Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Powerful Time in Office
The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant holders of that office in US history. While countless vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo outlining situations in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge 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 additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? It's a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests followed him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
