One-time Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Influential Government Service
The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While countless VPs were limited to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a document setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both thin or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty