Ex-Bush Officials Hit Obama’s Terrorism Policies, Casual Duds
Former Bush officials are taking to the airwaves to criticize everything from the Obama administration’s terrorism policies to the president’s casual clothing.
“The knives are already out,” the Washington Post reports. The story says “the tenor of the comments is remarkable so soon after the start of a new administration.”
One of the critics is former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the Post says. He told National Public Radio that he disagreed with the new attorney general, Eric Holder, who said during his confirmation hearing that waterboarding is torture.
Gonzales told the NPR news program Tell Me More that Holder “needs to be careful in making a blanket pronouncement like that” because it could affect the “morale and the dedication” of intelligence officials and administration lawyers.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney attacked President Obama’s terror policies, including new interrogation rules and his plans to close Guantanamo, in an interview with Politico, the Post notes.
Counterterrorism is “a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business,” Cheney said. “When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an al-Qaida terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry.”
Cheney said there is a “high probability” that terrorists will attempt a nuclear or biological attack and they may be more likely to succeed because of Obama’s policies.
Former chief of staff Andrew Card talked about his concern with appearances—more specifically clothing choices—in an interview with Inside Edition. Obama was photographed in shirtsleeves during his first full day in office, and he has proclaimed that weekends are business casual.
“There should be a dress code of respect,” Card said. “I’m disappointed to see the casual, laissez faire, short sleeves, no shirt and tie, no jacket, kind of locker-room experience that seems to be taking place in this White House and the Oval Office.”
