http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/30/cheney-slams-obamas-politicized-probe-cia-interrogations/


 Quote:
But Cheney reserved his strongest criticism for Holder's decision Monday to appoint a prosecutor and open a criminal investigation into alleged abuses by CIA agents who interrogated terrorists during the administration of former President George W. Bush. The former vice president accused Obama of breaking a promise not to prosecute the agents.

"We had the president of the United States, President Obama, tell us a few months ago there wouldn't be any investigation like this, that there would not be any look back at CIA personnel who were carrying out the policies of the prior administration," Cheney said. "Now they get a little heat from the left wing of the Democratic Party, and they're reversing course on that."

In January, just days before he took office, Obama assured CIA agents they need not worry about prosecution.

"We need to look forward, as opposed to looking backwards," the president-elect said. "At the CIA you've got extraordinarily talented people who are working very hard to keep Americans safe. I don't want them to suddenly feel like they've got to spend all their time looking over their shoulders and lawyering up."

In April, after disclosing classified documents that detailed the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques, Obama said: "This is a time for reflection, not retribution."

"Nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past," the president added. "For those who carried out some of these operations within the four corners of legal opinions or guidance that had been provided from the White House, I do not think it's appropriate for them to be prosecuted."

At the time, Holder added: "It would be unfair to prosecute dedicated men and women working to protect America for conduct that was sanctioned in advance by the Justice Department."

In his interview with FOX News, Cheney disputed the administration's assertion last week that the decision to go after the CIA agents was made by Holder, not Obama.

"If you look at the Constitution, the president of the United States is the chief law enforcement officer in the land," Cheney said. "The attorney general's a statutory officer. He's a member of the Cabinet. The president's the one who bears this responsibility."

Cheney said it was disingenuous of Obama "to say, 'Gee, I didn't have anything to do with it,' especially after he sat in the Oval Office and said this wouldn't happen. Then Holder decides he's going to do it. So now he's backed off and is claiming he's not responsible.

"I just think he's trying to duck the responsibility for what's going on here," Cheney concluded. "And I think it's wrong."

Cheney pointed out that the Justice Department already investigated all the cases in question during the Bush administration and decided to prosecute only one contractor, who received a jail sentence.

"The matter's been dealt with the way you would expect it to be dealt with by professionals," Cheney said. "Now we've got a political appointee coming back, and supposedly without the approval of the president, going to do a complete review, or another complete investigation, possible prosecution of CIA personnel."

He added: "A review is never going to be final anymore now. We can have somebody, some future administration, come along 10 years from now, 15 years from now, and go back and rehash all of these decisions by an earlier administration.

Cheney vigorously defended the CIA.

"In the intelligence arena, we ask those people to do some very difficult things, sometimes, that put their own lives at risk," he said. "They do so at the direction of the president. In this case, we had specific legal authority from the Justice Department. And if they are now going to be subject to being investigated and prosecuted by the next administration, nobody's going to sign up for those kinds of missions.

"It's a very, very devastating, I think, effect that it has on morale inside the intelligence community."