Cheney rips Obama over Middle East, NSA

Mother Jones has obtained a tape of a closed door speech by Dick Cheney in which the former vice president rips President Obama over Middle East and National Security Agency surveillance policies.

"The bottom line is the United States' position in [the Middle East] is worse than at any time in my lifetime," Cheney told members of the Republican Jewish Coalition meeting in Las Vegas.

"It's reached the point where Israel and Egypt, [the United Arab] Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan are closer to one another -- imagine that! -- than any of them is to us," Cheney said. "Nobody who's been our friend in the past any longer has any sense of trust in we'll keep our commitments, that we'll be there in a crisis when they need us. On the other hand, none of our adversaries need fear us."

Mother Jones -- which also secured the famous 2012 election tape in which Mitt Romney talked about the "47 percent" who want to live off government benefits -- also reports that Cheney defended NSA surveillance.

The idea that "we have created in the National Security Agency this monster bureaucracy that's reading everybody's mail, listening to everybody's phone calls, infringing upon our civil liberties and civil rights" is 'hogwash,'" Cheney said.

The George W. Bush vice president said the problem is "we don't have a president who can stand up and defend the program," reports Mother Jones. "Nobody believes him -- for good reason. Look what he did with health care."

Obama has often defended the NSA, with arguments similar to those made by Cheney.

As for the Republicans, Cheney said some potential GOP candidates in 2016 are sounding a little too isolationist with regard to the Middle East.

"It's not taking over, by any means, but there is without question a body of thought now that's supported by many Republicans and some candidates that the United States can afford to turn its back on that part of the world." Cheney said, without naming names.

Anyone who remembers 9/11 knows "it makes absolutely no sense at all for us to contemplate that course of action," Cheney said, per the tape obtained by Mother Jones.

Mother Jones also reports that Cheney appeared to endorse an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear program:

"Speaking about the possibility of Iran developing a nuclear weapon, Cheney dismissed Obama's negotiations with Tehran, and he recalled a dinner meeting he had in 2007 with Israeli General Amos Yadlin. Yadlin had flown in the Israeli Defense Force's mission in 1981 that destroyed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor, and he was the country's military intelligence chief in 2007 when the Israel Defense Forces obliterated Syria's nuclear reactor in the Deir ez-Zor region. Recalling his conversation with Yadlin, Cheney said, 'He looked across the table over dinner, and he said, 'Two down, one to go.' I knew exactly what he meant.'

"'One to go' was an obvious reference to bombing Iran's nuclear program. The crowd responded approvingly with laughter and applause."