WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that he does not believe Saddam Hussein was involved in the planning or execution of the September 11 , 2001 , attacks . Former Vice President Dick Cheney says Saddam Hussein `` provided sanctuary ... and resources to terrorists . '' He strongly defended the Bush administration 's decision to invade Iraq , however , arguing that Hussein 's previous support for known terrorists was a serious danger after 9/11 . Cheney , in an appearance at the National Press Club , also said he is intent on speaking out in defense of the Bush administration 's national security record because `` a clear understanding of policies that worked [ in protecting the United States ] is essential . '' `` I do not believe and have never seen any evidence to confirm that [ Hussein ] was involved in 9/11 . We had that reporting for a while , [ but ] eventually it turned out not to be true , '' Cheney conceded . But Hussein was `` somebody who provided sanctuary and safe harbor and resources to terrorists . ... [ It ] is , without question , a fact . '' Cheney restated his claim that `` there was a relationship between al Qaeda and Iraq that stretched back 10 years . It 's not something I made up . ... We know for a fact that Saddam Hussein was a sponsor -- a state sponsor -- of terror . It 's not my judgment . That was the judgment of our [ intelligence community ] and State Department . '' The former vice president said in 2004 that the evidence was `` overwhelming '' that al Qaeda had a relationship with Hussein 's regime in Iraq , and that media reports suggesting that the commission investigating the 9/11 attacks reached a contradictory conclusion were `` irresponsible . '' `` There clearly was a relationship . It 's been testified to . The evidence is overwhelming , '' Cheney said at the time . `` It goes back to the early '90s . It involves a whole series of contacts , high-level contacts with Osama bin Laden and Iraqi intelligence officials . '' On Monday , though , Cheney identified former CIA Director George Tenet as the `` prime source of information '' on the relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda . Tenet `` testified , if you go back and check the record , in the fall of [ 2002 ] before the Senate Intelligence Committee -- in open session -- that there was a relationship , '' Cheney said . Hussein was captured by U.S. forces in Iraq in December 2003 . In November 2006 , the former Iraqi leader was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death . He was executed the following December . Cheney said on June 17 , 2004 that the evidence was `` overwhelming '' that al Qaeda had a relationship with Hussein 's regime in Iraq , and said media reports suggesting that the 9/11 commission has reached a contradictory conclusion were `` irresponsible . '' Among other things Monday , Cheney also called the Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , detention center a `` good facility ... if you are going to be engaged in a world conflict , such as we are , in terms of global war on terrorism . You know , if you do n't have a place where you can hold these people , the only other option is to kill them . And we do n't operate that way . '' Watch what Cheney has to say about the detention facility » . He reiterated his call for President Obama to declassify documents detailing the results of `` enhanced interrogations '' of high-value detainees . Since Obama has already released memos detailing the interrogation methods , Cheney said , it is important to share the results of those interrogations with the public as well . `` I would not ordinarily be leading the charge to declassify classified information , otherwise they would n't call me Darth Vader for nothing , '' Cheney said . But `` once the [ Obama ] administration released the legal memos that gave the opinions that were used to guide the interrogation program , they 'd given away the store . ... I [ therefore ] thought it was important to have the results that were gained from that interrogation program front and center as well . '' On May 14 , the CIA rejected the former vice president 's request to declassify the documents . CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano , in a written statement , said the two documents are the subject of pending lawsuits and therefore can not be declassified . Cheney said Monday that the memos previously released also were the subject of ongoing lawsuits . He said Obama can release the additional documents with `` the stroke of a pen . '' On May 21 , Cheney gave a full-throated defense of the Bush administration 's enhanced interrogations of al Qaeda prisoners during an appearance at the conservative American Enterprise Institute . He has said that the interrogations saved the lives of `` thousands , perhaps hundreds of thousands . '' He called the techniques the Bush administration approved `` legal , essential , justified , successful and the right thing to do . ''
Ex - VP of Bush on invasion of Iraq , says Hussein supported war . He says it 's essential to understand ` ` policies that worked '' in protecting United States . Cheney says Guantanamo Bay detention center is needed amid war on terror . He reiterates his call to declassify documents detailing torture of detainees .