Politico has a must read piece on Dick Cheney. True to his reputation, Cheney is not backing down and is defending the record of the Bush administration on national security.
The interview, less than two weeks after the Bush administration ceded power to Obama, found the man who is arguably the most controversial — and almost surely the most influential — vice president in U.S. history in a self-vindicating mood.
He expressed confidence that files will some day be publicly accessible offering specific evidence that waterboarding and other policies he promoted — over sharp internal dissent from colleagues and harsh public criticism — were directly responsible for averting new Sept. 11-style attacks.
Not content to wait for a historical verdict, Cheney said he is set to plunge into his own memoirs, feeling liberated to describe behind-the-scenes roles over several decades in government now that the “statute of limitations has expired” on many of the most sensitive episodes.
His comments made unmistakable that Cheney — likely more than former President Bush, who has not yet given post-White House interviews — is willing and even eager to spar with the new administration and its supporters over the issues he cares most about. Read it all. I know I’ll be reading that Cheney memoir as soon as it is published. I have a feeling the American people will have a new appreciation for the fact that Bush-Cheney kept this country safe for eight years when they hear about some of the things that happened behind the scenes.
Update: Jim Hoft reminds us of the evil we are up against with the story of a woman who organized the rape of 80 women so that she could talk them into becoming suicide bombers as the only way to escape shame.
