Ex- Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Impactful Government Service
The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of that position in US history. While many VPs had to settle for marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance today."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both weak or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company increased from his previous salary when he was military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
