Cheney Tells CPAC That Tough Questioning of al Qaeda Detainees Is a 'Good Thing'

I’m going to miss Dick Cheney when he’s gone. He is always clear and to the point.

As Rep. John Conyers was using his House Intelligence Committee for yet one more grandstanding opportunity to condemn the Bush administration’s “torture” policies, the Vice President had this to say about it at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington:

Vice President Dick Cheney, meanwhile, said "it's a good thing" that top al-Qaida leaders who underwent the harsh interrogation tactic in 2002 and 2003 were forced to give up information that helped protect the country.

"It's a good thing we had them in custody, and it's a good thing we found out what they knew," Cheney told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, President Bush has "made the right decisions for the right reasons," Cheney said.

And I couldn’t agree with him more. It was a good thing to interrogate these guys, and it is a very good thing they remain in custody. Is there really anyone who can seriously argue with that?

The waterboarding everyone is referring to was used in 2002 and 2003--before a Supreme Court decision, and new laws, have discouraged (but not banned) the practice.

Conyers knows this, but it didn’t stop him from asking Attorney General Michael Mukasey, "Are you ready to start a criminal investigation into whether this confirmed use of waterboarding by U.S. agents was illegal?"

“No, I am not,’Mukasey answered bluntly. He said the Justice Departent could not investigate or prosecute people for actions that it had authorized earlier.

Not only that, he may well have reminded Congressman Conyers about what the Constitution says about ex post facto laws.

I don't consider myself qualified to an opinion on whether or not waterboarding is or is not torture. But I do know that Congress has refused to commit to banning it. If they refuse to step up and define it as a crime, they should stop using it as a platform for accusing the Bush administration of criminal activity--just because the administration--while trying to prevent a second 9/11-- sanctioned its use under limited circumstances.