--- title: Liz Cheney Knocks Obama for Torture, Waterboarding Comments description: "Gave it to the President with both barrels," canonical: https://time.com/3089615/liz-cheney-barack-obama-torture/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-07T20:19:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:55.568Z article:section: Politics og:title: Liz Cheney Knocks Obama for Torture, Waterboarding Comments og:description: "Gave it to the President with both barrels," og:url: https://time.com/3089615/liz-cheney-barack-obama-torture/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt186411922c8c143d/69869ec3d0b6f265da3059ba/liz-cheney-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4044 og:image:height: 2275 og:image:alt: Liz Cheney og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Liz Cheney Knocks Obama for Torture, Waterboarding Comments twitter:description: "Gave it to the President with both barrels," twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt186411922c8c143d/69869ec3d0b6f265da3059ba/liz-cheney-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Liz Cheney Knocks Obama for Torture Comments > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Obama Remarks Ending Extraordinary Interrogation [Watch (HLS stream): Obama Remarks Ending Extraordinary Interrogation](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/JG0POBRT.m3u8) (1:04)  _Published 2014-08-03_ by [Zeke J Miller/Chicago](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke J Miller/Chicago Aug 7, 2014 8:19 PM UTC  Liz Cheney speaks during a campaign appearance in Casper, Wyo. on July 17, 2013. Liz Cheney speaks during a campaign appearance in Casper, Wyo. on July 17, 2013. Matt Young—AP by [Zeke J Miller/Chicago](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke J Miller/Chicago Aug 7, 2014 8:19 PM UTC Former Bush Administration official Liz Cheney lambasted President Barack Obama on Thursday for his recent comments on torture. The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney “gave it to the President with both barrels,” one member of the Republican National Committee told TIME in describing Cheney’s remarks at a closed-door meeting of top Republican Party officials. Obama said Friday that “we tortured some folks” in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Speaking on the condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed to reporters, multiple attendees said Cheney defended the practice of waterboarding, which promotes the sensation of drowning, arguing that American military and intelligence personnel are trained how to withstand the practice as part of their training. The younger Cheney and her father recently launched the Alliance for a Strong America, a nonprofit group designed to promote their hawkish foreign policy at a time when factions of the Republican Party—led by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul—have taken a more isolationist turn. Cheney alluded to those dynamics, warning members of the Republican Party’s governing body against “nouveau-isolationist” elements. Cheney also criticized Obama for the situation in Iraq, telling committee members that Obama bears some responsibility for the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) because he failed to maintain a longterm security force in Iraq. Obama’s comments last week came in advance of the release of a Senate Intelligence Committee inquiry into rendition, detention, and interrogation programs during the Bush Administration. The White House sent a redacted version of the report to the Senate on Friday, but Democratic members of the committee are calling for the Obama Administration to declassify more of the report. The former Vice President is set to address RNC members at a dinner reception Thursday night. ## Transcript After I took office. One of the first things I did, was to ban, some of the in -, extraordinary interrogation technique's, that are the subject of that report. And my hope is, is that this report reminds us once again, that, you know. The character of our country, has to be measured in part not by what we do when things are easy but what we do when things are hard. And and, and, and when we engaged in some of these enhanced interrogation techniques. Techniques that I believe. And I think any fair minded person would beleave, were torture. We crossed a line. and, and that needs to be. That need, needs to be understood. And accepted. And we have to, as a country, take responsiblity for that. So that hopefully we don't do it. 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