Ex- VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Powerful Time in Office
The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were both weak or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the firm increased from his previous salary while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty