Subscribe to Common Dreams News Updates
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
Cheney: Death Only Option for Some Detainees if Gitmo Closed
WASHINGTON - Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that the only alternative to holding some suspected terrorists indefinitely would be to execute them, saying that was an argument against the Obama administration's plans to close the Guantanamo detainee prison.
"If you're going to be engaged in a world conflict such as we are, such as the global war on terrorism, if you don't have a place where you can hold these people, your only other option is to kill them," Mr. Cheney said.
"And we don't operate that way."
The former vice president's statements only raise the stakes in fierce debate with his critics, who believe Mr. Cheney presided over the formulation of interrogation techniques that they regard as torture and remains unapologetic for approving waterboarding and other harsh methods used.
Mr. Cheney said that foreign fighter detainees "ought to be held until the end of the conflict" and criticized the Obama administration for failing to think through its plans to shutter Guantanamo.
"The administration made a mistake of the president issuing an order that he wants it closed within a year, but didn't have a clue as to how to proceed," Mr. Cheney said. "And now they're having trouble because they're having to come up with a plan of some kind."
Mr. Cheney, who has become the most prominent figure to defend the Bush administration's record on terror and national security, spoke and took questions at a lunch honoring journalism award winners at the National Press Club.
The former vice president said that the Guantanamo Bay prison is "a fine facility" and that the White House will have a "very difficult" time closing it, because of the legal, political and diplomatic challenges associated with indefinite detention.
30 Comments so far
Show AllSo, there we have it, in the very last paragraph. Cheney has been trapped by his own twisted ideology, he just cannot accept that the US has been acting outside the law by keeping Guantanamo open all these years. Of course, if you have been breaking the law for all these years, then it sure makes it difficult to backtrack and admit you were wrong.
Why do the MSM keep giving this criminal a forum in which to vent his putrid opinions? He's the one who should be in that "fine facility" of Gitmo! Re-investigate 9/11! What did he know and when did he know it? Cheney not only does not deserve to have his ideas aired as if he was some sort of distinguished elder statesman, he should be put on the stand and grilled about everything from his role in the mini-holocausts conducted under the Reagan government in Central America to his clearly patent role in all the crimes of the Bush administration. And then the court should turn him over to the populace, to let him go out in style à la Mussolini...
Infinite detention, or death: Cheney defines the proper sentence for those who revived the Nazi blueprint; for those who chose to wage "perpetual war" under the guise of a war on terror.
Obama must either prosecute the world's new war criminals, or eventually stand beside them as a knowing accomplice.
I'm waiting for when most people stop listening to what this lying psychopath says.
Wow! That guy really is a sociopath. They must have forgotten to put his heart back in, during one of those many operations.
when Chenny's day comes due for his acts on 9/11 and through out his putrid vice presidency we shall remember these words and apply them to him. A quick pass over his chest with a strong magnate might revel much more than waterboarding would.
Abe Winken June 1st, 2009 5:11 pm....Their time is coming..........
http://www.flybynews.com/cgi-local/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1014738186,11057,
Obama is playing this Stupidly.
A.Take the POW's to a hospital-prison ship. Stop brutally punishing and humiliating them for things unproven.
B.Close GB as promised.
C.Try the prisoners on the ship, with representation, fairly.
D.Free the innocent and Super-Max the few guilty ones.
But drag it out so not one is freed until after '12, which would pretty much happen naturally anyway. This would prevent one returning with a Cheney provided weapon in his suitcase.
This process would make BO appear to take control instead of appearing without a "clue," a plan or in charge.
Unless he wants them there.
How hard is it? Order it.
Are YOU personally advocating holding these people until 2012? Or just saying it would be a callous (indeed criminal) and cowardly act of political expediency?
hopedup, I predict if (m)any are freed much before 2012, the same people who brought us 9-11 will see to it that it appears a released detainee attacks the US after Obama, and his innocence, free him. This is part of the sword over BO's head.
When I used the word naturally in the post you seek clarification of, I recall saying trying them would naturally take nearly that long-to mount defenses, gather evidence, appeals....
The main thing though I REPEAT is stop hurting them, humiliating them and punishing them before they are proven guilty of anything.
Stop making excuses.
These people shouldn't have to spend 4 years proving their innocence.
They should be released immediately.
They have been falsely imprisoned and tortured for how many years now?
