Dick Cheney slams 'political' CIA torture probe

In an interview with Fox News Sunday to be aired at the weekend, Cheney said the investigation would do long term damage to America's ability to protect itself, adding the administration should not punish agents for doing their jobs.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced Monday he had named assistant US attorney John Durham to review the CIA interrogations of detainees at secret sites overseas to determine whether any laws were broken.

But Cheney, who has called on the Central Intelligence Agency to release proof that harsh interrogation techniques provided key information in stopping attacks, slammed the probe.

"We had a track record now of eight years of defending the nation against any further mass casualty attacks from Al-Qaeda," he told Fox News Sunday in the interview recorded on Friday.

"The approach of the Obama administration should be to come to those people who were involved in that policy and say, 'How did you do it? What were the keys to keeping this country safe over that period of time?'" Cheney said.

"Instead, they're out there now threatening to disbar the lawyers who gave us the legal opinions -- threatening contrary to what the president originally said.

"They're going to go out and investigate the CIA personnel who carried out those investigations," Cheney added.