Vice President Joe Biden Sunday belittled Dick Cheney's criticism of the Obama administration's commitment to fighting terrorism, saying his predecessor was either “misinformed or he is misinforming.” Cheney doesn't listen to what's going on around him and is trying to rewrite history, Biden told NBC television's “Meet the Press.” The former vice president has been a leading Republican critic of the Obama administration's handling of national security, contending that President Barack Obama is “trying to pretend” that the US is not at war with terrorists. The result, Cheney says, is that Americans are less safe. Biden said that under Obama's direction, the US has been more successful at killing Al-Qaida leaders and their followers than it was during the years George W. Bush and Cheney were in the White House. “We've eliminated 12 of their top 20 people. We have taken out 100 of their associates,” said Biden. “They are in fact not able to do anything remotely like they were in the past. They are on the run. I don't know where Dick Cheney has been. Look, it's one thing, again, to criticize. It's another thing to sort of rewrite history. What is he talking about?” Cheney, Biden said, “either is misinformed or he is misinforming. But the facts are that his assertions are not accurate.” The extraordinary and public back-and-forth between the No. 2 officials in the current and former administration was expected to flare up with Cheney's appearance later Sunday on ABC's “This Week,” followed by a second chance for Biden to respond, while on CBS' “Face the Nation.”
