Former vice president Dick Cheney proves that if he can shoot friends, he can certainly take wild shots at President Obama. Cheney and his daughter said Obama is hypocritical after authorizing aggressive military action to kill suspected terrorists, allegedly using the same tactics that Obama criticized Bush for.
Obama signed off on the use of drone strikes to take out several American citizens-turn-terrorists, including U.S.-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, considered one of the top terrorist recruiters in the world. His fluency in English and technology made him particularly dangerous to American interests. Also killed was Samir Khan, an American of Pakistani origin.
Cheney started out by congratulating Obama on the success of the military mission but quickly performed a U-turn to accuse the president of blatant hypocrisy.
“I think it was a very good strike. I think it was justified,” Cheney told CNN’s Candy Crowley on “State of the Union.” But “I’m waiting for the administration to go back and correct something they said two years ago when they criticized us for ‘overreacting’ to the events of 9/11.”
“The Obama administration has clearly … moved in the direction of taking robust action when they feel it is justified,” Cheney said.
Cheney added that he believes that the Bush administration, who lured Americans and their allies into war following the tragedy of Sept. 11, is owed an apology from Obama since he is now duplicating some of Bush’s terrorism policies.
Cheney’s daughter, Liz Cheney, took her criticisms to another level.
“Obama, in effect, said that we had walked away from [America’s] ideals” with the criticisms. “I think he did tremendous damage. I think he slandered the nation and I think he owes an apology to the American people,” she added.
One way in which Obama has certainly not repeated Bush policies: waterboarding during questioning of suspected terrorists, which was banned by Obama. Some Democratic allies not only have Obama’s back on this, but they caution Obama not to get to comfortable with using drone strikes, saying they take out innocent civilians, invade the sovereignty of other nations, and can incite sympathy and support for al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations.
–terry shropshire
