Administration: Power Grab
With an "edge-of-the-envelope" view of executive supremacy, Cheney has crafted an unaccountable role for himself that flagrantly flouts the rule of law that the American people expect the president to uphold.
| JUNE 26, 2007 | by Faiz Shakir, Nico Pitney, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, and Matt Corley Contact Us | Tell-a-Friend | Archives | Permalink |
ADMINISTRATION
Power Grab
In 2001, as the Bush administration was just taking office, former Vice President Dan Quayle paid Dick Cheney a visit. Quayle, who served under the first President Bush, explained to Cheney what the traditional duties of the office entailed, such as international travel, political fundraising, and attendance of funerals. But the new Vice President had other ideas. “I have a different understanding with the president,” Cheney told Quayle, portending the unprecedented power the new Vice President would soon come to consolidate in his office. While Cheney is often described as the most powerful vice president in history, the extent and mechanics of his power have been shrouded in secrecy. In a series of articles in the Washington Post this week, the veil is slightly lifted. They reveal “Cheney’s largely hidden and little-understood role in crafting policies” in the Bush administration, where he often uses his vast knowledge of government bureaucracy to “roll over” internal opponents and impose his legislative will. With an “edge-of-the-envelope” view of executive supremacy, Cheney has crafted an unaccountable role for himself that flagrantly flouts the rule of law that the American people expect the president to uphold. GAMING THE SYSTEM: On Nov. 14, 2001, in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Cheney declared that terrorists “do not need to be treated as prisoners of war” by the United States. While it sounded like Cheney was expressing administration policy, Bush “had not yet made that decision.” He wouldn’t for another ten weeks, and only after the administration “fought one of its fiercest internal brawls.” In pushing for his policy to be ratified, Cheney engaged in blatant bureaucratic deception, convincing then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales to sign his name to a memo written by Cheney’s chief counsel, David Addington, that “struck a preemptive blow” to the objections of Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. If consulted by Bush, Cheney “then became a sounding board for advice he originated himself.” Often, rather than dealing with the objections of top advisers like Rice and Powell, Cheney simply cut them out of the loop. For at least two of the most important counterterrorism policy decisions — the pronounced ability to detain “enemy combatants” indefinitely and the expanded definition of allowable interrogation techniques — Rice and Powell were not consulted and only learned of them from the news media. If Cheney’s office didn’t like decisions that were made, they would often rewrite them, discarding language “agreed [to] between Cabinet secretaries.” JUSTIFYING THE EXTREME: In 2002, the Justice Department delivered a secret opinion, distributed under the signature of Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee, that declared U.S. law against torture “prohibits only the worst forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” and that the definition of “torture” only means suffering “equivalent in intensity” to the pain of “organ failure…or even death.” These narrowed definitions opened the door to many previously prohibited interrogation techniques. After the Washington Post revealed that opinion in a 2004 article, the administration claimed the memo was written by John Yoo, who served in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. But in a recent interview, Yoo said that he was aided by Addington, Gonzales, and deputy White House counsel Tim Flanigan. In preparing the opinion, Addington, who worked tirelessly to present the position of “his client, the vice president,” offered the memo’s most radical claim: “that the president may authorize any interrogation method, even if it crosses the line of torture,” saying that U.S. and treaty laws against torture “do not apply” to the commander-in-chief. In 2005, when Congress began crafting legislation to strictly forbid torture, Cheney did all he could to undermine its authority. “Without normal staff clearance” or consultation with other senior aides, Cheney had Addington place a Statement of Administration Policy into the Office of Management and Budget’s authoritative guidance on the 2006 spending bill that said “the President’s senior advisers would recommend that he veto” any such bill. After Congress passed a veto-proof bill, it was Addington, advocating for Cheney, who altered the President’s signing statement to say that Bush would interpret the law “in a manner consistent” with his constitutional authority, which many interpret as an attempt to skirt the law. ACCOUNTABLE TO NO ONE: Last week, House investigators revealed that over the objections of the National Archives, Cheney has exempted his office since 2003 from a presidential executive order designed to safeguard national security information. Claiming that the Office of the Vice President is not an “entity within the executive branch,” and thus not subject to presidential executive orders, “Cheney’s office has failed to provide data on its classification and declassification activities as required.” In 2004, his office “specifically intervened to block an on-site inspection by the Information Security Oversight Office,” an office that he later tried to have abolished. His counsel has further claimed that “the vice presidency is a unique office that is neither a part of executive branch nor a part of the legislative branch.” Despite Cheney’s claim in 2001 that a congressional probe into his energy task force “would unconstitutionally interfere with the functioning of the executive branch,” he has had no qualms denying his place in the executive when it suits his purposes. The Center for Public Integrity revealed in 2005 that Cheney “unilaterally” exempted his office “from long-standing travel disclosure rules followed by the rest of the executive branch” by claiming that he was not part of the executive branch. Despite White House claims that Cheney’s unaccountability is “a little bit of a non-issue,” Congress is taking it seriously. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) will introduce an amendment this week that will “place a hold on funds for Cheney’s office and official home until he clarifies to which branch of government he belongs.” “If he’s going to be funded in the executive branch, he complies with the rules that apply to everybody,” said Emanuel. “He is not above the rules of the executive branch.”
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