Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Impactful Political Career
The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were both thin or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to catch the bastards who murdered 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 praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? It's a nice way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests followed him during his tenure as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
