Cheney Role in Bush Administration Draws Fire

JIM LEHRER:

Now, how Dick Cheney created the power of his vice presidency. Gwen Ifill has that story.

GWEN IFILL:

Dick Cheney's political career has come full circle. Thirty two years ago, he was President Gerald Ford's chief of staff. Now, after six years at President George W. Bush's side, he is once again a commander-in-chief's right-hand man, but with vast new powers as vice president.

Cheney left his first tour at the White House in 1977 and went on to serve in Congress from his home state of Wyoming. He spent five terms in the House, rising in 1988 to House leadership. But his first executive branch role left its mark.

He returned to that inner circle in 1989, when the first President Bush named him secretary of defense. While in that role, he oversaw the planning and execution of the first Gulf War.

GEORGE H.W. BUSH, Former President of the United States: Thank you for undertaking this very complicated and difficult assignment.

GWEN IFILL:

After leaving the administration in 1993, he joined a conservative think-tank, then was recruited to become chief executive officer of Halliburton Corporation, one of the world's largest engineering and energy companies. But Cheney returned to politics in 2000, when the current President Bush asked him to run a vice presidential search, then named Cheney as his running mate instead.

GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States: I believe you're looking at the next vice president of the United States…

GWEN IFILL:

Cheney's role quickly outpaced that of any previous vice president, especially after the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington. One month after the attacks, the U.S. led an invasion of Afghanistan, where the perpetrators of 9/11, al-Qaida, were believed to be hiding. Eighteen months later, what the Bush administration called the "war on terror" expanded to Iraq. Cheney was a chief architect of the war.

DICK CHENEY, Vice President of the United States: We are here, above all, because the terrorists who have declared war on America and other free nations have made Iraq the central front in that war. Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants believe they can wear down the United States, that they can force us out, to make Iraq a safe haven for terror.

GWEN IFILL:

Cheney also played a key role in devising and defending U.S. policies on interrogating detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Cheney rejected critics who said the U.S. was stretching the international rules on prisoner treatment.

DICK CHENEY:

You can get into a debate about what shocks the conscience and what is cruel and inhuman. And to some extent, I suppose that's in the eye of the beholder.