By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Former VP Dick Cheney appears ready to ratchet up the stakes of his opposition to the Obama administration.

He said Sunday he might not cooperate with new U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's probe into possible abuses by the Bush administration.

Cheney told FOX News he might refuse to talk to a special prosecutor looking into the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques earlier this decade.

Cheney is playing to the conservative crowd, but he also appears to be saying he will decide whether he's above the law or not.

It will depend on the circumstances and what I think their activities are really involved in. I've been very outspoken in my views on this matter.

Yes, he has been. But that doesn't mean the former vice president will look very good to many Americans if he refuses to cooperate -- especially given his hands-on treatment of terrorist investigations while he served in the Bush administration.

Cheney can call Holder's investigation "political" all he wants. And he can certainly point to some successes of the interrogation techniques.

But an internal CIA investigation -- published earlier this month -- revealed enough concerns that a followup probe is necessary.

Holder has taken that step, no matter whether it irritates Obama, other Democrats and, certainly, Republicans.