Meghan McCain on Thursday defended her father, who was a Vietnam prisoner of war, against an attack from Liz Cheney, who tried justifying the CIA’s enhanced interrogation program under her father’s vice presidency.
After Trump announced his new nominee for CIA director as Gina Haspel, Republican Sen. John McCain said that the career CIA officer should answer for her role in the agency’s interrogation and detention program.
Rep. Liz Cheney, daughter of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney, replied to the Arizona senator: “The Enhanced Interrogation Program saved lives, prevented attacks, & produced intel that led to Osama bin Laden.”
“The techniques were the same as those used on our own people in the (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) program,” the Wyoming Republican said, referring to the US military training. “No one should slander the brave men & women who carried out this crucial program.”
“My father doesn’t need torture explained to him,” Meghan McCain tweeted in response Thursday.
During his service in the Vietnam War, John McCain was taken as a POW for more than five years, subjected to torture and solitary confinement. As a US senator, McCain has advocated against using torture methods to detract intelligence.
Former Vice President Cheney, on the other hand, has strongly defended the extreme interrogation techniques used during George W. Bush’s administration on detainees in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Liz Cheney’s comments were a day before the anniversary of John McCain’s release as a POW 45 years ago.