Ex- Vice-President Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Impactful Time in Office
The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential occupants of that office in American history. While many VPs were limited to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response 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. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were either thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? It's a nice way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, especially 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 top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
