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Feb 14th, 2010


Biden: Cheney is Misinformed or Misleading

VP takes aim at his predecessor over counterterrorism efforts

Video

Biden, Cheney square off on national security (NBC “Today,” Feb. 15, 2010) — Vice president Joe Biden and former vice president Dick Cheney took to Sunday morning airwaves to criticize each other’s administration on national security. NBC’s Savannah Guthrie reports. (02:29)


Feb. 14, 2010

WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday belittled Dick Cheney’s criticism of the Obama administration’s commitment to fighting terrorism as either “misinformed or he is misinforming” and said the Iraq wasn’t worth it because of “the horrible price” paid.

The former vice president fired back gently at his successor, saying, “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by my friend Joe Biden.” Cheney also said that he disagreed with decisions by Bush officials to place shoe bomber Richard Reid on trial in civilian court and to release terrorism suspects from the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The public back-and-forth between current and former administrations played out across the Sunday talks like a pingpong match: Biden’s NBC appearance taped Saturday night from the Olympics in Canada, allowing Cheney to respond on ABC’s “This Week,” before Biden answered later on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Video

Biden: Cheney ‘trying to rewrite history’ (NBC “Meet the Press,” Feb. 14, 2010) — Vice President Joe Biden takes on his predecessor, Dick Cheney, and his criticisms of the Obama administration’s handling of terror suspects. (03:48)

In getting in the last world, Biden said: “Thank God the last administration didn’t listen to him in the end” on how to handle terrorism suspects.

The vice president insisted again that the ongoing debate on the best way to bring terrorist suspects to justice ignored that the Obama administration was acting on the precedents set by the Bush administration. Cheney was vice president under Bush for eight years. …

Video

Cheney, Biden take verbal fight to Sunday talks (MSNBC, Feb. 14, 2010) — Vice President Joe Biden dismisses Dick Cheney’s criticism of the Obama administration. NBC’s Mike Viqueira reports. (02:39)

Cheney has been a leading Republican critic of the Obama administration’s handling of national security, contending that President Barack Obama is “trying to pretend” that the U.S. is not at war with terrorists. The result, Cheney says, is that Americans are less safe.

Biden said that under Obama’s direction, the U.S. has been more successful at killing al-Qaida leaders and their followers than it was during the years George W. Bush and Cheney were in the White House.

“We’ve eliminated 12 of their top 20 people. We have taken out 100 of their associates,” said Biden. “They are in fact not able to do anything remotely like they were in the past. They are on the run. I don’t know where Dick Cheney has been. Look, it’s one thing, again, to criticize. It’s another thing to sort of rewrite history. What is he talking about?”

Cheney, Biden said, “either is misinformed or he is misinforming. But the facts are that his assertions are not accurate.”

‘Eye off the ball’

Biden also said the Iraq war hasn’t been worth its “horrible price” and that the Bush mishandled it from the outset by taking its “eye off the ball.” That, he said, left the U.S. in a more dangerous position in Afghanistan, the al-Qaida stronghold where Osama bin Laden and his cohorts plotted the Sept 11 terror attacks.

The war has also cost the United States support from other nations around the world, he said.

Cheney took issue with Biden’s assertion that the Obama White House had been successful in winding down the Iraq war. “For them to try to take credit for what happened in Iraq is a little strange,” Cheney said. “It ought to go with a healthy dose of ‘thank you, George Bush.'” …

More than 4,370 U.S. military personnel have died in Iraq since Bush ordered the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been wounded or killed. …

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Related reports on this site

The Personality Profile of Vice President Joe Biden

The Personality Profile of Vice President Joe Biden
The profile reveals that Joe Biden has an amalgam of dominant (controlling), outgoing (congenial), and ambitious (confident) personality patterns, suggesting a “dominant extravert” leadership type. (Psychological profile by Aubrey Immelman / Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics)

The Personality Profile of Vice President Dick Cheney

The Personality Profile of Vice President Dick Cheney (Aubrey Immelman, Ph.D., Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics, August 2009)
The profile reveals that Dick Cheney has an amalgam of conscientious (obsessive) and dominant (aggressive) personality patterns, suggesting an “obsessive enforcer” leadership type. (Psychological profile by Aubrey Immelman / Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics)

White House Dismisses Dick Cheney (Oct. 24, 2009)

Video
Cheney criticizes Obama on Afghanistan (MSNBC, Oct. 22, 2009) — Former Vice President Dick Cheney accused President Barack Obama of “waffling” on sending more U.S. troops in Afghanistan and warned him to stop “dithering.” Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy and Air America’s Ron Reagan discuss on Hardball. (14:53)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 14, 2009

Image: Site of suicide bombing
A Shiite pilgrim inspects the scene of a suicide bomb attack in Mussayab, south of Baghdad, Iraq on Friday, Feb. 13, 2009. Dozens of people, mostly women and children, were killed in the explosion. (Photo credit: Stringer / Reuters)

Female Suicide Strike in Iraq

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that a female suicide bomber struck a tent filled with women and children resting during a pilgrimage south of Baghdad, killing 40 people and wounding about 80 in the deadliest of three straight days of attacks against Shiite worshippers.





2 Responses to “Biden-Cheney Duel on Talk TV”
  1. Immelman for Congress » Blog Archive » Biden-Cheney Duel on Talk TV | Iraq Today Says:

    […] Vice President Joe Biden belittled Dick Cheney’s criticism of the Obama administration’s commitment to fighting terrorism as either “misinformed or he is misinforming” and said the Iraq wasn’t worth it because of “the horrible price” paid. Read more: Immelman for Congress » Blog Archive » Biden-Cheney Duel on Talk TV […]

  2. Immelman for Congress » Blog Archive » Protests Sweep Middle East Says:

    […] Biden-Cheney Duel on Talk TV […]

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