Dick Cheney: The real torture was 9/11

Former Vice President Dick Cheney, who has been a vocal critic of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on CIA interrogation tactics, going so far as to call it “all a bunch of hooey” and “full of crap,” had an extended interview Sunday morning on “Meet the Press,” where he said the only torture occurred on Sept. 11, 2001.

Cheney also said the rectal feedings that were carried out against suspected terrorists were for “medical reasons.”

“In my mind, I’ve told you what meets the definition of torture: What 19 guys armed with airplane tickets and box cutters did on 9/11,” Cheney told host Chuck Todd. “What was done here was certainly not one of the techniques that was approved (by the White House).

“I believe it was done for medical reasons,” Cheney said.

There’s also no doubt in his mind the interrogation tactics were justified.

“I’d do it again in a minute,” Cheney said. “It absolutely did work.”

When Todd described the techniques used by CIA officials, Cheney circled back to 9/11.

“Torture is what the al Qaeda terrorists did to 3,000 Americans on 9/11,” he said.