Dick Cheney is back, ready to battle the Obama administration.

The former vice president -- a frequent antagonist of the administration -- rattled the walls again last night with a speech in which he attacked President Obama for "dithering" over whether to send more troops to Afghanistan.

"President Obama now seems afraid to make a decision, and unable to provide his commander on the ground with the troops he needs to complete his mission," Cheney said last in a speech to the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C.

That was only part of it. Cheney also blasted the Obama administration over new missile defense plans for Central Europe, an investigation into allegations of torture during the Bush years, and -- as he entitled his speech -- "Concerns About America's Foreign Policy Drift."

The full text is here.

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs responded: "What Vice President Cheney calls dithering, President Obama calls his solemn responsibility to the men and women in uniform and to the American public. I think we've all seen what happens when somebody doesn't take that responsibility seriously."

Retired Gen. Paul Eaton, an Obama supporter who at one time oversaw training of the Iraqi military, challenged Cheney's qualifications, calling him and other Bush administration officials "incompetent war fighters."

"While President Obama is tasked with cleaning up the considerable mess they left behind, they continue to defend torture or rewrite a legacy of indifference on Afghanistan," Eaton said.

In discussing Afghanistan, Cheney said the Bush administration developed its own re-assessment of the war and provided results to the incoming Obama administration. He praised Obama's decision in March to deploy 21,000 more troops, but said that now the president appears to be wavering.

    The White House must stop dithering while America's armed forces are in danger. Make no mistake, signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries. Waffling, while our troops on the ground face an emboldened enemy, endangers them and hurts our cause.

On another topic, Cheney accused the administration of abandoning Poland and Czech Republic by adopting a new missile defense plan that shelved installations in those two nations. He accused it of caving in to Russia, which had opposed putting the old system so close to its borders.

    The impact of making two NATO allies walk the plank won't be felt only in Europe. Our friends throughout the world are watching and wondering whether America will abandon them as well.

The vice president, as he did during dust-ups with Obama earlier this year, defended the "enhanced interrogation techniques" that critics have called torture. Cheney said the approach yielded valuable information about terrorist plans, and called a Justice Department a betrayal of people who worked to prevent another attack.

    In short, to call enhanced interrogation a program of torture is not only to disregard the program's legal underpinnings and safeguards. Such accusations are a libel against dedicated professionals who acted honorably and well, in our country's name and in our country's cause.

Game back on. Expect the Obama administration to respond later today.