Cheney defends Iraq war as 'sound' policy

Former U.S. vice-president Dick Cheneykicked offa media tour Tuesday to promote his memoir by insistingthe decision to invadeIraqin 2003was "sound policy" and didn't hurt America's reputation abroad.

"I don't think that it damaged our reputation around the world,"Cheney said of the invasion in an interview with NBC's Today show.

"I just dont believe that. I think the critics at home want to argue that. In fact, I think it was sound policy that dealt with a very serious problem and eliminated Saddam Hussein from the kind of problem he presented before."

Cheney,viewedbymany critics asone of the most powerful and divisive figures in U.S. political history,alsosuggested the invasion and subsequent removal of Hussein in Iraq led Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi to "get religion" and halt his regime's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.

"What wouldve happened this week if Moammar Gadhafi had still been in power with a nuclear weapon in Libya?" Cheney told NBC hostMatt Lauer.

"Would he have fled? I doubt it."

Cheney also made light of his controversial reputation when Lauermentioned some ofthe labels applied to him during histerms as vice-president and asked him whether there was something about his personality that inspired such animosity from his critics.

"You left out Darth Vader," Cheney quipped.

Waterboarding 'worked'

The second-in-command in George W. Bush's administration again defendedwaterboarding as a "safe, legal and effective" method of interrogation, despite the practice beingcondemned by human rights organizations and Bush's successor Barack Obama as torture.

Cheney said only "a handful" of extremist figures, such as accused al-Qaeda and 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, were subjected to waterboarding, which simulates drowning by forcing water down a bound subject's nose and mouth.

"The fact is, it worked," he said, while noting those waterboarded were not American citizens. "We learned valuable, valuable information from that process and we kept the country safe for over seven years."

ButCheney said he would oppose the same technique being applied to an American accused of espionage abroad on the grounds that the United States has obligations to "do everything we can to protect our citizens."

Anger over Bush's pardon refusal for Libby

Cheney, currently on a promotional tour for Tuesday's release of his memoirIn My Time,has previouslypredicted "headsare going tobe exploding all over Washington"over the contents of the book.

The memoir reveals some details of rifts between members of Bush's team of advisers, as well as anger with Bush over his refusal to pardon Cheney's chief of staff, Scooter Libby, who was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice as part of the investigation into who leaked the name of CIA agent Valerie Plame.

Cheney recalls urging the president several times to pardon Libby because he felt he wasn't treated fairly in the investigation, andwrites that Bush's decision wasa "grave error."

In the book, Cheneyalso offers less than flattering assessments ofhis former colleagues in the Bush administration, including former secretary of state Colin Powell andthe woman whoreplacedhim in the position,Condoleezza Rice.

The book claims Powell was silent at cabinet meetings over his opposition to the Iraq invasion, an assertion the now-retired Powell denies.

During Tuesday's interview, Cheney saidhis goal for the memoir was thata "balanced account required me to put down what my opinion was."

He alsonoted the book contains "a lot of very positive stuff" on Powell's career in the military and his time as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff while Cheney was defence secretary.

Powell accused Cheney over the weekend of taking "cheap shots" at members of Bush's administration to publicize his memoir, and also disputed Cheney's assertion in the book that he was responsible for pushing Powell out of his role in 2004.