One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Impactful Political Career
The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential occupants of that position in American history. While numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary 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 engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were both weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? This represents a advantageous way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company rose from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
