Accomplishments or Grievous Errors?

For the past several weeks the Bush administration has been campaigning to improve the public view of their actions. Given the lowest approval rates in history that will take some doing. As part of the public record Vice-President Cheney offered public interviews which have been rare in his time in office until now.

In one interview Cheney discussed his approval of waterboarding as an interrogation method.

I signed off on it; others did, as well, too. I thought that it was absolutely the right thing to do. I thought the legal opinions that were rendered were sound. I think the techniques were reasonable in terms of what they were asking to be able to do. And I think it produced the desired result.

And the end result was answers the U.S. wished to hear. Where is the evidence those interrogations helped on single bit in the fight against terrorists or saved even one single life in any nation?

In spite of many opinions to the contrary, Cheney holds to his opinion waterboarding is not torture.

I don't believe it was torture.

Maybe he should try undergoing the procedure himself. Many people over centuries of human history have characterized waterboarding as inhumane treatment tantamount to torture.

And maybe worst of all, Cheney feels justified in all aspects of his decisions.

I feel very good about what we did. I think it was the right thing to do. If I was faced with those circumstances again, I'd do exactly the same thing.

How many lives have been lost to this single minded course? How many more must die before we as a nation repudiate these actions and seek a course of humanity and peace?

Peace.