Dick Cheney, proud torturer.

Former US Vice President Dick Cheney proclaimed once again over the weekend that he believes torture applied to war-on-terror detainees in U.S. custody after 9/11 worked brilliantly to reveal terror plots — this despite testimony to the contrary from a CIA investigator who looked into the details of these abusive interrogations.

Snip from Washington Post item by John Amick:

Cheney’s statements come six days after the release of a 2004 CIA Inspector General report (pdf) that documents a litany of interrogation tactics used on detainees, including waterboarding, “walling,” face-slapping and at least one mock execution. Cheney’s views, though, contradict those of former CIA inspector general John Helgerson, who wrote in the report that there is no proof that such techniques were responsible for reliable information that helped in foiling terror plans.

“I’m very proud of what we did in terms of defending the nation for the last eight years successfully,” Cheney said of the Bush administration’s post-9/11 terror strategy on “Fox News Sunday.” Cheney says he stands behind the interrogation tactics and is convinced the use of those practices were “directly responsible for keeping America safe for eight years.”

Cheney: ‘I’m Very Proud of What We Did’ (Washington Post via Dan Gillmor)

Read this related NYT article, too: A.C.L.U. Lawyers Mine Documents for Truth

Image: excerpt from the table of contents for the 2004 CIA Inspector General report (PDF).