Fox News Sunday turned to Liz Cheney for reaction to the bombshell still-classified Senate Intelligence Committee report about the CIA and torture. It specifically questions the morality and the effectiveness of practices endorsed by her father. Cheney didn’t just belligerently defend torture, she suggested the Senate should focus on Benghazi instead.
Host Chris Wallace opened the discussion by noting that the report accused the CIA of having “misled the public about the severity and the success of the enhanced interrogation program.” It was considerate of Wallace to use that sanitized, Republican-approved term instead of calling it “torture” or even “harsh interrogation.”
Wallace further noted that Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein, who wants the report declassified, has called “it a stain on the country.” He added, “Question: Senator Feinstein right or wrong?” As if he didn’t know what Cheney would say.
Cheney first tried to characterize the Senate report as some kind of political witch hunt:
I think it’s very sad to see Sen. Feinstein do what she’s doing. …It was written entirely by Democratic staffers…
To his credit, Wallace pointed out that the Committee based its report on “hundreds of thousands” of CIA documents.
So Cheney took a “torture is patriotic” approach:
Look, this is a program that will be debated, clearly, for decades here in this country. And I think it’s fine to have that debate. But if you’re gonna say that we should not have conducted the enhanced interrogation program, if you’re going to say we shouldn’t have waterboarded three terrorists, then you’ve got to say that you’re willing to accept the consequences of that and you’ve got to be willing to say how many American lives would you have been willing to put at risk because you didn’t want to waterboard Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
And you also have to recognize that we have other documents that have been declassified, frankly, six years ago… that demonstrated clearly the intelligence that was gained from those interrogations that helped to save lives and prevent attacks. This is a political report.
Cheney sounded defiant and proud, not regretful that the U.S. might have had to resort to engage in such measures in order to save lives.
That’s what you’d expect from Cheney, perhaps. But what is everyone else's excuse for acting as if torture is just another policy disagreement, akin to a tax cut or even a Supreme Court nomination?
Liberal Juan Williams conducted a spirited challenge. But he began by letting everyone know that championing torture is no reason not to love someone. He said, “So, I think Liz Cheney is the good daughter and I love her for it.” He also made a point of assuring everyone that the Bush administration was "legitimately trying to protect us as Americans. Nobody's saying anything but that."
Williams said that even “if you view this as an attack on the Bush/Cheney administration,” Congress should “win this fight” and release the report because Americans have a right to know what the CIA is doing, whether the techniques were effective and whether they were moral.
"What we know right now is... robust oversight of intelligence has been lacking since 9/11," Williams said.
Cheney replied, "I want to start by agreeing with Juan that we need more Congressional oversight - of Benghazi, for example."
They argued until Wallace interrupted to give Cheney the final word. Don’t forget, he gave her the first word, too. She said, “I just want to say I have missed Juan so much while I’ve been gone and …I also would like to wish Juan’s 4 year-old …grandson happy birthday today - and you’re wrong.”
She clapped him affectionately on the shoulder and everybody had a good, we're-one-big-family laugh.
On Fox News, torture is either patriotic or just a matter of a disagreement among friends. You know, before everyone can get back to hunting for excuses to impeach President Obama and/or destroying Hillary Clinton’s presidential chances over Benghazi.
Video below via Raw Story.
Correction: In my original post, I inadvertently omitted Williams' comment about the need for CIA oversight and Cheney's response about Benghazi.
(4/16/18 update: Video is no longer available)