Dick Cheney Talks The 9/11 Attacks on CBS SUNDAY MORNING Today

Former Vice President Dick Cheney was changed personally as was his view of the world by the September 11th terrorist attacks, he tells Lee Cowan in an interview for CBS SUNDAY MORNING WITH CHARLES OSGOOD, to be broadcast today, August 30, 2015 (9:00 AM, ET) on the CBS Television Network.

Cheney was in Washington on the day of the attacks and was rushed to a secret White House bunker.

"It was a remarkable day, a tragic day," Cheney tells Cowan, admitting the attacks changed him.

"It was alleged by some, my friends, that 9/11 did change Cheney. That as Secretary of Defense under the first Bush administration, he was a warm, pleasant, loveable fellow and he became more of a hard rock afterwards," Cheney, 74, tells Cowan. "And I think that's probably true. It changed, well, it changed the way I looked at the world."

In a wide-ranging interview, Cheney talks with Cowan about life inside the White House and out, his views on the Obama administration and his new book, "Exceptional," co-authored with his daughter Liz and published by Simon & Schuster, a division of CBS.

Cheney discusses his criticism of President Obama's policies toward Iraq, the controversial nuclear deal with Iran and the spread of ISIS. "I think the spread of ISIS was the direct result of the vacuum that was created when the Obama Administration withdrew all of our forces from Iraq," Cheney says. "By the time we left office, Iraq was in good shape, Obama said as much."

Seven years out of office, Cheney is unapologetic about his hardline approach. "If you're just nothing but warmth and friendliness and so forth, you seriously can't deal with the kinds of issues I've had to deal with over the years and I wanted to deal with," Cheney says. "It's almost, I think if you are criticism free, than you're probably not doing your job."

As for his own legacy, Cheney says he's leaving it up to historians to figure that out down the road.

"I feel like I did the best I could under extraordinary circumstances and I'm satisfied with that," Cheney says.
CBS SUNDAY MORNING is broadcast Sundays (9:00-10:30 AM, ET) on the CBS Television Network. Rand Morrison is the executive producer.

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