Cheney: 'Would do exactly the same' ("If I had it to do all over again")

I would not ordinarily be leading the charge to declassify classified information,'' Cheney said in an appearance at the National Press Club this afternoon.... "Otherwise, they would not be calling me Darth Vader for nothing,'' he said to some laughter. " I think the declassification of those documents would serve a public purpose, and enlighten the public.''

Asked about the relationship between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, Cheney said this: "The prime source of information on the relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda was George Tenet,'' former CIA director. "There was a relationship between al Qaeda and Iraq that stretched back 10 years. That's not something I made up... That's something the director of the CIA was telling us.

"We know that he was making $25,000 payments to the families of suicide bombers... We know there were other terrorists... who had found safe harbor in Iraq over the years,'' Cheney said. "I do not believe, and I have never seen any evidence to confirm, that he was involved in 9/11... But the fact of Saddam Hussein being a terrorist-sponsoring state... was, I think, a fact.''

...

"We had to do everything in our power to prevent that next attack,'' Cheney said. "To some extent, our success has allowed our fellow citizens to say, 'Oh, there was nothing to worry about.'

"If I had it to do all over again, I would do exactly the same thing,'' he said. "I don't have much tolerance or patience for those who have the benefit of hindsight eight years later and have forgotten what happened on 9/11.... Just imagine, what would happen if you had 19 men in one of our cities... armed with a nuclear weapon or (a biological weapon.)''

Read more: http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2009/06...