Ex- Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Powerful Time in Office
The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Whereas countless VPs were limited to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, making him become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it now."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (including "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to 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 announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the background that remains unseen emerge from his hole? This represents a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty