US more vulnerable now, says Cheney
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WASHINGTON - In an interview two weeks after leaving office, former vice president Dick Cheney predicted a "high probability" of a nuclear or biological attack in the next few years and said the Obama administration is approaching a "tough, mean, dirty, nasty business" of keeping the country safe from terrorists too timidly.
Cheney singled out President Obama's decision to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and to ban coercive interrogation methods as changes in course that could make the country more vulnerable.
He also sought to justify the Bush terrorist surveillance program and the antiterrorism legislation called the USA Patriot Act.
"Those policies we put in place, in my opinion, were absolutely crucial to getting us through the last seven-plus years without a major-casualty attack on the US," he told Politico.
Cheney was unapologetic about the previous administration's failure to head off the economic downturn.
"We did worry about it, to some extent," he said. "I don't think anybody actually foresaw something of this size and dimension occurring."
NEW YORK TIMES
But in just the third week of the Obama administration, the ailing Kennedy has won major victories on several fronts. Yesterday, Obama signed legislation expanding a children's health program Kennedy and Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, authored in 1997.
Kennedy, battling a malignant brain tumor and recuperating in Florida, was not able to attend the signing ceremony in the White House. He was ordered by his doctors to get some rest after suffering a seizure at a luncheon on inauguration day.
But with his party controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House, Kennedy can count two other accomplishments as well. In his first week, the new president signed a ban on torture - a year and a half after Kennedy sought unsuccessfully to get his Torture Prevention and Effective Interrogation Act passed.
And last week, Obama made the first bill he signed into law one that gives plaintiffs more time to prove pay disparity cases, mirroring a bill Kennedy introduced in 2007.
"We've passed legislation that will dramatically improve the lives of children, institute pay equity where there was none, and worked toward ending torture abroad," Kennedy said in a statement. "I'm hopeful that the days to come will be just as productive."
SUSAN MILLIGAN
The address, coming on the 35th day of his presidency, will give him his highest-profile opportunity since the inauguration to talk to Americans.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