Do you feel that if you were kidnapped and thrown into a US prison, denied habeous corpus, and tortured that you should have to wait four years more to "prove" your innocence despite having never been charged in the first place.
There is no "sword over BO's head" he holds it firmly in his iron fist.
"the same people who brought us 9-11 will see to it that it appears a released detainee attacks the US after Obama, and his innocence, free him."
Need I remind you that Bush/Cheney have released far more prisoners than Obama?
hopedup, I'm w/ you, please, we are not communicating-it takes a while, house them in luxury on cruise ships, quit trying to find ill in my trip, i said clearly twice they should just not be used as they would as a tool by cheney. already released gb detainees have returned to fight the US. I don't blame them. I just was saying, clearly I thought, they should be made comfortable off the island as the process unfolds, god-give them servants, bring their families, I'm serious, let their former torturers be their landscapers and dishwashers. 2012 is not far away bro, chill out. I am for those guys, I'm an effing arabaphile clearly in my posts over time. Their are political considerations whether you like it or not. I just was groping for a way to see them being freed, okay, faster then. Free them all in manhatten with nine mills so they don't get hurt by muggers. peace out, stars shine, i hope they see them soon. best, joe.
Ya know what, you have blessed me with a lot of critical attention these past days. and you just appeared i think. Red Rick, ardee b4 that, dogged me like you. Hi there.
I'm betting myself if I check you appeared after RR got 86'd. If so and you figured out how to change your ip address, then welcome back but go away. I'm not interested in fighting or arguing.
How about if we do not have something nice to say to each other we say nothing?
In fact I insist. Have a pleasant now. And positive or not at all please. The respite from the hatred has been too nice to say goodbye to.
My best, let's please keep it kind, "stop making excuses," is going down the road of personal attacks. Go down it by yourself. Bye ardee, Red Rick, hopedup, I can't keep track. Start the campaign. I'll weather it again. This is my last reply to you, so so sorry! Best Wishes! joe.
Considering the fact that most of those in Gitmo and other US Gulags were kids yanked off the street by bounty hunters (As I understand it, a thousand bucks a head, no questions asked) and then tortured and imprisoned for many years, of course they'll get no trial. A real trial would expose both the Cheney/Bush regime for what they were and the Obamanation for what it is, or is becoming.
Of course they can't be released. They may actually be pissed off at their captors, which makes them "potential" terrorists. The Senate and Congress have passed a number of laws and are working on some new ones that will make any of us who support the Constitution of the United States, or protest the endless wars for oil and power, "potential terrorists" or "terrorist sympathizers."
The KBR Concentration Camps are ready and waiting and if enough people, driven out of their homes to starve in the streets, start to really kick up their heels and protest, the NorthCom combat brigades are ready to "suppress civilian unrest." Our outsourced workmen will find themselves doing forced labor for food rations.
Who says the Nazis lost? (I have a copy of the Army Manual governing forced labor of civilians.)
I agree Cheney is no senior statesman; he's no statesman at all. I'm not so much interested in revenge; but I do want the world to know the United States repudiates the war crimes committed by the Bush regime.
I wonder if these ChristoRepublicans act so satanically outrageous just to make the Democrats drift to the far reich seem 'central' somehow.
It does seem to be orchestrated that way.
Also, really what is the difference between what Cheney is advocating and Obama?
Far more Guantanamo prisoners were released under Bush than Obama.
With regard to killing them - Cheney says "And we don't operate that way." Obama would say the same. So Cheney and Obama are both proposing continued indefinite detention without (real) due process.
People hate Cheney's style. But on substance, how far is he from Obama?
Cheney is beyond delusional, and deserves (at best) a trial in the Hague.
Bush, Cheney, and their minions (including, perhaps, "Uncle Barack" Obama, who is in dire need of remedial con-law instruction), are the greatest threat to the United States of America, and have been at least since September 11, 2001.
Clovis,
Exactly, I hope this monster got the treatment Mussolinni did, he deserves that and more for being such a worthless evil piece of scum.
It is hearting to see that unlike Obama, Cheney actually has the moral courage to stand up for the principles he believes in, however wrongheaded they may be.
"Nanothermite June 1st, 2009 8:18 pm
Cheney is beyond delusional, and deserves (at best) a trial in the Hague.
..."
