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Dick Cheney: Obama Drone Program Is 'A Good Policy'

Cheney: Obama Drone Program Is 'A Good Policy'
AP/The Huffington Post
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WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Dick Cheney says the Obama administration's policy of targeting terrorists abroad with unmanned drone strikes is "a good policy," even though he disagrees with most of President Barack Obama's views on national security.

In an interview that aired Tuesday on "CBS This Morning," Cheney dismissed the need for "checks and balances" against the drone program. He says Obama "is getting paid to make difficult, difficult decisions."

The drone program came under scrutiny last week during Senate hearing on counterterrorism adviser John Brennan's nomination to become director of the CIA. Brennan oversaw many of the drone strikes from his White House office.

Overall, Cheney calls Obama's foreign policy "terribly flawed." He says Obama came to office looking "to reduce U.S. influence in the world."

The Associated Press reported that Saturday night, Cheney criticized Obama for appointing "second-rate people" to his national security team.

"The performance now of Barack Obama as he staffs up the national security team for the second term is dismal," he said to the Wyoming Republican Party.

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Before You Go

Protests Against Drones
Lahore(01 of22)
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Pakistani NGOs workers shout slogans against US drone attacks and religious fundamentalism during a protest in Lahore on October 21, 2010. (Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Manila(02 of22)
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Protesters set on fire to a mock model of a U.S. drone during a rally near the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines, on Friday Jan. 11, 2013. They protested an unarmed target drone found in central Philippine waters over the weekend which U.S. officials claimed was launched from a U.S. Navy ship during a combat exercise off Guam last year and may have been washed by ocean currents to the country. The embassy spokeswoman Bettina Malone said the BQM-74E drone was launched from the USS Chafee, a guided-missile destroyer, as a mock missile target during naval combat exercises off Guam. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) (credit:AP)
Islamabad(03 of22)
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American anti-war coalition CodePink activists, protest while fasting to condemn U.S. drone attacks in Pakistani tribal region, Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012 in Islamabad, Pakistan. The placard, center, reads, "fasting for peace." (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash) (credit:AP)
New York(04 of22)
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Nick Mottern of Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., hands out information to a passerby as he stands beneath a model of an unmanned drone, which he labeled an "unmanned assasination vehicle" during an anti-war teach-in as part of the Occupy Wall Street protest now in its fourth week at Zuccotti Park in New York, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2011. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens) (credit:AP)
Washington DC(05 of22)
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A cardboard 'drone' is seen at an occupy DC camp in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC. Occupy DC's website states the movement is built on the example of Occupy Wall Street, whose activists have continuously camped out in a New York park since September 17. (KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Lahore(06 of22)
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Activists of the Pakistani fundamentalist Islamic party Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) shout slogans against the release of CIA contractor Raymond Davis and an US drone strike in the Pakistani tribal area, during a protest rally in Lahore on March 18, 2011. (Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Islamabad (07 of22)
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A Pakistani boy holds a placard during the second day of protests against the US drone attacks along with tribesmen of north Waziristan in Islamabad on December 10, 2010. (FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Washington DC(08 of22)
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Members of Pax Christi USA, Foreign Policy in Focus, CODEPINK and other organizations, mock and protest the unmanned US drone attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan on October 7, 2010 at Union Station in Washington DC. (KIMIHIRO HOSHINO/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Multan(09 of22)
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Pakistani demonstrators shout anti-US slogans during a protest in Multan on January 8, 2013, against the drone attacks in Pakistan's tribal areas. (S.S MIRZA/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Islamabad(10 of22)
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American citizens rally in Islamabad, Pakistan against drone attacks in Pakistani tribal belt, Friday, Oct. 5, 2012. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash) (credit:AP)
North Carolina(11 of22)
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Protesters march with a drone effigy outside Duke Energy headquarters in Uptown, the Charlotte the business district, before the start of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) September 2, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Florida(12 of22)
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Thomas Bolanos holds an American flag as he joins others in a protest in front of a Raytheon company building which they say is building military drones on August 23, 2012 in Largo, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Florida(13 of22)
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Dina Formentini (C) and Code Pink leader Medea Benjamin (R) join others in a protest in front of a Raytheon company building which they say is building military drones on August 23, 2012 in Largo, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Florida(14 of22)
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Code Pink leader Medea Benjamin holds a sign reading, 'Raytheon's Drones Create Enemies,' as she joins others in a protest in front of a Raytheon company building which they say is building military drones on August 23, 2012 in Largo, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Florida(15 of22)
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Clay Colson holds a sign reading, ' Healthcare not Warfare!', as he joins others in a protest in front of a Raytheon company building which they say is building military drones on August 23, 2012 in Largo, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Florida(16 of22)
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Code Pink leader Medea Benjamin holds a sign reading, 'Raytheon's Drones Create Enemies,' as she listens to a police officer ask the group to move to a public sidewalk durin a protest in front of a Raytheon company building which they say is building military drones on August 23, 2012 in Largo, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Florida(17 of22)
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Liz, who only wanted to be identified by her first name, holds a sign reading, 'Obama's Drones Kill Americans, Too,' as she joins others in a protest in front of a Raytheon company building which they say is building military drones on August 23, 2012 in Largo, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Florida(18 of22)
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James L. holds a sign reading, ' Obama is just another war prez ', as he joins others in a protest in front of a Raytheon company building which they say is building military drones on August 23, 2012 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Philippines (19 of22)
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Protesters display placards during a rally near the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines, on Friday Jan. 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) (credit:AP)
Philippines (20 of22)
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Protesters march towards the U.S. Embassy in Manila with a mock model of a U.S. drone Friday Jan. 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) (credit:AP)
YEMEN-UNREST-DEMO-DRONE(21 of22)
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Yemenis hold up a sign in Arabic that reads, 'No to Foreign Intervention...No to American Terrorism' during a protest against US drone attacks on Yemen close to the home of Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, in the capital Sanaa, on January 28, 2013. Strikes by US drones in Yemen nearly tripled in 2012 compared to 2011, with 53 recorded against 18, according to the Washington-based think-tank New America Foundation. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
YEMEN-UNREST-DEMO-DRONE(22 of22)
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A Yemeni hold up a banner during a protest against US drone attacks on Yemen close to the home of Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, in the capital Sanaa, on January 28, 2013. Strikes by US drones in Yemen nearly tripled in 2012 compared to 2011, with 53 recorded against 18, according to the Washington-based think-tank New America Foundation. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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