Liz Cheney: Dad compelled to refute Obama

Former Vice President Dick Cheney, battling heart disease, wanted to trade the White House for a less-stressful private life in 2009 but felt compelled to protect Americans against what he considered President Obama’s dangerous national security decisions, daughter Liz Cheney said Thursday.

Mrs. Cheney told The Washington Times’ “America’s Morning News” radio show her father largely was prompted by Mr. Obama’s early decisions to attempt to close the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for terror suspects and to announce potential plans to prosecute CIA officials.

“Those two in particular were the ones that made my dad say, ‘Wait a minute — the American people deserve to know the truth,” said Mrs. Cheney, who founded the Washington-based Keep America Safe group and openly has considered a run for public office.

She also said her father felt the same way when Mr. Obama announced he would release the details of the Bush administration’s advanced interrogation program for suspected terrorists.

“He said, ‘That’s wrong, but if you’re going to do that, then the American people need to know, at a minimum, what we gained from that program,’” Mrs. Cheney said.

She also said her 69-year-old-year father, who last week suffered his fifth heart attack, never sought approval from his former boss, President George W. Bush, for his numerous public appearances over roughly the past 13 months to defend their administration’s policies.

“But I think President Bush has been pretty clear since then that he’s been supportive,” said Mrs. Cheney, who calls the Obama administration’s national security policies “incompetent and naive.”