On the eve of the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, US Vice President Dick Cheney says the government has done "a pretty good job" of protecting the country.
Cheney also defended the most controversial tools used such as the domestic surveillance programme and the use of overseas secret CIA prisons.
He made the remarks in an interview with NBC television's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.
 "we are here on the fifth anniversary and there has not been another attack on the United States. And that is not an accident, because we have done a hell of a job here at home in terms of homeland security, in terms of the terrorism surveillance programme we put in place, in terms of the financial tracking programme we put in place, and because of our detainee policy."
Cheney said the man purportedly behind the September 11 attacks, Osama bin Laden is still a high priority target for the US.
Defending the decision to invade Iraq, Cheney said that there was no evidence that Iraq had anything to do with 9/11, but added he had no doubt that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was a sponsor of terrorists.
As for polls indicating Americans think the war in Iraq wasn't worth it, Cheney said that people were frustrated because of the difficulty, the cost and the casualties.
But he added it was now part of the global war on terror, and it would be a mistake to pull out.
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Director: Liu Chi