CIA: Panetta doesn't believe Cheney rooting for terrorist attack
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/06/15/art.panetta.gi.jpg caption="A CIA spokesman said Panetta does not believe Cheney is hoping for a terrorist attack."](CNN) - A CIA spokesman is sharply downplaying Director Leon Panetta 's recent comments that appear to question whether former Vice President Dick Cheney is hoping for another terrorist attack against the United States.
"The Director does not believe the former Vice President wants an attack," CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said in a statement to CNN. "He did not say that. He was simply expressing his profound disagreement with the assertion that President Obama's security policies have made our country less safe. Nor did he question anyone's motives."
The statement comes days after the New Yorker published an interview with Panetta during which he said Cheney's recent criticism of Obama – including the decision to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba – show the ex-vice president "smells some blood in the water on the national security issue."
"It's almost, a little bit, gallows politics," said Panetta. "When you read behind it, it's almost as if he's wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point."
Cheney's office released a terse statement from the vice president Monday responding to the comments, saying "I hope my old friend Leon was misquoted."
"The important thing is whether or not the Obama Administration will continue the policies that have kept us safe for the last 8 years," Cheney said.
Vice President Joe Biden also appeared to distance himself from Panetta's comments Sunday, telling NBC "I don't question [Cheney's] motive."
- CNN's Pam Benson contributed to this report
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@Jefe....don't you know "enemy combatant" is now a politically incorrect term according to our great leader and such men do not exist
. So, you cannot call Cheney an enemy combatant becausehe has not raised a gun and fired against americans. Of course, he has fought the enemy unlike the presidential community organizer. This attitude of Obama to merandize and no enemy combatant label just shows how ignorant he is to national security. He has a CIA chief with no experience and the great Obama was not privy as a senator to material of threat to national; security. We already see how much North Korea and Iran respect him...NOT. Do I feel safe...no! Isn't it better to have evil who knows evil. Some day Obama will learn what Cheney already knows about pre and post 9/11 along with the rest of the citizens.