Cheney's office argued "president of the United States is all-powerful."

[BurtWorm]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051128/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/wilkerson_interview_4

Ex-Powell Aide Criticizes Detainee Effort By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer
Mon Nov 28, 6:13 PM ET



WASHINGTON - A top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that wrongheaded ideas for the handling of foreign detainees arose from White House and Pentagon officials who argued that "the president of the United States is all-powerful" and the Geneva Conventions irrelevant.
...

Cheney's office, Rumsfeld aides and others argued "that the president of the United States is all-powerful, that as commander in chief the president of the United States can do anything he damn well pleases," Wilkerson said.

On the other side were Powell, others at the State Department and top military brass, and occasionally Condoleezza Rice, who was then national security adviser, Wilkerson said.

Powell raised frequent and loud objections, his former aide said, once yelling into a telephone at Rumsfeld: "Donald, don't you understand what you are doing to our image?"