Dick Cheney Latest, Highest Profile Bush Administration Official to Support Obama Drone Policy
John Bolton, Karl Rove also defended the president's policy
Former Vice President Dick Cheney became the highest profile Bush Administration official to come out in support of President Obama's drone targeted killings policy when he dismissed concerns about "checks and balances" and explained on CBS This Morning that Obama's "paid to make difficult, difficult decisions." Other Bush era officials who the president's targeted killings:
Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton: "[t]he approach that the Obama administration is following is consistent with and really derived from the Bush administration approach to the War on Terror, and I think it is entirely sensible. Whether it is foreign citizens who are involved with Al Qaeda or American citizens, we are in a war. They have attacked us. We have a congressional authorization to use military force in response.
Former CIA Director Michael Hayden: "I find it very remarkable that two very different presidents, two very different administrations have such a powerful continuity, a powerful continuum in their counterterrorism strategy… I am quite comfortable that what the Attorney General laid out [on targeted killings at Northwestern last March] is more than legally sufficient and I know it's operationally effective."
Former senior Bush advisor Karl Rove: "I want to give the President the benefit of the doubt. I do believe the president has to have tools like this to deal with people like al-Awlaki. This was a U.S. citizen, admittedly, but he was part of the Al-Qaeda leadership in Yemen, he was a prime mover, he appeared in videos, we had solid evidence that he was an activist in the leadership of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Penninsula and he was a threat to the United States and God bless President Obama for having the courage to take him out."
Former Assistant Attorney General John Yoo argued Obama is actually diluting his war powers: "Mr. Obama hasn't issued American 007s a license to kill. The real story revealed by the memo is that the Obama administration is trying to dilute the normal practice of war with law-enforcement methods. Its approach reflects the mind-set of an administration populated with officials who spent the Bush years decrying military methods then employed and are now trying to impose a weaker law-enforcement approach to combating terrorism."
Reason on drones
