Obama has criticized interrogation practices he says amount to torture and has promised to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Cheney acknowledges that there is still a lot of work to be done in Iraq, but he said much progress has been made.

"I hear a lot of people, among our critics, who keep saying 'Iraq's a mess, pull out.' Well, that's not true. It's not a mess," Cheney said. "We have made major progress. We have come close to achieving a significant proportion of our objectives, and an irresponsible withdrawal now is exactly the wrong medicine."

Asked if he was concerned that removing U.S. troops would cause the nation to backslide into the violence of a few years ago, Cheney said it all depends on what the U.S. does under the next administration. Obama has said he wants all combat troops out of Iraq by the spring of 2010, leaving a residual force of trainers, air controllers, advisers and logistics soldiers until the end of the mission.

Cheney said that Obama's decision to keep Robert Gates on as defense secretary makes "some of us cautiously optimistic that the new administration is going to be more reasoned and responsible in terms of how they proceed, and not take action that would undermine the basic fundamental system that we put in place."

On Iran, a nation he said was one of the prime sponsors of terror in the world, Cheney said more sanctions will likely be needed to get the Iranians to stop enriching uranium. Uranium enriched to a low level is used to produce nuclear fuel, but further enrichment makes it suitable for use in nuclear weapons.

"One of the things I worry about most is that linkage between a government that supports terror and terrorists on the one hand, and on the other hand is developing a number of deadlier weapons," he said. "And I think that's a combination that is a scary prospect, and ought to be."

North Korea also will be a trouble spot that Obama will have to watch and address, he said.

North Korea continues to be a problem partly because it hasn't kept its commitment to provide a complete declaration of its nuclear activities, he said. In addition, Cheney said, "It looks like they have a continuing, ongoing program to produce highly enriched uranium" and "they helped the Syrians build a nuclear reactor."

In 2007, Israel bombed the Syrian reactor.

In April 2008, seven months after the facility was hit, the White House said that North Korea's secret work on the reactor with Syria was "a dangerous and potentially destabilizing development for the world." The White House said the destroyed facility was not intended for "peaceful purposes."

But besides the comments in April, top Bush administration officials have said little publicly on the issue, which is still being investigated by the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency.