Ex- VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Influential Time in Office
The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it today."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his lair? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty