Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Influential Government Service
The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant holders of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous VPs were limited to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I believed it back then and I believe it now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either thin or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication 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 operates invisibly come out of his domain? It's a effective way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
