One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Influential Political Career
The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any non-communicating planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
