Former Vice-President Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Powerful Time in Office
The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of that position in US history. While numerous VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held huge power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both thin or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation grew from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
