One-time VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Powerful Time in Office
The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Although countless vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, making him become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out situations in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a nice way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
