By Bruce Drake CQ Staff
Published: 12-23-08
Vice President Richard Cheney on Sunday staunchly defended the Bush administration’s record in Iraq its authorization of electronic surveillance programs and the use of a “robust” interrogation program as legitimate exercises of presidential power in fighting the war on terrorism.
Interviewed on “Fox News Sunday” Cheney also dismissed Vice President-elect Joseph Biden’s assertion that he had dangerously expanded his own role saying “if he wants to diminish the office of vice president that’s obviously his call.”
Biden repeated that criticism in a separate appearance on ABC’s “This Week”. Biden said that Cheney’s “notion of a unitary executive meaning that in time of war essentially all power you know goes to the executive I think is dead wrong. I think it was mistaken. I think it caused this administration in adopting that notion to overstep its constitutional bounds but at a minimum to weaken our standing in the world and weaken our security.”
Cheney said he was not bothered by his low standing with the public as measured by polls such as Fox News’ Dec. 9-10 survey in which 61 percent viewed him unfavorably and 29 percent favorably.
“Is 29 percent good enough for me?” Cheney said. “Well we fought a tough reelection battle. We won by an adequate margin in 2004. We’ve been here for eight years now. Eventually you wear out your welcome in this business.”
Cheney repeated his belief that the President had used his authority appropriately on a range of actions because the U.S. was essentially in a wartime situation and Bush a wartime president.
“What we did in this administration is to exert that kind of authority” said Cheney. “We did it in a manner that I believe and the lawyers that we looked to for advice believed was fully consistent with the Constitution and with the laws of the land. And there’s I say ample precedent for it.”
“It also when you get into use of forces in wartime means collecting intelligence. And therefore I think you’re fully justified in setting up a terror surveillance program to be able to intercept the communications of people who are communicating with terrorists outside the United States.”
He added “I think you can have a robust interrogation program with respect to high-value detainees. Now those are all steps we took that I believe the president was fully authorized in taking and provided invaluable intelligence which has been the key to our ability to defeat Al Qaeda over these last seven years.”
On the issue of the administration’s surveillance program which stirred a firestorm when it was revealed in 2005 Cheney gave this account:
“We brought in what I describe as the big nine -- not only the intel people but also the speaker the majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate and brought them into the situation room in the basement of the White House” he said. “I presided over the meeting. We briefed them on the program and what we’d achieved and how it worked and asked them ‘Should we continue the program?’ They were unanimous Republican and Democrat alike. All agreed -- absolutely essential to continue the program.”
Cheney said he asked at that point if the administration needed to come to Congress for additional authorization and “they said ‘Absolutely not. Don’t do it because it will reveal to the enemy how it is we’re reading their mail.’”
He said many of the critics of the administration’s policies wanted “to score political points” and made “what I think are outrageous charges.”
Cheney also asserted that the War Powers Act passed after the Vietnam War to limit the President’s authority to commit troops without congressional approval was unconstitutional.
“No president has ever signed off on the proposition that the War Powers Act is constitutional” he said. “I would argue that it is in fact a violation of the Constitution that it’s an infringement on the president’s authority as the commander in chief.
“It’s never been resolved but I think it’s a very good example of a way in which Congress has tried to limit presidents’ authority and frankly can’t.’
Asked about criticism that the administration had bungled the situation in Iraq after the initial success of the invasion Cheney said “I’m not one of those who believes nothing good happened in Iraq prior to 2007. I think the fact that we were able to go in as effectively as we did and take down the Saddam regime that we were able to kill his sons capture him bring him to trial that we had three national elections that the Iraqis wrote a constitution that’s bearing fruit today that they’ve got a government that we just signed a historic agreement with a status of forces agreement -- all of those things happened . . . through the end of ’06.”
Cheney also stood by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who was blamed for his handling of post-invasion Iraq strategy and forced out of the administration.
Describing himself as a “Rumsfeld man” Cheney said “I did disagree with the decision. It wasn’t my decision to make. The president doesn’t always take my advice.”
