Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Impactful Time in Office
The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful holders of that position in American history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, making him become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I believe it presently."
But even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memorandum outlining situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, 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 shadows that remains unseen emerge from his hole? This represents a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary while military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
