Dick Cheney: Obama Lost Some Opportunities With His Handling Of Osama Bin Laden Raid

Dick Cheney Hits Obama Administration For Handling Of Bin Laden Raid

If former Vice President Dick Cheney was at the helm when Osama bin Laden was killed, some things would have been done differently.

In a Thursday radio interview with conservative host Hugh Hewitt, Cheney was asked whether he would have advised president Barack Obama to "allow the victory dance that occurred and the operational details to come out." Cheney's answer amounted to no.

“You don’t go out and broadcast the fact that you’ve got the guy," Cheney said. "You want to take that intelligence and be able to exploit it over the next few nights, and wrap up large parts of the network. … They were in such a hurry to go out … and announce victory, that I’m convinced that they probably did not get maximum damage out of the intel that they had captured.”

Back in May 2011 at the time of the capture, Cheney credited the Obama administration for its sound judgment in carrying out the mission. But on Thursday, he also appeared to suggest that the president and his staff never really credited the Bush administration for its part in the puzzle.

"They needed to recognize, as some have, although he never really has, but all the work that was done by our intel professionals over a period of ten years to make that possible," Cheney told Hewitt.

Cheney's comments come nearly a week after he sat down with CBS' "60 Minutes," voicing fears that terrorists could use an electrical device near his heart to kill him. The former vice president said those worries were stoked by an episode of the Showtime series "Homeland," in which that type of scenario was showcased.

"I found it credible," Cheney said. "I know from the experience we had, and the necessity for adjusting my own device, that it was an accurate portrayal of what was possible."

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