Dana Perino, who served as White House press secretary during the Bush administration, lauded the CIA’s controversial torture program in a glowing tribute to her former boss, Vice President Dick Cheney, following his death on Tuesday.
Cheney, who played a central role in pushing falsified evidence to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq, passed away at the age of 84. Speaking to Fox News in the wake of Cheney’s death, Perino recalled the controversy late into Bush’s second term after reports revealed that the CIA had destroyed approximately 90 videotapes depicting agents torturing detainees.
“I woke up to headlines,” Perino said. “I didn’t have all the information, of course, as the interrogation program was such a highly classified operation. That morning, before I briefed, everybody came to see me. I ended up going into the Oval Office where I saw the president, the vice president, and the national security advisor. I’ll never forget that the one thing I was assured of.”
Perino shared how Cheney and others warned her that her impending briefing with reporters was “going to be very difficult for you,” but they assured her with “100% conviction that those interrogations saved American lives.”
“I felt my spine straighten. I walked out and did the briefing — the best briefing I ever did!” Perino recalled. “I was so assured by the courage of their conviction to do the right thing, the very difficult thing, and always to protect the men and women in our intelligence community.”
Following the 9/11 attacks, the CIA established a network of detention centers around the world known as “black sites,” where detainees were subjected to various forms of torture. These included sexual abuse, exposure to freezing temperatures for extended periods, forced sleep deprivation, and confinement in enclosed spaces for hundreds of hours at a time.
For Perino, however, the interrogators “did the right thing.” She also criticized former President Barack Obama, falsely claiming that he sought to prosecute CIA interrogators responsible for torturing detainees.
“Now, you’ll remember, President Obama wanted to prosecute them!” Perino stated. “And Dick Cheney, who usually stayed pretty quiet after the White House, came out one time just to spite President Obama and defend those men and women in intelligence.”
In reality, President Obama issued an executive order prohibiting the CIA from torturing detainees going forward. His administration also declined to prosecute agents for past acts of torture.
Perino’s comments paint a starkly different picture from historical facts, reflecting ongoing debates about national security, accountability, and human rights.
https://www.rawstory.com/dick-cheney-2674263060/
