Malou Innocent responds

Dear Lostinwilderness,

For something like this, there simply won't be a document or quote definitively establishing the culpability of high officials like Cheney. Such people are usully too sly to incriminate themselves like that.

Hitler didn’t sign anything calling for the extermination of the Jews, either. Almost everyone (except Holocaust deniers) knows Hitler was one of the primary engineers of the Holocaust, though. (Cheney doesn’t compare to Hitler, of course, but the principle is similar in kind, not in degree.) That’s because a lot of other indications link Hitler to the crime.

Likewise, a lot of indications point to Cheney’s involvement in the abuses during interrogation. For example: Cheney, Others OK'd Harsh Interrogations and Cheney Defends Use of Harsh Interrogations.

The CNN interview that sparked my piece: “In a wide-ranging interview with CNN's ‘State of the Union,’ Cheney said the harsh interrogations of suspects and the use of warrantless electronic surveillance were ‘absolutely essential’ to get information to prevent more attacks like the 2001 suicide hijackings that targeted New York and Washington.”

Are we really supposed to believe Cheney was completely supportive of “harsh interrogations” in public and pushed behind closed doors for them to be used, but that he had no idea of and has no responsibility for the extremes to which interrogators were going?

Lastly, Cheney has endorsed waterboarding. Waterboarding has historically been considered torture, including by our own government after World War II.

So we have Cheney on the record supporting torture. It doesn’t shock the conscience as it should because of the detached, antiseptic way the media covers it, so our government officials feel safe discussing their culpability.

But still, there is Cheney supporting torture. From the interview quoted on the Al Jazeera page:

Asked if he thought, in hindsight, any of the tactics went too far, Cheney said, "I don't."

"I was aware of the programme, certainly, and involved in helping get the process cleared, as the agency in effect came in and wanted to know what they could and couldn't do," Cheney said.

Let me repeat: When asked if he thought “any of the tactics went too far,” Cheney replied, “I don’t.”

I hope this helps clear the air!

Color and errors are hers. I don't have time to respond to her right now, but invoking Hitler in this context shows that she's not being rational in her analysis. I think we should believe the information we have - Cheney was instumental in designing the harsh interogation techniques the government does sanction, including waterboarding. But she has no reason to go beyond that and accuse Cheney of supporting other techniques that the US does not endorse.