. It's a needless waste of taxpayer money and government resources