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CIA Head Slams Cheney for Comments

Panetta Says Ex-Veep Almost 'Wishing' That Country Is Attacked

AP
posted: 1 HOUR 38 MINUTES AGO
comments: 820
filed under: Political News
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WASHINGTON (June 14) -- CIA Director Leon Panetta says former Vice President Dick Cheney's criticism of the Obama administration's approach to terrorism almost suggests "he's wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point."
Panetta told The New Yorker for an article in its June 22 issue that Cheney "smells some blood in the water" on the issue of national security.
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Split image of CIA Director Leon Panetta and former Vice President Dick Cheney
Saul Loeb, AFP / Getty Images / Susan Walsh, AP

In an interview with The New Yorker magazine, CIA Director Leon Panetta accused Dick Cheney of engaging in "gallows politics," saying the former vice president almost talks as if he wants the United States to be attacked again by terrorists so he can be proven right on matters of national security.

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Cheney has said in several interviews that he thinks Obama is making the U.S. less safe. He has been critical of Obama for ordering the closure of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, halting enhanced interrogations of suspected terrorists and reversing other Bush administration initiatives he says helped to prevent attacks on the U.S.
Last month the former vice president offered a withering critique of Obama's policies and a defense of the Bush administration on the same day that Obama made a major speech about national security.
Panetta said of Cheney's remarks: "It's almost, a little bit, gallows politics. When you read behind it, it's almost as if he's wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point. I think that's dangerous politics."
Asked if he agreed with Panetta, Vice President Joe Biden told CNN's "State of the Union" that he wouldn't question the motive behind Cheney's criticism.
"I think Dick Cheney's judgment about how to secure America is faulty," Biden said. "I think our judgment is correct."
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Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2009-06-14 13:50:37
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RaspberriesO

06:58 PMJun 14 2009

Cecil Joy06:57 PMJun 14 2009RAZZ, here I am baby, come and take me.>>>>Sorry, the dump is closed on Sunday.

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Golm1Kate

06:58 PMJun 14 2009

If lying to the American public about WMD, and starting a war is not grounds for charges of treason, then send him and Bush to the hague for crimes against humanity...Obama lied, thousands died.

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DeJeVe

06:58 PMJun 14 2009

it amazes me how in one AOL story 53% of people polled gave Obama an A or a B rating on his job on National Security (see above story)... yet on the same AOL news they have a story about A HUGE TUNNEL FROM MEXICO TO AMERICA THAT STUNS OFFICIALS!??!?! Honestly do you people follow everything the man does so blindly????

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Steve 3927

06:58 PMJun 14 2009

Get a clue...Cheney interned under Rumsfeld in the Nixon administration and he and Rumsfeld wanted to keep us in Vietnam. See any parallels 30 years later under the same folks in the Bush administration? (And thanks troops for going to Nam and Iraq! You are appreciated more than you know.)

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AnCWalton

06:58 PMJun 14 2009

Lderi---My point was as stated...Women are doing much better in educating themselves and are beneficiaries of labor arbitrage (lower wages)...Traditional areas of jobs for non degreed white men (constr and mfg) are disappearing.And all this will cause major changes in the power centers of this country as well as the make up og congress and the issues. Yes jobs will go to the smartest and the hardest workers---guess who they may be with 61% of college people being women and prof. degrees to women by a large margin...even if you are a white woman..

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RaspberriesO

06:58 PMJun 14 2009

Drewboy6006:54 PMJun 14 2009Who needs terrorists ? We have Obama to terrorize us.>>>>>...and poor Teleprompter is just an innocent babe!!! (That would be like all the innocent babe's that O is happy to kill.)

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Cecil Joy

06:57 PMJun 14 2009

RAZZ, here I am baby, come and take me.

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DLipshutz

06:57 PMJun 14 2009

Uh, that's one attack in eight years--- the one that happened after ignoring the report "Bin Laden Determined To Strike In U.S."-- remember that one?

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AmericanOutlaw57

06:57 PMJun 14 2009

WOODYMCHALE Funny.... I did not hear a word out of NORTH KOREA during the BUSH administration---------------------------------------------------------- ------------------ dude where the f--k were you or what were you smoking? NK started building nukes in 2002 under Bush had there first test in 2006 under Bush. Before Bush NK had no nukes after Bush look for yourself.

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AAFLYBOY1

06:57 PMJun 14 2009

CHENEY IS AN *******!!! AMERICA HAS SEEN MORE OF CHENY NOW, THAN WHEN HE WAS THE VICE PRESIDENT!!CHENEY/BUSH/ AND THE REPUBLICANS RUINED AMERICA!THE LAST 8 YEARS MADE THEM AND THEIR REPUBLICAN FRIENDS, VERY WEALTHY, WHILE THE MIDDLE CLASS AND THE POOR ARE SUFFERING!!MAY THESE GREEDY PEOPLE GET WHAT THEY DESERVE!!!THEY CREATED A WAR AND MANY PEOPLE HAVE DIED BECAUSE OF THEIR FAILED MISTAKES AND POLICIES!!GOD BLESS AMERICA AND PRESIDENT OBAMA!

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