Cheney defends torture techniques

By Wajid Ali Syed – Washington Correspondent for Asian Tribune

Washington, 13 May, (Asiantribune.com): Former Vice Former US Vice President Dick CheneyPresident Dick Cheney has said that harsh questioning techniques authorized during the Bush administration helped to stop terrorist attacks that were in the planning stages.

Dick Cheney told the CBS program "Face the Nation" that he has no regrets and those techniques were the right thing to do. "I'm convinced, absolutely convinced, that we saved thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of lives. I think if you look at this intelligence program when things are quieter 20 or 30 years from now, you will be able to look back on this and say this is one of the great success stories of American intelligence."

The ex-VP said the simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding forced useful information from terrorism suspects including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

But opponents of the techniques are just as determined to keep demanding accountability from those who approved the policy. Most of them have been advocating for an independent and non-partisan commission of inquiry to investigate torture policies and practices to prevent such acts in the future.

An internal Justice Department inquiry reportedly is near completion that criticizes some Bush administration lawyers for writing legal opinions that justified the harsh interrogation techniques. But it has also been reported that the report does not recommend prosecution of the authorized personnel.

President Barack Obama has outlawed the controversial interrogation techniques approved by the Bush administration, in part because Obama believes the information gleaned from the terrorist suspects could have been obtained in other ways.

On the other hand analysts think that an inquiry would be hard to control once it began, and would become a huge political distraction for a new president trying to get his domestic agenda through the Congress.

But former Vice President Cheney is equally adamant that the national security changes made by the Obama administration have left the US more vulnerable to terrorist attack.

- Asian Tribune -