Former Vice President Dick Cheney said the US should restart the harsh detention and interrogation practices used on terror suspects after 9/11, and called on the Senate to confirm CIA nominee Gina Haspel. Brutal interrogation practices are currently banned under US law, but debate on the issue has re-surfaced during Haspel's confirmation process because she was once involved in the CIA's interrogation program. Cheney told Fox Business on Thursday that if it were up to him, he would have the program active and ready to be employed if needed. He says the program was necessary to keep the US safe from attacks and that he doesn't think the techniques used amounted to torture.
"I think the techniques we used were not torture," said Cheney, per the AP. "A lot of people try to call it that, but it wasn't deemed torture at the time. People want to go back and try to rewrite history, but if it were my call, I'd do it again." Haspel is expected to get the nod from the GOP-controlled Senate intelligence committee, but senators are still deciding whether they will vote to confirm her when the full Senate votes in upcoming weeks. "I think she'd be a great CIA director," Cheney said. Haspel, currently the acting director of the CIA, told members of the Senate intelligence committee during her confirmation hearing on Wednesday that, if confirmed, she would not restart the interrogation program.
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