You are using an outdated browser.
Please upgrade your browser
and improve your visit to our site.
Skip Navigation

Cheney's Twisted Logic

One more thing about that Cheney interview. He says:

“If you release the hard-core Al Qaeda terrorists that are held at Guantanamo, I think they go back into the business of trying to kill more Americans and mount further mass-casualty attacks,” he said. “If you turn ’em loose and they go kill more Americans, who’s responsible for that?”

This has fast become a favorite GOP talking point--the theory that we should detain hundreds of people for eternity to guard against the risk that a handful might recidivate. But here's the thing. If you want to adopt Cheney's logic, then that leaves the Bush administration exposed as well. That's because, before Obama sought to close Gitmo, the Bush administration had been releasing some of its detainees. And some of them have indeed gone back to being terrorists. Just today, in the NYT, comes this report from Saudi Arabia:

Eleven Saudis who were released from