Dick Cheney’s attitude towards the Obama administration’s national security policies suggests the former vice president secretly wishes the US was attacked, says Leon Panetta, the U.S. director of central intelligence.
In an interview published in the latest issue of the New Yorker, the head of the CIA expresses frustration at Cheney’s speech last month, on the same day that President Obama outlined his national security strategy in a separate speech.
“Dangerous politics”
“It’s almost, a little bit, gallows politics,” Panetta told the New Yorker. “When you read behind it, it’s almost as if he’s wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point. I think that’s dangerous politics.”
Since Obama’s inauguration in January, Cheney has become a far more visible public figure than he was as vice president, repeatedly hammering Obama on national security and the torture controversy. Cheney has said repeatedly he believes Obama’s policies are making America less safe.
From the New Yorker:
Since January, the C.I.A. has become the focus of almost daily struggle, as Obama attempts to restore the rule of law in America’s fight against terrorism without sacrificing safety or losing the support of conservative Democratic and independent voters. So far, he has insisted on trying to recalibrate the agency’s policies without investigating past mistakes or holding anyone responsible for them. Caught in the middle is Panetta, who is seventy years old and has virtually no experience in the intelligence field.
The article goes on to say that an essay Panetta penned during the Bush administration decrying America’s descent “from champions of human dignity and individual rights into a nation of armchair torturers” was instrumental in Obama’s decision to make him the head of the CIA.
On CNN’s State of the Union, Vice President Joe Biden was asked if he agreed with Panetta’s assessment of Cheney’s motives. The vice-president skirted the issue, saying it’s “dangerous” to question anyone’s personal motives.
–Agencies