Ex- VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Powerful Time in Office
The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both weak or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend the bastards who killed 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 recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
