Dick Cheney versus Colin Powell: Memoir feeds the feud.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday defended the way he treats ex-Secretary of State Colin Powell in .
Mr. Cheney told interviewer Matt Lauer on NBC鈥檚 鈥淭oday鈥� that while there are passages in the book critical of Mr. Powell, there are also chapters about how well the pair worked together at the Pentagon when Cheney was secretary of Defense and Powell was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
鈥淪o there鈥檚 a lot of very positive stuff in there. But a balanced account, I think, also required me to put down what my opinion was, and that鈥檚 what I鈥檝e done,鈥� .
Cheney鈥檚 memoir is being officially released Tuesday. Among its most notable overall themes is that the Bush administration cabinet was a , a group of antagonists who disagreed with each other 鈥� or at least with Vice President Cheney 鈥� and fought and backstabbed in the best Washington bureaucratic traditions.
For instance, in the book Cheney accuses Powell of undercutting President Bush鈥檚 move to invade Iraq by expressing doubts about the policy to people outside the administration. Things reached the point where after the 2004 election, Cheney pushed Mr. Bush to fire Powell, he writes. Powell鈥檚 resignation in November of that year 鈥渨as for the best,鈥� Cheney writes.
鈥淚n My Time鈥� also describes CIA chief George Tenet as resigning in 2004 鈥渨hen the going got tough.鈥� It includes a scene where Powell鈥檚 successor at Foggy Bottom, Condoleezza Rice, 鈥渢earfully鈥� admits she鈥檇 been wrong to push Bush to apologize for inaccurate statements alleging that Iraq had tried to obtain yellowcake uranium in Niger.
Powell, for his part, has not let these allegations go. Appearing Sunday on CBS 鈥淔ace the Nation,鈥� he denied that he had undercut the war in Iraq, pointing out that it was he who made a presentation to the UN on Iraq鈥檚 alleged weapons of mass destruction (a presentation based on intelligence that turned out to be faulty.)
Powell also said that Cheney did not push him out 鈥� he resigned of his own accord. And he accused Cheney of taking 鈥渃heap shots鈥� at his former colleagues.
鈥淗e has taken the same shots at Condi with an almost condescending tone; she tearfully did this or that. And he鈥檚 taken the same shots at George Tenet, and he has also, in some ways, indicated he didn鈥檛 always approve of what President Bush was deciding,鈥� said Powell.
On Tuesday, Cheney defended not only his treatment of his colleagues but the invasion of Iraq itself.
鈥淲e eliminated a major source of proliferation. And when we took down Saddam Hussein, Muammar Qaddafi got religion and gave up all of his nukes,鈥� said Cheney.
Nor is Cheney backing down on his approval of harsh interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, despite polls showing most Americans consider them torture.
鈥淎nd I would argue, Matt, that it鈥檚 important for us not to get caught up in the notion that you can only have popular methods of interrogation if you want to run an effective counterterrorism program,鈥� Cheney told Lauer. 鈥淭he fact is it worked.鈥�
