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Cheney turns on fellow members of Bush cabinet
From Politico.com
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is firing back at Dick Cheney for what she called an “attack on my integrity” in the former Vice President’s new memoir.
Rice spoke to Reuters on Wednesday, pushing back for the first time on claims Cheney levels against her in his recently released book “In My Time.” Like her predecessor Colin Powell, Rice said Cheney’s book takes “cheap shots” at members of George W. Bush’s administration.
On post-9/11 security legacy
In her first public comments on the issue, Rice took aim at Cheney’s assertion that she misled President Bush during nuclear negotiations with North Korea.
“I kept the president fully and completely informed about every in and out of the negotiations with the North Koreans,” Rice told Reuters. “You can talk about policy differences without suggesting that your colleague somehow misled the president. You know, I don’t appreciate the attack on my integrity that that implies.”
Rice also challenged Cheney’s story that detailed her coming into his office and “tearfully” admitting she had been wrong to push for Bush to apologize for inaccurately alleging that Iraq had attempted to obtain yellowcake uranium in Niger.
“It certainly doesn’t sound like me, now, does it?” Rice said. “I would never — I don’t remember coming to the vice president tearfully about anything in the entire eight years that I knew him.”
Rice added that “I did say to the vice president, ‘you know, you were right about the press reaction.’ But I am quite certain that I didn’t do it tearfully.”
Although Rice said Cheney is “somebody with whom I had a good relationship and for whom I had, and still have, a great deal of respect,” she told Reuters she agreed with Powell’s assessment that the former vice president unfairly attacks many members of the Bush team.
“But I have to say that some of the things that he said about his colleagues are not in keeping with the high respect that I have always had for him,” she said. “I think they do fall into the category of cheap shots.”
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is firing back at Dick Cheney for what she called an “attack on my integrity” in the former Vice President’s new memoir.
Rice spoke to Reuters on Wednesday, pushing back for the first time on claims Cheney levels against her in his recently released book “In My Time.” Like her predecessor Colin Powell, Rice said Cheney’s book takes “cheap shots” at members of George W. Bush’s administration.
On post-9/11 security legacy
In her first public comments on the issue, Rice took aim at Cheney’s assertion that she misled President Bush during nuclear negotiations with North Korea.
“I kept the president fully and completely informed about every in and out of the negotiations with the North Koreans,” Rice told Reuters. “You can talk about policy differences without suggesting that your colleague somehow misled the president. You know, I don’t appreciate the attack on my integrity that that implies.”
Rice also challenged Cheney’s story that detailed her coming into his office and “tearfully” admitting she had been wrong to push for Bush to apologize for inaccurately alleging that Iraq had attempted to obtain yellowcake uranium in Niger.
“It certainly doesn’t sound like me, now, does it?” Rice said. “I would never — I don’t remember coming to the vice president tearfully about anything in the entire eight years that I knew him.”
Rice added that “I did say to the vice president, ‘you know, you were right about the press reaction.’ But I am quite certain that I didn’t do it tearfully.”
Although Rice said Cheney is “somebody with whom I had a good relationship and for whom I had, and still have, a great deal of respect,” she told Reuters she agreed with Powell’s assessment that the former vice president unfairly attacks many members of the Bush team.
“But I have to say that some of the things that he said about his colleagues are not in keeping with the high respect that I have always had for him,” she said. “I think they do fall into the category of cheap shots.”
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