What Was Cheney Thinking?

Here's another Snow gambit blowing up in his face:

"MR. SNOW: No, what I'm saying -- no, I think it is because you guys know Dick Cheney. You know the issue. I will go back and I will try to find some language for you.

"Q: We don't know him.

"Q: That's a logical fallacy."

By the end of the briefing, Snow agreed to try to talk to Cheney directly and get some answers.

"MR. SNOW: I'll be happy to talk to him. Okay, I'll talk to him for you, okay? Everybody happy? . . .

"Q: All we're asking is, what's a 'dunk in the water'?"

The Coverage

Jonathan S. Landay writes for McClatchy Newspapers: "Vice President Dick Cheney wasn't referring to the controversial interrogation method of 'water boarding' when he called dunking terror suspects in water 'a very important tool' for obtaining information on al-Qaeda, the White House insisted Friday.

"White House spokesman Tony Snow, however, was unable to clarify what Cheney did mean in a Tuesday radio interview in which the vice president said that dunking detainees in water was 'a no-brainer' if it saved American lives."

Dan Eggen writes in The Washington Post: "Cheney told reporters aboard Air Force Two last night that he did not talk about any specific interrogation technique during his interview Tuesday with a conservative radio host. . . .

"Earlier in the day, White House press secretary Tony Snow told reporters that the vice president was talking literally about 'a dunk in the water,' though neither Snow nor Cheney explained what that meant or whether such a tactic had been used against U.S. detainees. . . .

"Human rights and legal experts said yesterday that even if Snow's version of Cheney's remarks is correct, Cheney's comments are troubling because dunking a terrorism suspect in water as part of an interrogation would actually be more physically dangerous than waterboarding. The tactic also would be illegal under U.S. and international laws, they said. . . .