BILL CLINTON, TOO! And how far back do we want to count, because we can certainly count further back? GHW Bush and, before him, R. Reagan, are at least two prior case individuals, presidents, that is.
I posted a copy of a short article by John Stockwell on the President Reagan years in my post for which there's the url further below. He, btw,is a former CIA agent who served 13 years, including in Angola, as well as and also (for whatever amount of time this was) while GHW Bush was CIA Director. And J.S. is surely telling the truth about what the CIA did with covert ops reported to the population back in the USA in starkly contrasting terms, but makes no mention of GHW Bush. So that's one thing I wonder about. Yet, J.S. is right in terms of what the rest of what he says, apparently so anyway. I realise he's right in terms of the CIA and therefore U.S. government covert ops; but in terms of omitting mention of GHW Bush, I wonder.
GHW Bush previously was CIA Director, and before that he had "oddly" been quite a "busy-body" with the CIA; and served during WWII, while his father, monsieur Prescott, was financing and profiting from the HItler-Nazi regime, which the U.S. Congress slapped on the hands of P. Bush for, while Congress went no further, staying elbow-to-elbow, buddy-buddy, with Prescotty. Heh, "what are friends for, if not to "help" each other out when expedient to do so?".
GHW Bush, cunning? You're damn joking, right? No? Then [wake up]. He's not cunning, but he seems to realise that the public is so dumb that he only needs to add a [transparent] curtain in front of himself in order for the public to be fooled about who's behind the rideau. Ah-hah. Yuck comedy. Evil, the worst of all, knows damn well to hide in darkness and silence; always needing to avoid to be noticed, if possible. But anyone who has two grains of "salt" between his or her two ears knows about these tricks of devils and therefore discerns their presence as they "crop up", how ever silent and discreet that they may be.
This post will not allow for the whole of John Stockwell's article on the Reagan administration, so the following is a link to the post containing the copy.
(url broken over two lines)
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/23
#comment-1211800
And getting back to Nanothermite's post, while I'll add that it sure seems that he or she is staying updated with the research on the 9-11 attacks:
Cheney is surely [not] delusional. He is one hell of a greedy and deliberate s.o.b.; and I don't think that he really believes that he can fool most people, including Americans. I think he's hoping to possibly muster enough support to not be condemned to the ... rope treatment (okay, I'm dreaming about the rope).
Maybe I'm too positive (the rope would be good though). Perhaps he is this delusional. But I find it very difficult to believe that anyone could be this delusional when they've been in corporate and political positions like he, no, I mean like this s.o.b., has been. After all, he knows damn well that he's been working to try to make "this day happen", the GWoT kind of wars, years, for trying to aggress, conquer, dominate, for PROFIT; not because he [cares] about politics, which clearly are nothing more than merely instrumental to him and his ilk, but for PROFIT.
Iow, I think that he, the s.o.b., knows damn well that he's bent for hell, aka hellbent, bound for it; but wants to f*ck us all before he finally meets his ... next phase, say (and oh boy, is the Devil gonna have fun with a schmuck like fool Cheney; no challenge!).
Excuse my "metaphorics", svp. But he's heading in that direction anyway; he and ilk, that is. Surely! Okay, I'm not God and can't make this order of judgement, so just take these words as if they're from an ... annoyed, say, human. I am, after all; human, and ... annoyed, say.
I like to think and talk about Nature, how beautiful, wonderful, awesome, ... Mother is. She tranquils my heart and helps to place me back into understanding of God, who is also victim in all of these evils we, humans, commit. Don't blame Him; blame ourselves!
Can we talk about how wonderful Nature is, for a Change? All we get is bad news, and Nature's wonderful. Now this is not delusional.
It's hard to resist, on principle, the recommendation that Cheney's options be applied to himself.
"hopedup June 1st, 2009 7:05 pm
It does seem to be orchestrated that way.
Also, really what is the difference between what Cheney is advocating and Obama?"
Obama is institutionalisg it, and Cheney is cheerleader, promoter. Instead of "merely" backing Obama's plan, Cheney's cheerleading, promoting, and continuing the "bandwagon" that began ... actually not with GW Bush and Cheney, but before; just that it became publicly known under Bush-Cheney.
"hopedup June 2nd, 2009 12:35 am
Stop making excuses.
These people shouldn't have to spend 4 years proving their innocence.
They should be released immediately.
They have been falsely imprisoned and tortured for how many years now?"
