In an interview with NBC‘s Matt Lauer on Tuesday, former Vice President Dick Cheney defended many of the most controversial decisions made during his tenure, including waterboarding (“the fact is it worked”) and the decision to go to war in Iraq (“I think it was sound policy that dealt with a very serious problem”).
“I don’t think that it damaged our reputation around the world,” Cheney said of Iraq. “I just don’t believe that. I think critics here at home would argue that.”
Cheney’s interview was part of a media tour to promote his new memoir, “In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir.” So far the book has already been attacked by former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who accuses Cheney of taking “cheap shots” at former Bush administration officials.
“It’s not necessary to take these kinds of barbs and then try to pump a book up by saying, ‘Heads will be exploding’,” Powell said. “I think it’s a bit too far. I think Dick overshot the runway with that kind of comment, if that’s how he plans to sell his book.”
Cheney defended himself to Lauer, noting that he had “a lot of very positive stuff in there” about Powell, but he just “wrote the events as I participated in them.”
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