Senator Carl Levin: Cheney Lying

Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says the committee’s investigation into detainee abuse “gives the lie to Mr. Cheney’s claims.” Levin spoke at the annual dinner of the Foreign Policy Association.

The Michigan Democrat told the crowd that the two CIA documents that Cheney wants released “say nothing about numbers of lives saved, nor do the documents connect acquisition of valuable intelligence to the use of abusive techniques.”

“I hope that the documents are declassified, so that people can judge for themselves what is fact, and what is fiction,” he added.

Memos released in April show that BushCo authorized techniques such as waterboarding, stress positions, slapping and sleep deprivation, among others.  Cheney has claimed release of two additional would enable us to have an “honest debate.”  Levin, whose claims about those memos echo those of Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold, explained why he’s speaking out.

“Cheney’s world view, which so dominated the Bush years and dishonored our nation, gained a little traction last week — enough to persuade me to address it head-on here tonight,” Levin said. “I do so because if the abusive interrogation techniques that he champions, the face of which were the pictures of abuse at Abu Ghraib, if they are once more seen as representative of America, our security will be severely set back.”

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.