The White House said Monday that former Vice President Dick Cheney is “wrong” in his view that the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects saved lives.
“I can say unequivocally that the president certainly believes that the former vice president’s assessment is wrong,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Monday on Air Force One.
Mr. Earnest repeated President Obama’s view that the interrogation program damaged the nation’s international standing, and he said that even Mr. Cheney would probably agree that “our moral credibility around the globe is an important tool in our arsenal for advancing and promoting America’s interests around the world.”
On NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, Mr. Cheney defended the CIA’s harsh interrogation practices after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and said he “would do it again in a minute.”
Mr. Cheney said there was “no comparison” between those tactics and the deaths of Americans on Sept. 11, 2001, saying the CIA “very carefully avoided” the practice of torture.
“Torture is what the al Qaeda terrorists did to 3,000 Americans on 9/11,” Mr. Cheney said. “There is no comparison between that and what we did with respect to enhanced interrogation.”
SEE ALSO: Cheney on CIA interrogation: ‘I’d do it again in a minute’
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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