Ex- VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Influential Time in Office
The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential occupants of that office in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, making him become focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a document setting out circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a effective way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
