Obama’s CIA Director: It’s Almost Like Cheney Wants The Country Attacked Again
But I’m sure the Obama administration isn’t questioning Cheney’s patriotism or anything.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – CIA director Leon Panetta says it’s almost as if former vice president Dick Cheney would like to see another attack on the United States to prove he is right in criticizing President Barack Obama for abandoning the “harsh interrogation” of terrorism suspects.
“I think he smells some blood in the water on the national security issue,” Panetta said in an interview published in The New Yorker magazine’s June 22 issue.
“It’s almost, a little bit, gallows politics. 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 don’t doubt that Cheney smells “blood in the water” on the national security issue. That’s because Obama is weak on the issue. He’s clueless. Limp-wristed. Naive. I think you could argue that Cheney is seeking to score his political movement some points by going after Obama on this issue, and we can all think what we want to about that but I’m also firmly convinced that Cheney feels he’s right too.
And I doubt very much if the former Vice President wants America attacked again to prove his point. He wants America to be safe. That’s the whole point of his criticism.
At this point in his career, with no further political ambitions and at an age and (unfortunately) health situation that will keep it that way, Cheney has nothing to gain from his continued criticism of Obama other than more headaches and more controversy. But he does it anyway, because even as a past Vice President and renowned public figure he also remains an American citizen endowed with the same free speech rights as any other citizen.
Whether you agree or disagree with him, he certainly deserves better than to have his motivations questioned by the likes of Leon Panetta and the Obama administration.