YES, and Iraqis, Afghans, Palestinians, Haitians, people of Congo (Congolese), ... have been suffering extreme injustices and genocide for ... longer, but there's no remedy in sight for them; no just remedy anyway.
Evidently most Americans continue to support criminal war on Afghanistan, the expansion into Pakistan, don't care about Iraq or Haiti or African countries, and so on.
What makes you think most people care about victims of torture at Guant. Bay prison? After all, it's not the supreme crime; it's only an atrociously related crime.
"YES, and Iraqis, Afghans, Palestinians, Haitians, people of Congo (Congolese), ... have been suffering extreme injustices and genocide for ... longer, but there's no remedy in sight for them; no just remedy anyway."
YES, and the list is much longer than that.
"What makes you think most people care about victims of torture at Guant. Bay prison? After all, it's not the supreme crime; it's only an atrociously related crime."
I don't, really. I feel we SHOULD be prosecuted for the supreme crime of waging wars of aggression. All of of our other offenses follow suit. However, I also agree it's pure fantasy to assume that will happen.
Torture contributes a potent psychological aspect in all of this. Wrong though it is, I think Americans are more disturbed by our admissions of torture than our our willingness to launch genocidal wars. Although, over time they'll learn to live with it. Much like they've learned to live with the daily torture of people in the US Gulag.
Frankly, I wish more people understood the point you are making.
"Grumbler June 1st, 2009 6:01 pm
... I do want the world to know the United States repudiates the war crimes committed by the Bush regime."
Only "the Bush regime"? Really?
If so, then your p.o.v. is in part right, but really worthless anyway; for you'd then be overloooking or disregarding far too much. After all, they only escalated what had already been underway; instead of having starting a new beginning, thematic, ....
The U.S. has been hellbent [throughout] all U.S. history, just that the truths were often buried.
And if Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, ... were at all guilty about the 9-11 attacks, and they likely or definitely were, then they weren't alone!
Don't blame only Bush, Cheney, ..., Blame the U.S. government and voters, too!
Cheney's guilty as hell, but ya know what? Be very, very attentive if ever it happens that he's indicted, tried, etcetera, for his crimes. All might then look good on the [surface], but what underlies it might be worse.
Plans are underway to have Cheney arrested as a war criminal if he returns to Spokane, Washington. When he came to Spokane, Washington, in 2006 he did what officially protected war criminals do -- elude the public. Hopefully he returns to Spokane and faces the public because, in addition to the planned arrest, he is likely to get more than a verbal tongue lashing from what, based on his prior visit, is likely to be a very, very animated crowd. This video shows what a conservative town in eastern Washington state, home a military base, a SERE training facility, and CIA torture psychologists Mitchell and Jessen thinks of this war criminal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S70S93oG7J0
To comment on war criminal Cheney's comment (quote)
"If you're going to be engaged in a world conflict such as we are, such as the global war on terrorism, if you don't have a place where you can hold these people, your only other option is to kill them," Mr. Cheney said. "And we don't operate that way." (end quote) Since when don't we operate that way? We hold people without charge incognito AND we kill them. Both types of actions by the US government are public information, based on official documents, photos that managed to get past U.S. censors, and testimony of soldiers tried and convicted, not to mention Gen. Taguba's report and testimony.
As I said, Dick, come on back to Spokane and bring Alberto Gonzales with you. We know how to welcome him too. http://spokanepoliceabuses.wordpress.com/2008/01/20/video-of-spokane-protest
Arrest Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzales in Spokane http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story.asp?ID=12036
I just happened to notice that Cheney is still President. How did that happen?
Cheney and Bush and their cohorts in crime should be prosecuted for their war crimes, convicted, and sentenced to incarceration at the Guantanamo prison, with the current occupants as their jailers.
The military theory that refutes Darth Viper's pro-torture argument is the work of Col. John Boyd, USAF:
"Boyd’s theory would respond that the defeat we suffer on the moral level by adopting a policy of torture will outweigh any benefits torture might bring us on the physical level of war. How so? By pumping up the terrorists’ will, cohesion, and ability to cooperate while diminishing our own.
In effect, both our enemies and our allies will come to see us as evil. That enables enemies to recruit, raise money, and generate new operations while we must focus internally on papering over cracks in our coalitions. They gain greater harmony while we face increased friction"
-antiwar.com