CIA chief believes Cheney almost wants US attacked

8220;It8217;s almost,a little bit,gallows politics. When you read behind it,it8217;s almost as if he8217;s wishing that this country would be attacked again,in order to make his point.8221;

Cheney,who was a key advocate in the Bush administration of controversial interrogation methods such as waterboarding,has become as a leading Republican critic of Obama8217;s ban on harsh interrogations and his plan to shut the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay,Cuba.

In a blistering May 21 speech,Cheney said Obama8217;s reversal of Bush-era policies were 8220;unwise in the extreme8221; that would make the American people less safe.

Panetta called Cheney8217;s actions 8220;dangerous politics.8221;

He told The New Yorker he had favoured the creation of an independent truth commission to look into the detainee polices of former President George W. Bush. But the idea died in April when Obama decided such a panel could be seen as politically vindictive.