Cheney Wants More Interrogation Memos Released
By VOA News
21 April 2009
Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said the use of harsh interrogation techniques on terror suspects produced results and that the American people should see the proof.
In an interview with Fox News, aired Monday night, Cheney said he is not allowed to talk about the still-classified information but that the public deserves to find out "how good the intelligence was."
Cheney called for the release of additional memos, saying that would make for what he calls an "honest debate."
Last week, U.S. President Barack Obama decided to release memos that detailed CIA interrogation methods, including sleep deprivation and waterboarding -- a technique that simulates drowning.
At CIA headquarters Monday, President Obama said such harsh techniques, approved by the Bush-Cheney administration, undermine "our moral authority and do not make us safer."
Critics say the release of the Bush-era memos undermines national security.
Speaking to CIA employees, Mr. Obama said Monday he acted primarily because of the exceptional circumstances concerning the memos. He said much of the information already had been publicly acknowledged.
The president said that such harsh techniques will not be used in the future, and that his administration will not prosecute agents who carried out the harsh techniques.
One U.S. Justice Department memo said CIA interrogators used the waterboarding technique on two key detainees at least 266 times -- 183 times on the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, in March 2003, and 83 times on alleged al-Qaida operative Abu Zubaydah in August 2002.
A former CIA officer, John Kiriakou, said in 2007 that 35 seconds of waterboarding caused Zubaydah to reveal key intelligence that allowed the U.S. to prevent several terrorist attacks.
The practice of waterboarding was halted in 2006.
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