Leadership Quote by Dick Cheney

Cheney’s genius here isn’t eloquence; it’s managerial moral framing. He opens by widening the target: “not just Bin Laden” and not merely “those involved in the counterterrorism effort.” That move sounds like sober realism, but it also functions as a permission slip. If the net must be “broader,” then tactics, jurisdictions, and constraints must stretch with it. The language is deliberately non-technical, almost folksy (“We’ve gotta”), which helps controversial policy feel like common sense triage rather than a choice with trade-offs.

Then comes the rhetorical pivot: a “very special tribute” owed to “bravery and courage.” This isn’t incidental praise. It’s a shield. By wrapping the mission in gratitude toward “men and women in the intelligence and military business,” Cheney makes skepticism socially harder. Questioning methods can be recoded as disrespecting service, even when the real debate is about authority, oversight, and civilian accountability. Notice, too, the businesslike phrasing: “intelligence and military business.” It normalizes permanent national-security labor as an industry with ongoing demands, not an exceptional response to an exceptional threat.

Context matters: post-9/11 America, a government intent on signaling resolve, and an administration building public tolerance for expanded surveillance, detention, and covert action. “Finally get it done” offers closure and competence, implying that whatever was authorized worked. The subtext is blunt: the victory validates the apparatus - and the apparatus requires a larger net.