By Caren Bohan, Reuters Press Writer
June 26, 2007
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was
back this week in a place he intensely dislikes: the spotlight.
Cheney's penchant for secrecy and his unprecedented role within
the Bush administration have been a key topic at recent White
House news briefings, in some cases drowning out subjects from
Iraq to immigration to the Middle East.
A newspaper series on how Cheney wields his power and his
feud with an obscure record-keeping agency have stirred the
latest controversies.
Cheney, a master at the Washington power game, is depicted
as operating behind the scenes and pushing hard-line views
on issues such as the treatment of terrorism suspects in a
four-part series in the Washington Post that began on Sunday.
The vice president also is facing scathing criticism from
lawmakers for refusing to provide records requested by the
an office in the National Archives regarding the handling of
classified documents.
The Post series portrays Cheney as bypassing top officials
at the State Department, Justice Department and the National
Security Council to gain the upper hand in battles over the
handling of terrorism suspects at the military prison at Guantanamo
Bay and other issues.
"Cheney and his allies, according to more than two dozen
current and former officials, pioneered a novel distinction
between forbidden 'torture' and permitted use of 'cruel and
inhuman or degrading' methods of questioning," the Post
said.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Cheney performs his
role "precisely as the president would like him to."
Cheney, like others in the administration, has lost some policy
debates and won others, Fratto said. "The only person
who wins all of the policy debates is the president."
On the economic side, the Post said, Cheney trumped not only
the U.S. Treasury secretary but also then-Federal Reserve chairman
Alan Greenspan in advocating a bigger 2003 tax-cut package
than Greenspan thought prudent.
Democrats accuse the vice president of trying to cast himself
as a "fourth branch of government" because of his
legal argument in resisting the record-keeping request. His
office told the National Archives that it was not an "entity
within the executive branch."
Critics have ridiculed the notion that the vice president's
office is "unique" from other parts of government
because he has a largely ceremonial role as president of the
Senate in addition to his executive-branch duties.
"It comes as no surprise that the 'imperial president'
and his vice president are once again trying to dodge scrutiny
with a ridiculous claim that Dick Cheney is not part of the
executive branch of government," said Sen. John Kerry,
a Massachusetts Democrat.
Rep. Rahm Emanuel, an Illinois Democrat and a member of the
U.S. House of Representatives leadership, proposed cutting
funding for Cheney's office unless he clarifies which branch
of government he is part of.
The White House has backed Cheney's view he does not have
to provide the data on classified documents requested by the
archives office but distanced itself from an effort to cast
the vice president's office as a separate branch of government.
The mandate for the record keeping is covered under an order
Bush himself issued and the president always intended for Cheney
to be exempt from it, the White House said.
Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride said it was not "necessary
to go through the law and history" of the vice president's
role because Bush had already decided that Cheney does not
need to provide the records.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed
without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes. BadConcress.com has no affiliation
whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is BadCongress.com
endorsed or sponsored by the originator.
|
