One-time VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Influential Political Career
The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential holders of that position in American history. Although many second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a nice way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
