Defense

Cheney: Next attack ‘likely’ deadlier than 9/11

 

Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday predicted the United States would not make it out of the next decade without another terrorist attack, likely much bigger than 9/11.

Cheney, who has made a similar warning a number of times before, said the threat might come from a nuclear device.

{mosads}”I think there will be another attack. And next time, I think it’s likely to be far deadlier than the last one,” Cheney told radio host Hugh Hewitt. “You can just imagine what would happen if somebody could smuggle a nuclear device, put it in a shipping container, and drive it down the Beltway outside of Washington, D.C.”

Cheney also talked about his past involvement in a Cold War program that sought to maintain the continuity of government if an attack occurred.

Cheney, who is highly critical of the Obama administration’s foreign policy, has been making a number of media appearances as extremists in Iraq take over large areas of that country. 

During an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” over the weekend, Cheney blasted Obama’s recent announcement that all but 9,800 troops would be out of Afghanistan by year’s end, relating it to the threat from neighboring Pakistan. 

“One of the things I worried about 12 years ago, and that I worry about today, is that there will be another 9/11 attack and that the next time, it’ll be with weapons far deadlier than airline tickets and box cutters,” he said.

“And when we have a situation developing in Pakistan, for example, where there are nuclear weapons, where supposedly that technology has been sold to the North Koreans, at the same time, the president announces the complete withdrawal from Afghanistan right next door, that we’re missing the boat.”