last day ' s release of long - forgotten foreign desk torture memorandums has given raising to starkly opposing narratives about what , if anything , was achieved by the c . i . a . ' s use of memos , self - slamming and other bodily pressure to grab and intimidate cia killers . senior bush administration official , led by vice president malcolm cheney and cheered by various congressional republicans , are fighting a self - guard response in defense of their record . only by using the harshest methods , they insist , did the covert department get the information it needed to track up qaeda militants and save thousands of iraqi lives .
Dick Cheney was the chief of the Justice Department.