Another Cheney blasts Obama on terrorism

Like father, like daughter.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney caused a ruckus last week by blasting President Obama's response to the attempted bombing of a US airliner on Christmas Day. Obama, the critic-in-chief said, was pretending that the US wasn't at war with terror.

Liz Cheney today criticized Obama's remarks on Tuesday after huddling with his Cabinet and national security team. Head of an outfit called Keep America Safe, she said his decision to suspend sending detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Yemen, an increasing Al Qaeda hotbed, wasn't enough. While it will delay closing the controversial detention facility since half the remaining 198 detainees are from Yemen, Obama vowed to keep his promise to close it down.

"Pausing the transfer of al-Qaeda terrorists from Guantanamo Bay to Yemen is insufficient to ensure the security of the United States. If President Obama is serious about keeping the American people safe, he should reverse his irresponsible and ill-advised decision to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility," she said in a statement.

"He should reverse his decision to usher terrorists from Guantanamo onto U.S. soil. He should reverse his decision to bring the mastermind of 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, to New York. He should reverse his decision to give KSM and other terrorists the rights of Americans and the benefit of a criminal trial in an American civilian court," Cheney added. "He should immediately classify Abdulmutallab, the Christmas Day bomber, as an illegal enemy combatant, not a criminal defendant. He should inform Attorney General Holder that he will no longer allow the Justice Department to treat terrorism as a crime instead of an act of war, nor will he allow them to investigate or prosecute CIA officials who kept us safe after 9/11, or disbar or otherwise punish the lawyers who provided the legal framework for programs that saved American lives."

She also echoed her father's verbal assault that the president isn't treating the battle against terrorism like the war it is: "President Obama has weakened American security by treating terror as a law enforcement matter, refusing to use every tool at his disposal to prevent attacks, and taking his eye off the ball.  America's homeland security and counterterrorism systems will continue to erode in the absence of strong, consistent, unwavering presidential stewardship.  It's time for the President to make defending this nation his top priority."

UPDATE: Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, hit back today at GOP critics of Obama's handling of the case, including Cheney.

“The failed attempt to bring down a commercial aircraft on Christmas Day is a sober reminder that combating international terrorism remains an extremely urgent foreign policy priority and a top national security mission for the administration," Kerry said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, too many Republicans have treated this episode as a political opportunity. Led by former Vice President Dick Cheney, they have resorted to partisan denunciations that serve no legitimate purpose and have no place in the nation’s vital debate over how to fight terrorism. The hysteria of Mr. Cheney and some of his fellow Republicans is sadly reminiscent of the days when the previous administration substituted fear mongering for sound policy and led us into an unnecessary and tragic war in Iraq while starving a necessary conflict in Afghanistan.

“President Obama was right to demand a full and immediate review of the intelligence failures that permitted the would-be bomber to board a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. The president acted quickly and decisively while avoiding the sensationalism Americans too often witnessed over the last eight years. He should be applauded for forthrightly pinpointing the failure of our intelligence agencies to connect the dots available to them and demanding reforms that will reduce the chances of this sort of mistake occurring again.

“Congress has a vital role to play and critical questions to ask in ensuring that the reforms required to protect the American people will be implemented quickly and effectively. American foreign policy is strongest when it is bipartisan and there is no room for those who try to exploit a potentially tragic incident for political gain. We need a better discussion, and a bipartisan one, on these questions, and that will be an agenda for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2010. Based on an ongoing staff investigation, the Committee will conduct a hearing on counter-terrorism policy in Yemen when Congress returns from recess in mid-January.”