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." [Link]