Dick Cheney was at his absolute Cheney-ist on Sunday, brushing off Chuck Todd’s questions about innocent people tortured by the CIA. In an appearance on Meet the Press, the former vice-president once again called the Senate’s torture report “a crock.” “Go read what the directors of the agency said about the report,” he said. “They were extremely critical of it, as were the Republicans who served on the committee. It’s a flawed report.” But, despite claiming that the report was inaccurate, Cheney had no problem defending the “enhanced interrogation” techniques it described. “It worked. It absolutely did work,” he insisted.
Todd then brought up the torture of three detainees who had done nothing wrong, as well as the case of Gul Rahman, who froze to death after being chained to a wall at a CIA facility. “It turned out it was a case of mistaken identity,” Todd noted.
“Right,” responded Cheney, apparently unfazed. “But the problem I have was with all of the folks that we did release that end up back on the battlefield … I’m more concerned with bad guys who got out and released than I am with a few that in fact were innocent.” Todd continued to press Cheney, pointing out that “25 percent” of the CIA’s detainees “turned out to be innocent.”
“Is that too high?” Todd asked. “Are you okay with that margin — ” “I have no problem as long as we achieve our objective,” Cheney said. “I’d do it again in a minute.” Well, there you have it.
