Former VP Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Influential Time in Office
The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most powerful occupants of that position in American history. Although many VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance presently."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were both thin or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his lair? That is a effective way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
