Parting Words

Senate Armed Services Committee:

The abuse of detainees in US custody cannot simply be attributed to the actions of ‘a few bad apples’ acting on their own. The fact is that senior officials in the United States government solicited information on how to use aggressive techniques, redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality, and authorized their use against detainees. Those efforts damaged our ability to collect accurate intelligence that could save lives, strengthened the hand of our enemies, and compromised our moral authority.

Susan J Crawford, convening authority of Pentagon military commissions:

We tortured [Mohammed al] Qahtani... His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that's why I did not refer the case [for prosecution]... I assume torture [was used on five other detainees accused of participating in the Sept. 11 plot]... I think the buck stops in the Oval Office.

President George W Bush:

LARRY KING: So there's nothing you've done in the area of treatment of prisoners that causes you any kind of pause?

GEORGE W BUSH: No. No. Everything we did was -- you know, it had legal -- legal opinions behind it. Look, you're sitting there, you've captured Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. He's the guy that ordered the September the 11th attacks. And we want to know what he knows in order to protect the United States of America. And I got legal opinions that said whatever we're going to do is legal. And my job is to protect you, Larry. And I've given it my all. I've given it my all.

Vice President Dick Cheney:

JIM LEHRER: A specific question related to that: Lead story in the Washington Post this morning is about a Bush administration official, Susan Crawford, who said, on the record, that she had recommended against charging one of the detainees at Guantanamo, a native of Saudi Arabia, because he had, in fact, been tortured at Guantanamo. And she made this comment, here – let me find it; here it is – this is Susan Crawford, who used to work for you, I understand, right?

DICK CHENEY: She worked at the department when I was there, correct.

JIM LEHRER: When you were at the Pentagon. She said, “I think someone should acknowledge that mistake were made and that they hurt the effort,” meaning the whole effort in Guantanamo and dealing with the terrorists, quote, “and take responsibility for it.” End quote. Do you agree with her?

DICK CHENEY: Well, I don’t know the specifics of what she’s talking about.

JIM LEHRER: You have never heard about this Saudi Arabia –

DICK CHENEY: I had heard about this individual before. This is Mr. Qatani, who was the 20th hijacker. He tried to get into the United States so he could get on one of the airplanes on 9/11 and fly into the Pentagon or the World Trade Center. He was stopped by an alert customs agent in Florida, I believe. I’m also, as I recall – I read the article this morning – that she said all of the techniques that were utilized were authorized. None of them were in violation of the basic fundamental tenets that we used out there. She was, as I understand it, complaining about the way in which – well, specifically, the way in which they were administered – I don’t have any way to judge that; I’m sure that the Defense Department has or will thoroughly investigate it and get to the bottom of it.

They’re very good at those sort of things. So it’s entirely possible there was a problem in terms of how one specific prisoner was handled. I can’t claim perfection. But what I can say is that in terms of what the policies of the administration were, both at the White House level and at the Defense Department, was that enhanced interrogation was okay. We had specific techniques that were approved by the Justice Department – but that we don’t torture and that we would not support torture from the standpoint of policy. It was not the policy of this administration.

JIM LEHRER: But just, for a general premise here, looking back, you don’t – nothing happened that you feel was over the line or that you feel that was a miscalculation or mistake of some kind?

DICK CHENEY: Well, in terms of the treatment of a specific individual, I can’t say that. We had Abu Ghraib, for example. In that case, I believe, based on what I’ve seen, that that was the result of some military personnel who were improperly supervised – weren’t given the right kind of guidance, weren’t managed properly. As we dig in and look at hundreds of cases, we may well find a few people who were not properly treated. You know, I ran the Pentagon. I know that you can’t absolutely guarantee, at all times, that everybody’s doing it the way they’re supposed to be doing it.

I can tell you what the policy was; I can tell you that we had all the legal authorization to do it, including the sign-off of the Justice Department. I can tell you it produced phenomenal results for us, and that a great many Americans are alive today because we did all that. And I think those are the important considerations.

JIM LEHRER: And you’re personally very comfortable with that?

DICK CHENEY: I am.

JIM LEHRER: For what happened and the reasons it happened and the end result?

DICK CHENEY: In terms of the interrogation, generally?

JIM LEHRER: Yes, absolutely.

DICK CHENEY: General policy?

JIM LEHRER: General policy.

DICK CHENEY: Absolutely.