Cheney's Daughter Launches Group Against Obama's "Weak" Foreign Policy

October 13, 2009 1:15 p.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Liz Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, has launched a group that seeks to defend the policies of the previous administration.

Keep America Safe began its mission to "inform" Americans about the war on terror and missile defense with a web video that accuses President Barack Obama of spending his time playing golf and pushing to host the 2016 Olympics, instead of deciding on troop levels for Afghanistan.

Cheney has partnered with William Kristol, founder and editor of the Weekly Standard, and Debra Burlingame, co-founder of 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America and the sister of the pilot of the plane that crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11, to form the group.

"By turning away from the policies that have kept us safe, by treating terrorism as a law enforcement matter, giving foreign terrorists the same rights as American citizens, launching investigations of CIA agents, cutting defense spending, breaking faith with our allies and attempting to appease our adversaries, the current administration is weakening the nation, and making it more difficult for us to defend our security and our interests," the three conservatives say in their mission statement.

The group's statement echoes those made by former Vice President Dick Cheney, who in the first months of Obama's presidency had been the most vocal defender of aggressive interrogation techniques and other policies of the Bush administration.

The former Vice President told CNN earlier this year that Obama's foreign policy was putting Americans at risk. "When you go back to the law enforcement mode, which I sense is what they're doing, closing Guantanamo and so forth ... they are very much giving up that center of attention and focus that's required, that concept of military threat that is essential if you're going to successfully defend the nation against further attacks," he said.

He later requested the CIA to release memos showing what he said were successful outcomes of the Bush administration's interrogation methods. In June, he issued a scathing and succinct criticism of Obama's national security agenda in speech before the American Enterprise Institute.

Keep America Safe has produced an online video for its launch called "Rhetoric vs. Reality." The video depicts Obama as a commander-in-chief who "talks tough" but has failed to protect the nation.

"Barack Obama knows how to give a great speech," an announcer says. "But when it comes to America'sdefense, the rhetoric doesn't match the reality." The ad then shows clips of the President speaking earliy this year about a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe to protect from potential attacks from Iran, and FOX coverage announcing his decision last month to drop those plans.

Excerpts of two other speeches by Obama, one before CIA employees and another asking for more troops for Afghanistan, are similarly contrasted with FOX coverage, which the ad uses to represent "reality," of Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to investigate alleged interrogation abuses by the Bush administration and of Charles Krauthammer criticizing the President's inaction on whether to send more troops to Aghanstan.

"Not enough time for a decision, but plenty of time for --- Letterman, golf, a beer summit, more golf, vacation and a visit to Copenhagen," the announcer concludes. "If you think America's president must act to defend America, instead of just talking about it, join Keep America Safe today."

The Obama administration is currently reviewing the strategy in Afghanistan, but has received criticisms about how to move the eight-year war forward because of it has yet to approve a recommendation from NATO and U.S. commander Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal warning that the war is in serious jeopardy unless more troops are sent in 12 months.

Last month, the President announced a "stronger, smarter, and swifter" missile defense system in Europe, saying the Pentagon has recommended a shift in the missile program because new intelligence has found that Iran's short- and medium-range missile programs are developing more rapidly than its intercontinental ballistic missile capabilities.

In August, the Justice Department said a special prosecutor would review enhanced interrogation methods used by the CIA under the Bush administration, but that it n"will not prosecute anyone who acted in good faith and within the scope of the legal guidance given by the Office of Legal Counsel regarding the interrogation of detainees."