Will Dick Cheney Ever Shut Up?

For weeks, Dick Cheney, the former - underline former - Vice President, has been criticizing and sometimes just blasting President Obama for his policies toward terror suspects, saying that Obama's misguided policies (respect for the Constitution, understanding of the law, valuing human rights) have made us less safe and more prone to a terrorist attack. Today President Obama reiterated his position on his plan to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba, insisting that no detainees will be released in the continental U.S. and that all of them would be jailed in maximum security prisons where the number of escapees can be counted on zero fingers. As for how to proceed with prosecuting and handling these detainees, Obama said that George Walker Bush left a mess by setting up this detainment system in the first place and not thinking it out properly.

That didn't stop Cheney from bringing up all of the red-herring arguments that the Bush White House never tortured anyone, that the previous administration got information on terror plots that were foiled (none of which were realistic or plausible), and that Bush saved American lives (except for the five thousand service personnel or so killed in Iraq). Cheney even suggested anew that Saddam Hussein had connections to "Mideast terrorists," letting people assume he meant there was a connection the Iraqi dictator had with Osama bin Laden (there was none) and that bin Laden's organization has been deterred from planning another terrorist attack (though we've been deterred from capturing bin Laden after letting him go at Tora Bora in Afghanistan).

However, the advantage has been to Cheney and the Republicans, who got the Senate to reject funds for closing the Guantanamo Bay prison while Obama tries to work out a plan for handling the detainees. Obama hasn't gotten support from his base, either, as he has chosen to revive military tribunals for some terror suspects (although he is revamping how they would work), oppose a truth commission to investigate past treatment of the Gitmo prisoners, and has even used the previous administration's "state secrets" doctrine that claims unchecked presidential power to prevent information disclosure in court.

Obama, in a word, won no friends. He tried to stay in the middle, but there is no middle ground on this issue.

The Gitmo issue won't go away any time soon. Alas, neither will Cheney.