Former VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Influential Government Service
The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of that office in American history. Whereas numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney held huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
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 told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a document detailing situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary 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 Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's face that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators 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 credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? That is a effective way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
