"To make certain our nation country never again faced such a day of horror, we developed a comprehensive strategy, beginning with far greater homeland security to make the United States a harder target. But since wars cannot be won on the defensive, we moved decisively against the terrorists in their hideouts and sanctuaries, and committed to using every asset to take down their networks."
Former Vice-President Cheney gave a speech today at AEI, explaining very candidly the Bush Administration's motivations behind the decision to enage in Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (i.e. water-boarding). Overall, I found his speech to be completely appropriate and long over-due. It was reasonable and clearly stated the Bush Administration's rationale, without apologizing for the difficult decisions that were made in the interest of protecting American citizens (full transcript here).
Whether or not you approve of their policies, it is impossible to deny that America did not suffer another terrorist attack during the Bush-Cheney tenure. This fact is all too often taken for granted. Imagine if we were still living in the uncertainty and terror that we experienced on that fateful day. It was a very real possibility.
"But they couldn't change the words of George Tenet, the CIA Director under Presidents Clinton and Bush, who bluntly said: "I know that this program has saved lives. I know we've disrupted plots. I know this program alone is worth more than the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency put together have been able to tell us." End of quote."
So I don't understand why President Obama self-righteously trumpets his commitment to transparency of government and then refuses to release the remainder of the security memos. You know, the ones that show the results of the enhanced interrogation techniques. He already gave invaluable information to our enemies, why can't he show why we continued to use these techniques? Reeks of partisanship to high Heaven..
I join former Vice-President Cheney in saluting those intelligence officers who served their country and helped to retrieve information that doubtlessly saved innocent lives. I pray that they would find peace with their decisions and that God would comfort their souls. I doubt that it was an easy decision for any of them, but at the end of the day it was the right one.
"Critics of our policies are given to lecturing on the theme of being consistent with American values. But no moral value held dear by the American people obliges public servants ever to sacrifice innocent lives to spare a captured terrorist from unpleasant things. And when an entire population is targeted by a terror network, nothing is more consistent with American values than to stop them."
Posts
