Former Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Influential Time in Office
The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most powerful incumbents of that position in US history. While numerous VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which national priorities might be compromised (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were both weak or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
