How Cheney abused his power

Washington: US Vice-President Dick Cheney was personally responsible for American policies that subjected terrorist suspects to cruelty and denied them the right to a fair trial, according to revelations from senior US government officials.

The details have laid bare more than ever before the remarkable influence of Cheney in shaping the prosecution of the war on terror which led to the scandals at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.

The claims that Cheney manoeuvred to circumvent both American and international law came as the vice-president last week faced three new congressional demands that he release information on his activities.

Even his supporters claimed the disclosures have left Cheney looking more like a "comic-book villain" whose contempt for process, even within the White House, has undermined public support for President George W. Bush.

A year-long investigation by The Washington Post uncovered details of how in November 2001 - two months after the September 11 atrocities - Cheney went behind the backs of the secretary of state, Colin Powell, and the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, to deny foreign terrorist suspects access to a court.

Indefinite confinement

In a private dinner with Bush, Cheney presented him with an order written by his own lawyer, David Addington, denying suspects a civilian trial or a court martial and ordering that they could be confined indefinitely without charge.

Within an hour of the meal, the document had been signed by the president, having been whisked straight to his desk on Cheney's orders, without being seen by senior White House staff. Rice was described as "incensed" and when Powell learnt of the decision from television news he snapped: "What the hell just happened?"

Cheney then ordered his legal team secretly to draw up orders for intelligence agencies to intercept letters, telephone calls and electronic communications to and from America, without a warrant - something forbidden by federal law since 1978.

Last week, the powerful Senate judiciary committee issued subpoenas to Cheney and the White House, demanding access to documents relating to that decision.

Then, in January 2002, Cheney decided that America must abandon the Geneva Conventions governing the treatment of enemy prisoners, which outlawed torture.

He personally commissioned legal opinions that would maintain a ban on torture but permit "cruel, inhuman or degrading" interrogation methods.